Jones Family Adoption Blog

It has been a little while since I last updated the blog but we (read Jackie) have been busy with the tedious paperwork involved in the adoption process.  The picture above is a completion certificate for 8 of the 10 hours of online training that Jackie and I need to do.  We are currently in the process of our home study.  We will have a total of four meetings with our social worker who will help us complete the home study.  She has met with both of us and with Jackie individually.  She still needs to meet with me individually and visit our house.  We have also been getting together all of the documents we need for our home study and dossier.  It’s things like fingerprinting by the state and FBI, criminal record checks, 911 call histories, new birth certificates, marriage license, tax returns, etc., etc., etc.  So, nothing very exciting, but it feels like we are making some progress.  The Ethiopian courts actually close from August through September, so we won’t be able to submit anything during those months.  So, our goal is to have all of this done by the end of September and to also reach our next fundraising goal by then.  In order to submit  our Dossier, we need approx. $6,000 more than we have now.  Please be praying with us that God will provide this money in the next 2 months so that we won’t experience any delays in the process.

5 years ago today, Jackie was driving me to the hospital for a routine colonoscopy.  5 years ago today, my surgeon was telling me about a tumor in my colon that had to come out NOW.  5 years ago today, I was waking up from that surgery wondering if I still had a future in this life.  5 years ago today, our family was starting the darkest season of our lives.

Today, I sit in a Starbucks writing this post with tears in my eyes COMPLETELY HEALED from cancer.  Today, we celebrate God’s mercy and goodness in our lives.  We give thanks that He chose to leave me here for a while longer.  I’ll never understand the work of God- why He chose to heal me and why others die from the disease.  All I can do is thank him and continue to live all of my life for Him.  I am no longer be satisfied with a safe, predictable life.  I want to live my life fully devoted and given over to His purposes in this world.  Celebrate with our family today!  He is worthy of all our praise!

Last Tuesday, we completed our first Home Study.  This is a very important part of the process that shows both the US government and Ethiopian government that we are fit to adopt.  This first appointment was a meeting with Jackie, a social worker and me.  The social worker met us, overviewed the process and walked us through the mountain of paperwork that we have to do.  It is so crazy how much paperwork there is.  Just as an example, we have to have 911 records for every home we have lived in for the last five years.

The next two home studies will be one on one interviews with Jackie and me.  The final home study will be an inspection of our home.  We have been told that the Home Study process takes 4-6 months, so we are trying to just focus on taking it one step at a time and not get overwhelmed looking at the pile.  We would really appreciate your prayers that God would give us the patience and perseverance through all the red tape.

We are so grateful for how God is providing for this adoption.  Our biggest fear moving into this process was the money it would take.  It is so expensive to adopt, and we knew we just couldn’t afford it.  So, we just took the leap and have been praying that God would supply the finances to make it happen.  Well, we just reached a major milestone in the fundraising process by raising just under $5,000- the amount we needed to get us through the “paper chase” part of the adoption.  We are so grateful to be able to move forward and build our Dossier to send over to Ethiopia.  To give you an idea of the financial part of our adoption, it is easiest to think about it in three parts:

Phase 1: Application and Paperchase: $4,080
Phase 2: Dossier Submission: $7,200
Phase 3: Referral & Travel: $17,150

We are fully funded for phase 1, so now we are moving on to our next financial goal: Dossier Submission.  Building our Dossier to send to Ethiopia (the paperchase) will take 3-4 months.  This is mostly due to waiting on various government agencies to return forms that we send them.  So, in the next 3-4 months our goal is to raise $7,200.  Once we do that, we will be considered “paper pregnant”, and all that will be left is travel expenses and program fees.  If you are able, we would love your help in reaching this next goal of $7,200.  You can donate through Paypal by clicking on the donate button at the top of the page.  To give you an idea of where all this money is going, here is a breakdown of all the expenses for each phase.  For all those of you who have helped us get to this point, thank you SO MUCH.  We will never be able to express the depth of our gratitude to you.  You have blessed us in a way that we can’t even fully express!

Phase 1: Application and Paperchase; $4,080
Application Fee: $250
1st AWAA Program Fee: $1,125
Home Study: $1,200
Adoptive Parent Training: $175
USCIS Fee & fingerprinting: $830
Miscellaneous Paperwork fees: $500

Phase 2: Dossier Submission: $7,200
Courier Service: $150
2nd AWAA Program Fee: $1,500
Post Adoption Report Deposit: $1,000
Dossier Service and Translation: $800
1st Interntional Program Fee*: $3,750

Phase 3: Referral & Travel: $17,150
International Specialist Consultation $200
3rd AWAA Program Fee: $1,125
2nd International Program Fee*: $3,750
Post Adoption Administrative Fee: $385
Airfare (2 adults/2 trips): $8,000
Airfare (1 child): $250
Visas (2 adults): $40
Visa/Embassy Fee (1 child): $400
In-Country Travel Package (2 trips)**: $3,000

*International Program Fees include the following expenses:
-America World Development Project program fee
-Child’s medical exam(s)
-Orphanage donation
-Transitional child-rearing fee

**In-Country Travel Package includes the following expenses:
-Housing accomodations
-Meals
-Tour guides/Translators
-In-country transportation
-Gratuity to Ethiopian staff and guides

As you can probably tell by the picture, running the Ortho Team Marathon in Minneapolis last Sunday was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  I trained diligently and thought I prepared well, but it was much harder than I anticipated. My goal was to try to finish in 4 hrs. and 30 min., but it took me 5hrs. and 32 min.  I was beating myself up for it during the run, but now I’m just glad I finished it.

I think the biggest problem is that I trained on fairly flat roads and the race was very hilly.  In races like this, they normally have “pacers”- people that help you meet your time goals.  They run with little signs to help identify them.  I was on pace until mile 10.  At that point, I could begin to tell that my legs were not going to be able to keep that pace for 26.2.  So, I dropped back and began running with the group that was trying to finish in 4 hrs. and 45 min.  I ran with them until about mile 14, and then I couldn’t even keep up with them.  Over the next few miles, the 5 hour group passed me, and I began to get very discouraged.  By mile 18, I began to wonder if I was even going to be able to finish.  From the waist down, every muscle was tight and on the verge of cramping.  It was rough.  So, the last 8 miles, I alternated running and walking and just gutted it out to the finish line.  The race had a 6 hour limit, so at that point my goal became just to not get picked up.

Like I said, during the race, I was really beating myself up and feeling bad about not being able to run like I had hoped.  But, oh well.  I finished, and I’m sure will do another one sometime in the future and try to get a better time.  For, now, I think I’m going to focus on half marathons.  I ran one a couple years ago and really enjoyed it.  For me, 13.1 seems like a more doable distance.  Races are a great motivator for me to consistently exercise, so I’m probably going to register for the Silver Comet Half Marathon on October 30th.  Jackie and my mom are going to run it with me too.  Anyone want to join us?

Once we left DC, we went to our vacation home rental in Ocean City Maryland. We spent a lot of time on the beach and at the park. One day, we went mini golfing with the boys while my mom stayed with Sadie. On one of the days, it was so windy that we couldn’t even stay on the beach- sand was blowing everywhere. So, we flew kites at the park instead. The last day of the trip, we went to a restaurant called Fish Tales, and it was so good. The boys had a ship to play on, and the adults had a great meal. All in all, we had a great trip. It was very memorable family time that we will have great memories of for years to come!

After DC, we headed to our vacation home rental in Ocean City, MD. We got in Saturday afternoon and just took our time getting settled. My brother and his family are here with us through the end of Monday, so we are just hanging out with them, walking on the Boardwalk, walking on the beach and swimming at the pool. Luckily, they have an indoor pool because so far, it hasn’t been very warm. The boys love that the pool has a slide.

After the museum, we drove to Washington DC where we met my brother and his family. They live in Delaware, so it was only a 2 hr trip for them. After we got the kids to bed, we headed out to look around DC at night. It was a cool walk, and it was good to have some time to hang out with him. The next day, we saw the major monuments and road the Metro. We also went to the National Air and Space Museum. DC is a cool place- a little difficult to navigate with young kids, but it was good for us all to see it. I’ll post more pictures of our time there later.

We started off our trip by making a stop over in Raleigh, NC. We actually spent the night in Chapel Hill right in the campus of UNC (where Priceline picked for us). It was actually really cool- they have a good vibe in their downtown area like Athens. We had a slice of their famous artichoke pizza for dinner. I thought it was really good, but Jackie didn’t care for it. The next day, we went to downtown Raleigh to their Museum of Natural Science. It was awesome and free! The kids loved it. Seth has become the family photographer, and he’s actully really good at it. I’ll post some of his pictures later. So far, so good- we are having some great famy time!