(7.B) The Seal of Approval

Once the meetings were over with the social worker, we patiently waited on her to write the reports and get them approved by our agency.  Four weeks later, we received our approved Home Study and prepared to mail it to the US Customs and Immigration Department (USCIS).  It was great to read all of the wonderful things she had to say about our family in this 16 page typed document.  The report discusses details of our childhood, high school experiences, family relationships, marriage, parenting skills, personalities, appearances, the look and feel of our home, our salaries...  I honestly think I learned something about myself by reading through it that I didn't already know.  ha!  If the governments did not know who Jeremy and Brandy Romine were before this day, they definitely know everything about us now.  Can I put emphasis on the word EVERYTHING.  :)  Once we completed our I600A application, we mailed it to the USCIS.  At this point, we wait on notices of appointments to travel to our US Department of Homeland Security office to get our Biometrics (fingerprints) taken.  The process takes about 1 month to get the notice and 1 month to process the Biometrics.   

(7) Homestudy August 2012

Finally, the dreaded day we had been waiting on.  When you read about Home Studies online, they appear to be the most awful thing ever.  You are asked to open up your home to a social worker to examine everything about you, your family, your past, and your home.  This was the part of the process I had come to dread until I talked with our social worker on the phone one evening before she came to our house.  I told her I was nervous and asked her a few questions regarding things I needed to prep before she came.  She was so kind to tell me that she was only coming to find all of the good things about our family so she could write a report about us

(6) You Want to Know WHAT?? May 2012

After getting back in touch with our adoption agency, we were mailed the "Application Part 2".  This is the part of the paperwork where they literally find out everything about you.  There is a part of the application (the medical portion) that literally asks you about your .......yea, you know what!! 

(5) Pray BIG

I have thought long and hard about whether or not to share this part of our story because the topic of finance can be very private for me.  I share this part of the story not placing the emphasis on the expenses associated with adopting, but with the miracle God has provided our family in the midst of these expenses.  God is so good and I want to share with you the blessings He has already placed on our family by following through with His will. 

So many questions began to fill our minds with how we were going to fund this adoption.  Our first logical thing we needed to do was to sell our land that we had recently bought and paid closing costs on (makes no sense...right?) 

(4) Peace At Last Spring 2012

Almost a year had gone by since we stopped the "process" and we now had our house up for sale, had purchased land, and had picked out home plans to build in an addition that we absolutely loved.  With all of that, you would think that I would have been ecstatic.  Seriously, who isn't pumped about building their first home?   Well, that would have been me.  Everybody would ask me about it

(1) Right here, right now

So this weekend, I became completely inspired by this woman's blog she writes to inform her family and friends about their adoption journey.  I literally cannot take my eyes off of her stories.  I too, would love to share our story of adoption.  There is so much to adopting I would love to share with people and hopefully be an inspiration to somebody elses journey.  When I first started thinking about writing our story, it was hard to think of where to start.  The process for us began

(2) Crazy Talk 2008

Well, our story of adoption really began developing about 4 years ago.  Up until this point, I had never thought of the idea of Jeremy and I adopting.  Jeremy had mentioned earlier on in our marriage that he thought it would be neat to adopt, but the conversation stopped there.  4 long years ago (it seems) God placed international adoption on my heart.  I was very confused by this because we were able to give birth to our first born son so easily.  I asked God many questions during this time and

(3) Curve ball Summer 2011

Putting off the adoption conversation worked for about 6 months, but soon realized that when the "big Man in heaven" puts something on your hearts, He does not stop until it is complete (Phillipians 1:6).   We both had not mentioned adoption again for 6 months when it came up in conversation one night and we soon realized that we still had this lingering place in our hearts to adopt.  At this point, we decided to research agencies and submit an application.  We both decided on an agency (Dillon International) and submitted a request for an application.  This first application was pretty simple, asking the basic