August 3, 2014 - Said YES! to our hearts and officially decide we're going to take steps in faith to pursue international adoption.
August 4, 2014-September 10th, 2014 - Research different countries and different agencies and (because God practically laid it in our laps) decide on adopting from Burundi!
September 19, 2014 - Approved! YAY!
HERE WE GO!
December 2014 - Christmas Tree fundraiser! Raised over $800 in tree sales and donations!
January 13, 2015 - Sent in all of our signed/notarized contracts and are officially part of the Burundi Pilot Program with our agency!
March 2, 2015 - After 6 weeks of paper chasing, adoption education courses, fingerprinting, sheriff's office visits, medical exams, and a million phone calls/emails with our paperwork coordinator, we sent in our whole Home Study packet of paperwork! We are now ready for our face-to-face visits with our social worker and ready to start our Dossier paper chase (the BIG one that will be translated and sent to Burundi)!
April 8, 2015 - Home Study home visits completed!
May 13, 2015 - Home Study completed - approval letter in hand! {Big step! Can you hear my exhale on that one?} ;)
June 26/27, 2015 - Fundraiser Yard Sale (and the sale of cinnamon rolls and iced coffee)! We were shocked to add up the proceeds after the sale to see that we made over $2,100! Crazy!!!
July 6, 2015 - Dossier sent (from our house) and today it arrived at AGCI! {It is now being translated and getting ready to be sent to Burundi!} This is the biggest milestone yet - having that dossier finished is UH-MAZING! Whew!
July 7, 2015 - USCIS (I-800A) immigration application sent to Homeland Security in Dallas, TX.
July 31, 2015 - USCIS (I-800A) fingerprint appointment in Portland, OR.
August 2015 - Dossier registered in Burundi. We are now officially "waiting for a match!"
September 2015 - Matching committee in Burundi meets to match children with families. No match for us this time (not surprising, but you never know!).
December 2015 - Matching committee meets. No match for us.
March 2016 - Matching committee meets. No match for our family.
May 2016 - We move! We bought my parent's house and property and now have to update our home study and USCIS paperwork. A lot of work, but we're confident that we're still exactly where the Lord wants us in this adoption, so we press on.
December 2016 - Matching committee meets again (it felt like a long wait between meetings this time and we're very anxious). No match. Ourhearts are weary, but we're trusting that the Lord is working even when He SEEMS silent. This wait is HARD.
June 2017 - Matching committee meets but they don't finish their meeting so we don't get to hear results until they can meet again.
August 2017 - Matching committee finishes their meeting. Results aren't revealed.
October 2017 - Waiting on results is one of the hardest parts of this whole thing because you know what's done is done and you just want to know one way or the other. Unfortunately, after this extra long and painful wait, we find out that again, we did not get a match.
November 2017 - Home Study update needed again - along with USCIS paperwork. This was a tough pill to swallow because it feels like we're at the beginning again with no end in sight. Having something to DO (paperwork, doctor appointments for everyone, fingerprinting appointments, etc.) makes the month fly by though and sort of surprises me with how it refreshes my excitement for the adoption and renews my strength in the wait. God always knows what we need in the hard moments (days/weeks/months).
January 2018 - Matching committee meets.
February 27, 2018 Finally! We got THE CALL - our family was MATCHED!!!!!
Aaahhhh - a BEAUTIFUL little 18 month old girl. Our hearts are SO SO SO full! She is precious and our arms and hearts ache for her to be in our family, in our home, rightthisminute. We begin the paper process of officially adopting her.
March 13 - After required phone consults with an international adoption pediatrician, our social worker, and our case worker, and getting papers signed, copied, and notarized, we officially accept the referral. HERE WE GO!
March 19, 2018 - Applied for I800 (immigration approval - but unlike the first time we applied for USCIS approval, this one has specifics with her name and age - SO EXCITING!)
April 23, 2018 - I800 approved!
April 25, 2018 - Applied for our daughter's visa (now we wait for her Article 5 document, which is approved in Kenya. The Article 5 is pretty much a letter of intent that says they will issue her a visa once our adoption is finalized in country and we have traveled to get her.)
May 21, 2018 - Article 5 issued and sent to Bujumbura! Now our lawyer there can apply for our court date which will finalize the adoption in country! This is a HUGE step - we can't wait for her to be officially OUR DAUGHTER!
June 18, 2018 - Court date! Yay! What a relief! Now we wait for the court decree to be written (to have the judge's ruling on paper so we can begin applying for our travel visas and our lawyer can apply for her passport!). This "usually" takes around 2 weeks.
August 8, 2018 - Our sweet daughter's 2nd birthday. Hard day for all of us. Not only because we're waiting to celebrate with her in our arms, but because we got an email saying that we won't get our court decree until at least September (because the courts shut down for August). Such a hard day.
August 10, 2018 - Surprise! Got a phone call from our agency today that somehow (!!!) our court decree got written on July 31st!! We are shocked! And so happy! SHE IS OURS!!
August 16, 2018 - Sent in the applications for our travel visas for Kenya and Burundi!
August 20, 2018 - Burundi "baby" shower! Such a great time of celebration and surprise! So many lovely faces there to celebrate with us and a huge love offering for airfare too! Blown away by the support is those who love us and already love Rory.
September 22, 2018 - Prayer gathering to see us off. Close friends and relatives gathered to pray over our trip and over our family before we left. Such a blessing to be loved and prayed for this way!
September 24, 2018 - Leaving on a jet plane! Kissed our kids goodbye and drove to Portland to be Burundi bound!
September 26, 2018 - Aurora Celesta finally in our arms!!!!! Worth every headache of paperwork, every fingerprint, every medical appointment, every home study visit, every notarization, every trip to the post office, every prayer, every minute of waiting. Worth it ALL.
OCTOBER 6, 2018 - FAMILY DAY. First day together as a family of SEVEN. ♥️
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