When are you traveling to pick up Jacinda and why does it take so long?
To be honest, we don't have a great answer to this question. Our agency is saying we will travel sometime between August and November. We're holding out hope it could be earlier than that, though. It takes so long for a couple of reasons.
First, China has more paperwork requirements we have to complete. Second, US Immigration has new rules and it's sort of a guessing game at this point what those rules are. We believe that the overall goal of changing the rules to make international adoption more regulated is good. We just wish we weren't caught in the uncertainty of the rule-changing.
Right now, we are preparing a package of documents to send to our agency … they include the contract that we agree to accept Jacinda, several documents that get sent to China, the biggest check we've ever written (gulp!), and a travel release form. Once the Chinese government approves all our documents, we'll get a travel approval. This will probably take several months.
In the meantime, we're getting ready to travel. We've gotten some shots, and have more to go. We're figuring out bedrooms and furniture for both Luke and Jacinda. We're getting our house ready for 2 toddlers!!!! Sherry is finishing up the school year. We're getting ready for our Disney vacation with Sherry's family in June. We're definitely keeping ourselves busy while we wait!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Questions .... and Answers
There are several questions we've been asked lately and we thought we'd share the answers in case you were wondering, but haven't asked! We'll make this a series of posts so it doesn't get too long.
How much does it cost?
Of course every adoption is different, but we think ours will end up costing somewhere around $20,000. That's a LOT of money. We truly believe that we are supposed to be pursuing this particular adoption and that Jacinda is supposed to be in our family. So for that reason, we are confident the money will be provided.
One thing we've done is that Sherry went back to work full-time last August. This has been a really difficult year, but it was a necessary sacrifice for us and we've been able to put away a little in our savings account. We've also refinanced our house and taken out some equity.
We just found out that China has raised the country fee, so things will end up costing several thousand dollars more than we were expecting. Also, we still have plane tickets to China to buy and we can only estimate those prices right now. Once we have definite approval from China to travel, we'll begin ticket-shopping.
There's also an adoption tax credit that we can take advantage of once the adoption is complete. So we'll claim that next year.
All of that to say that adoption is definitely expensive, but we are certain that we are doing exactly what God has called us to do, so we are confident that it will all work out.
More questions and answers coming soon!!!! If you have questions, please ask! Maybe you'll see your question in a future post ....
How much does it cost?
Of course every adoption is different, but we think ours will end up costing somewhere around $20,000. That's a LOT of money. We truly believe that we are supposed to be pursuing this particular adoption and that Jacinda is supposed to be in our family. So for that reason, we are confident the money will be provided.
One thing we've done is that Sherry went back to work full-time last August. This has been a really difficult year, but it was a necessary sacrifice for us and we've been able to put away a little in our savings account. We've also refinanced our house and taken out some equity.
We just found out that China has raised the country fee, so things will end up costing several thousand dollars more than we were expecting. Also, we still have plane tickets to China to buy and we can only estimate those prices right now. Once we have definite approval from China to travel, we'll begin ticket-shopping.
There's also an adoption tax credit that we can take advantage of once the adoption is complete. So we'll claim that next year.
All of that to say that adoption is definitely expensive, but we are certain that we are doing exactly what God has called us to do, so we are confident that it will all work out.
More questions and answers coming soon!!!! If you have questions, please ask! Maybe you'll see your question in a future post ....
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
A Big Announcement
Yes, you read that right. Luke is a big brother.
We got a phone call last Thursday night with a referral for a special needs little girl. She is currently 15 months old and has a cleft lip and palate. Her lip has been repaired, but the palate has not. We have some of the top doctors with Operation Smile based here in Norfolk, and they assure us that the cleft lip and palate are fixable. Our pediatrician, who specializes in international adoptions, says that her development appears to be right on track!
Our agency tells us we will travel to China in 5-7 months to pick her up. We have named her Jacinda. We have not decided on a middle name. I think we are still in shock at getting a referral only 6 weeks after our paperwork was logged in with China.
Now we start raising money! We will need to pay our agency very shortly, and then travel expenses in a few months.
Without further ado ...... This picture was taken last October, when she was 9 months old.
We will be updating the blog hopefully more often now!!!!
Aaron, Sherry, Luke, and Jacinda
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