We are APPROVED by India!

Hey guys!

Quick update on a couple of things......

We just got a call yesterday from our family coordinator at AWAA saying that CARA in India has looked over our home study and has approved us to adopt from their country! This is great news because now we can officially begin the search for our son or daughter-to-be!

Now we have to let AWAA know specific criteria we are looking for in a child. Once we do that, then our FC can begin looking on the CARA website each day to see if she can match us with a child or children!

When I mentioned specific criteria, that means we have to decide 1 or 2 children, boy or girl, age range, etc. This is especially difficult for us because we are so open to any child, so having to pin point is going to require a lot of PRAYER!

Good news is the India program doesn't really have a waiting list for referrals. This means that we could potentially be matched with a child or 2 by the end of the summer depending on if we find the right one.

It is so strange and foreign to us to think of searching for our child online like you would a house, but we are praying right now that God will make it known which child He wants for us. We are also praying for knowledge, patience, and peace. Easier said than done, I know! :)

So that is the update on the India progress! As for our fundraising efforts....we had a GREAT turn out last night at our Jamberry Adoption Fundraiser. Our online party will be available through midnight on June 23, so there is still time to order online! All proceeds are being donated to our adoption fund! Please check out the online store if you would like to help support us! Also - if you would like to host a Jamberry Nail Wrap Party with Melissa, 30% of all YOUR sales will donated back to our adoption as well.

Check out the online sale HERE!

A BIG thank you to all who came out last night and to Melissa for being such a generous & supportive friend!  :)

Adoption Fundraiser feat. Jamberry Nail Wraps

YOU ARE INVITED!

Please check out our evite link below for our Jamberry Nail Wrap Adoption Fundraiser happening TOMORROW at 7pm! ALL proceeds from sales will go towards our India Adoption Fund!

http://evite.me/4T1EgBwmVS

Also - If you are interested in supporting our adoption, but you can't make it to the party, you can purchase the Jamberry Nail Wraps at our online store HERE. You can also donate to our Fundraising site HERE.

Thank You for all the love & support!!  

India Update!

Hi guys!

Sorry it has been SO long....we have a lot to catch you up on!

Here is an update on our progress with our India adoption:

We had to have our Home Study updated to reflect our switch to India. After a couple of months working with our social worker, Michele on getting the updated papers, we were approved (again) for 2 siblings (boy or girl) ages 0-6! Side Note: This 15 page Home Study gets typed up, reviewed by several people at America World, and finally gets mailed to us.

Now that the Home Study was good to go, our next step was to get registered with CARA.

What is CARA?
CARA (The Central Adoption Resource Authority) is the government organization in India that each adopting family must be registered and approved with in order to adopt a child from the country. 

Our family coordinator, Elise registered our family along with our Home Study to CARA on May 7. It typically takes CARA 8 weeks to approve a home study.

Exciting news is that once we are approved with CARA (hopefully by the end of June), then we are eligible to begin looking at and accepting referrals of children!!!!! Our family coordinator told us that as soon as we are approved with CARA, she will check each morning for a child or children that match our "requests." The way that she explained it to us was that CARA has a giant database that adoption agencies can access. The orphaned children have profiles on the database and agencies can search for children that match their waiting families requests (based on age, gender, special needs, etc).

Another piece of the puzzle that we have been working on is getting our I-800A application submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This application is a very important document that will allow us to bring international children into this country. This application process can take up to 2 months. Once we receive this, our dossier for India will be complete and ready to send.

As we wait we would especially LOVE your prayers....

• Prayers for us to be approved with CARA (quickly)
• Prayers that the child/children that God wants us to have will show up at just the right time on the CARA database.
• Prayers that when we do receive a referral, that we will be content and at peace with the decision and not have a lot of confusion about "is this our child." We desperately want God to make it known to us when we see a child's face whether or not they are supposed to be a part of our family. 
• Prayers that our USCIS app will come back quickly 
• Prayers for fundraising projects, grants, and financial support
• And most importantly that we are following God's will and doing what He wants us to do in all that we do. 

This crazy, long, stressful adoption process has actually been really fun since we started in March of last year. We can't think of anything we'd rather be doing besides what God has called us to do! We love seeing Him work in cool ways that you can only see when you are living by faith.

Whatever your life brings, I highly recommend living by faith and putting your trust in Him. As hard as it is to not be in control, it brings great rewards!

Thank you for taking the time to catch up with us!
 
To join our adoption efforts, please visit our online fundraising site here.

To check out an upcoming fundraiser event (for all ladies), click here.

Love,

Ryan & Megan