Adopttogether.org is a non-profit agency that is willing to team up with adoptive parents to help ease the financial burden. They provide a tax deductible way for families and companies to help bring orphans home. This is good news because we want people to have the ability to have a tax write-off for every dollar they donate! Our profile can be seen at https://www.adopttogether.org/aaronandsarahjohnson I will warn you...you may see a picture of one of the most beautiful 3 year old boys I have ever laid my eyes on. :)
We also have some "general" timelines for our boy coming home. It sounds like it will most likely be an August homecoming for our little guy. We were initially SO hopeful that he would be home by May or June, however if our adoption goes on the "typical" timeline it will be late summer. However, I would encourage you all to still pray for it to be sooner and that all barriers to paperwork and the various government "hold-ups" for paperwork would be smoothed out and we would be able to go get our boy and hold him in our arms just as soon as possible!
As always, we are so very grateful for everyone's prayers. I find myself staring at Z's picture through the day and wishing he was sitting on my kitchen counter while I make dinner just like my other kids did when they were 3, or helping me put the laundry soap in the washer or sitting beside me while I read him a story. I can't wait to hear him chattering to me in the car or watch him play with his brother and sisters. So many memories to make! We are coming soon, sweet boy!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Happenings...
The tellers at the bank are beginning to know our faces, and this last week when I went in to deposit more change, the teller excitedly asked how much I was depositing this time. I am so excited to tell you through change jars and another paypal donation from our amazing friends and family, our adoption savings is up another $274.41!! To see the small steps toward a HUGE goal adding up is so humbling. We are forever grateful to those donating change and extra money they are setting aside for our boy. We could not do this alone and we are increasingly aware how much we need and appreciate your emotional and financial support. We are both working extra hours at our jobs (which we are extremely grateful for) but the extra pennies and dollars that people are donating are so appreciated.
In other exciting news, we FINALLY have our homestudy complete...
Aaron was able to pick up the finalized, notarized copy this week. We had been waiting on this homestudy for so many reasons-to apply for grants, and to apply for something called an I-800a. This is an application to the USCIS (customs and immigration services) that is basically alerting them we are adopting. With this homestudy and forms we had to fill out for the I-800a, we had to send a $900 check, so again we are so grateful that we had the money you all had donated in our adoption savings account to help cover this.
The I-800a we were able to send off this week is one of the LAST STEPS to our dossier. We have to have the official government approval in order to have our dossier submitted to the secretary of the United States and Chinese Embassy. This I-800a approval takes several weeks to get back, for some people it takes 4 weeks for some it takes 8 weeks, so we are praying for patience and for God to have his hand in speedy USCIS approval. Every week is bringing some progress. We are so thankful for this.
For now, while we wait on the USCIS approval of our I-800a, we are applying for grants and planning a few fundraisers. The first is planned for March 14 and it will be a silent auction of sorts, so if you know of a business willing to donate any goods to go towards our auction, please please think of us. I am getting together a form letter to take to different organizations. Every $5 gift card or donation of goods or services is helpful. We are still working on a way to try to get these donations as a tax deductible write off-as of now we have a site that we are applying through to have cash donations tax deductible, but do not have a way to have goods and services written off-so if you know of anyone with expertise in this area, please contact me, we would love any help possible. We are also planning a garage sale for the spring, so stash away those things you are thinking of donating-we would be happy to come pick them up if needed. Every little thing helps!!
Thank you so very much for the love, and as always-please pray for our boy, pray for his safety and for him to be taken care of physically and emotionally by someone in his orphanage. Please pray for him to come home to us soon and for the process to move as quickly as possible.
--Aaron and Sarah
In other exciting news, we FINALLY have our homestudy complete...
The I-800a we were able to send off this week is one of the LAST STEPS to our dossier. We have to have the official government approval in order to have our dossier submitted to the secretary of the United States and Chinese Embassy. This I-800a approval takes several weeks to get back, for some people it takes 4 weeks for some it takes 8 weeks, so we are praying for patience and for God to have his hand in speedy USCIS approval. Every week is bringing some progress. We are so thankful for this.
For now, while we wait on the USCIS approval of our I-800a, we are applying for grants and planning a few fundraisers. The first is planned for March 14 and it will be a silent auction of sorts, so if you know of a business willing to donate any goods to go towards our auction, please please think of us. I am getting together a form letter to take to different organizations. Every $5 gift card or donation of goods or services is helpful. We are still working on a way to try to get these donations as a tax deductible write off-as of now we have a site that we are applying through to have cash donations tax deductible, but do not have a way to have goods and services written off-so if you know of anyone with expertise in this area, please contact me, we would love any help possible. We are also planning a garage sale for the spring, so stash away those things you are thinking of donating-we would be happy to come pick them up if needed. Every little thing helps!!
Thank you so very much for the love, and as always-please pray for our boy, pray for his safety and for him to be taken care of physically and emotionally by someone in his orphanage. Please pray for him to come home to us soon and for the process to move as quickly as possible.
--Aaron and Sarah
Monday, January 19, 2015
Finding Ad
I mentioned before that the Chinese government requires a "finding ad" is posted in a newspaper before a child is put up for adoption. From my understanding, this is to comply with Hague Convention rules that every effort was made to find the child's biological parents. This ad is often the only baby picture an adoptive family will have of their child.
When we heard about the finding ad, we knew that we wanted to have this for Z. Any history we can have for him, we want to make sure we get. So, we contacted the man who has all of the newspapers and gave him the information he needed to ensure he sent us the correct child's ad. And--this weekend we got our Z's ad...and I just stared at it. I am so happy to have a baby picture of our boy, but so sad for him that he is in this situation. Adoption is more of a mixed set of emotions than I was expecting. We are so excited that we are on this road, but we have been told many times through this journey "adoption begins with loss." It is so true. For any child to be available for adoption, they first experience the loss of biological parents for any number of reasons-none of which are the fault of the child.
So, while we are excited and happy to have this little bit of information, it is tempered with a sense of wishing we had somehow been there to cuddle that sweet little baby when he was tiny and alone. We see the baby we didn't hold, but see the hints of the toddler we will soon kiss, cuddle, and give every ounce of love we can.
So please continue to pray for our little guy on the other side of the world. We are getting through the process as quickly as we can, but there are always many hurdles. Pray for speedy paperwork, pray for our visa applications to be approved quickly and for our dossier packet be authenticated and be on it's way to China this month. Pray for our sanity as this process is difficult, but we know it will be so worth it.
When we heard about the finding ad, we knew that we wanted to have this for Z. Any history we can have for him, we want to make sure we get. So, we contacted the man who has all of the newspapers and gave him the information he needed to ensure he sent us the correct child's ad. And--this weekend we got our Z's ad...and I just stared at it. I am so happy to have a baby picture of our boy, but so sad for him that he is in this situation. Adoption is more of a mixed set of emotions than I was expecting. We are so excited that we are on this road, but we have been told many times through this journey "adoption begins with loss." It is so true. For any child to be available for adoption, they first experience the loss of biological parents for any number of reasons-none of which are the fault of the child.
So, while we are excited and happy to have this little bit of information, it is tempered with a sense of wishing we had somehow been there to cuddle that sweet little baby when he was tiny and alone. We see the baby we didn't hold, but see the hints of the toddler we will soon kiss, cuddle, and give every ounce of love we can.
So please continue to pray for our little guy on the other side of the world. We are getting through the process as quickly as we can, but there are always many hurdles. Pray for speedy paperwork, pray for our visa applications to be approved quickly and for our dossier packet be authenticated and be on it's way to China this month. Pray for our sanity as this process is difficult, but we know it will be so worth it.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Celebrating every step...
I can't decide if this is a big step or a little step...but, our news today is this!!
Aaron was able to take some of our dossier documents to the Secretary of State today to have them certified! We have a few more documents that have to go through the Secretary of State that we are still trying to get our hands on (ahem....finalized homestudy) but we are getting there.
As far as our finalized homestudy goes, keep praying. I know our agency has sent it back to the homestudy agency here in Boise. I talked to our homestudy case worker today and she is getting the final pieces put into the document and then it has to be signed off by her supervisor. We are trying not to get too anxious or frustrated...but it is HARD.
The reason behind our push to get this homestudy finalized is EVERYTHING else we do hinges on having that paperwork in our hands. We can't apply for visas until we have the homestudy. We can't apply for grants until we have the homestudy. We can't submit our completed dossier to the correct government agencies without our homestudy. *Sigh* But again, I am reminded that we are not in control of all of this and we never have been in control. In the grand scheme of things, this is still going much more smoothly than we had expected and we are thrilled that we are even as far along in the process as we are.
So, in the coming week we could use prayers for calm, prayers for our boy to get his package soon and to know we are coming for him as soon as we possibly can, prayers for our homestudy to be finalized and in our hot little hands so we can continue moving forward, and prayers for an update on our sweet little man soon. This process of gazing at our boys sweet face every day and wishing he was already safe in our arms is surely strengthening us in ways we cannot even imagine.
We are still waiting on our boy's finding ad (see previous post). We should have it within the next week and half.
So for now, we continue to thank you for your comfort and ask you to continue to pray.
-Aaron and Sarah
Aaron was able to take some of our dossier documents to the Secretary of State today to have them certified! We have a few more documents that have to go through the Secretary of State that we are still trying to get our hands on (ahem....finalized homestudy) but we are getting there.
As far as our finalized homestudy goes, keep praying. I know our agency has sent it back to the homestudy agency here in Boise. I talked to our homestudy case worker today and she is getting the final pieces put into the document and then it has to be signed off by her supervisor. We are trying not to get too anxious or frustrated...but it is HARD.
The reason behind our push to get this homestudy finalized is EVERYTHING else we do hinges on having that paperwork in our hands. We can't apply for visas until we have the homestudy. We can't apply for grants until we have the homestudy. We can't submit our completed dossier to the correct government agencies without our homestudy. *Sigh* But again, I am reminded that we are not in control of all of this and we never have been in control. In the grand scheme of things, this is still going much more smoothly than we had expected and we are thrilled that we are even as far along in the process as we are.
So, in the coming week we could use prayers for calm, prayers for our boy to get his package soon and to know we are coming for him as soon as we possibly can, prayers for our homestudy to be finalized and in our hot little hands so we can continue moving forward, and prayers for an update on our sweet little man soon. This process of gazing at our boys sweet face every day and wishing he was already safe in our arms is surely strengthening us in ways we cannot even imagine.
We are still waiting on our boy's finding ad (see previous post). We should have it within the next week and half.
So for now, we continue to thank you for your comfort and ask you to continue to pray.
-Aaron and Sarah
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Getting closer!
Our homestudy FINALLY went to our adoption agency on Monday after an unexpected 2 week delay. Yayyyy! We are so excited to be one more step in the process. Our agency has up to a week to make any changes that are needed in wording/format and then they send it back to the homestudy agency here in Boise to be finalized. After this point we can start the process of authenticating our dossier (which is a fancy word for sending it to a lot of government agencies for various stamps and seals).
We are also getting really REALLY anxious for an update. Our agency requests one every 3 months from the orphanage, which means January is the month they request next for us. I am so ready for a new picture of our boy and am crossing my fingers for a possible video! We cannot ask them for specific details (like a video) but I know some people in the process have received this welcome surprise. We are also hopeful for an updated weight and height, but again, we will be happy for any information we can get! And, just a note, although our agency REQUESTS an update this month, it may take a month or two for the orphanage to respond to this request. So although we are aware of the fact that it can take a bit to get an update, we are praying for it to come very soon!
Obviously, many adopted children have little to no history prior to adoption to look back on when they are older. Our boy is no exception to this. But--the internet is an amazing place and through another adoptive mom I learned about a site where you can request (for a small fee) your child's "finding ad." This is the ad the orphanage is required to post in a local (Chinese) paper at some point in the child's early life. Some orphanages place this ad right away, some post it after a few years. *side note--We have already become VERY aware through this process that the Chinese government does not operate like the US government, and we are trying to roll with it since we have no control over it. But I digress. Back to the finding ad--I have been in contact with one of the companies that has copies of Chinese newspapers dating back to 1999...and he found our boy's ad! We should receive it within about 14 days and he let me know it does have a small black and white picture in the ad of Z when he was much younger. We are so excited to have this little piece of our boy's history.
We are so excited things are moving forward again and so thankful for all of the prayers for this. Please continue, as always, to remember our boy Z. We are acutely aware that he is in a less than ideal place-although it seems they are taking good physical care of him, it is an orphanage, not a family. We continue to pray daily that he is being loved by someone and communicated with in a loving way. We pray for this process to go as quickly as possible, all the while realizing we are not in control of any of it.
Thank you as always for your kind words that make every day easier. We are so blessed by all of you.
Aaron and Sarah
We are also getting really REALLY anxious for an update. Our agency requests one every 3 months from the orphanage, which means January is the month they request next for us. I am so ready for a new picture of our boy and am crossing my fingers for a possible video! We cannot ask them for specific details (like a video) but I know some people in the process have received this welcome surprise. We are also hopeful for an updated weight and height, but again, we will be happy for any information we can get! And, just a note, although our agency REQUESTS an update this month, it may take a month or two for the orphanage to respond to this request. So although we are aware of the fact that it can take a bit to get an update, we are praying for it to come very soon!
Obviously, many adopted children have little to no history prior to adoption to look back on when they are older. Our boy is no exception to this. But--the internet is an amazing place and through another adoptive mom I learned about a site where you can request (for a small fee) your child's "finding ad." This is the ad the orphanage is required to post in a local (Chinese) paper at some point in the child's early life. Some orphanages place this ad right away, some post it after a few years. *side note--We have already become VERY aware through this process that the Chinese government does not operate like the US government, and we are trying to roll with it since we have no control over it. But I digress. Back to the finding ad--I have been in contact with one of the companies that has copies of Chinese newspapers dating back to 1999...and he found our boy's ad! We should receive it within about 14 days and he let me know it does have a small black and white picture in the ad of Z when he was much younger. We are so excited to have this little piece of our boy's history.
We are so excited things are moving forward again and so thankful for all of the prayers for this. Please continue, as always, to remember our boy Z. We are acutely aware that he is in a less than ideal place-although it seems they are taking good physical care of him, it is an orphanage, not a family. We continue to pray daily that he is being loved by someone and communicated with in a loving way. We pray for this process to go as quickly as possible, all the while realizing we are not in control of any of it.
Thank you as always for your kind words that make every day easier. We are so blessed by all of you.
Aaron and Sarah
Thursday, January 1, 2015
2015 is HERE!!!
We are so excited 2015 is here! As long as everything goes smoothly, this is the year we are bringing Z home!
.JPG) |
| This is a little picture Abby and Titus drew for us the other day. It is a map of China with a heart near his province. I love how Z is already a part of our everyday thoughts. I just can't wait until he is a part of our lives-running around, playing, and learning what it is to be a family. |
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