All "Psych"-ed Out

Yesterday was our Psychological Evaluation.  We drove to Doylestown first thing in the morning yesterday to begin the evaluation.  The psychologist greeted us and was very nice.  The interview began, and that portion was somewhat brief.  Then came the questionnaires.  Alicia went to a separate office to begin answering a series of questionnaires, and I began working on my pile in the other office.  The first few were simple...done in a few minutes and nothing too out of the ordinary.  Then came the multi-page series of questions that seemed incredibly repetitive and somewhat depressing.  The final questionnaire was a 567 question SAT style evaluation.  It took me almost an hour and a half to work my way through this series of ten questions asked 56 different ways.  I am still seeing dots drawn with a number two pencil when I close my eyes.  All in all, it was a somewhat painless process, and the psychologist is trying to expedite the process for us.  All of our paperwork is waiting for this completed evaluation.

Earlier this week, we received our approval from USCIS, so that step is complete.  Alicia is planning to take our dossier to Living Hope Adoption Agency today, so that when the psychologist sends the completed evaluation to them, the dossier is ready to begin the authentication process. 

Our Both Hands Project continues to come together.  We have had two more companies sponsor the project:  Ace Hardware has provided us with some supplies, and Buso Landscaping is providing some services.  Friends and family of our team has already donated over $1700.  We have been blown away by everyone's generosity, and so thankful for all of the support.

Newest Info

Well, the other day I got an email from our social worker that I saw as I had called her about our I-600A approval.  As we were talking she said "yes, i sent an email, please don't shoot the messenger".  That got me worried.  As I got off the phone I opened the email to find we have two more hurdles to overcome.  More pictures of the  house (you might be thinking, "no big deal"- we probably have about 30 pictures we are sending) and now we have to get psychological evaluations done for both Andy & I.  We have to now wait to send our dossier to Living Hope until we have that completed-this all being said that we should receive our letter from USCIS this next week and we would have been able to send our dossier at that time.

If that was not discouraging enough, i called an agency that we referred to us...about $1600 later we will have what we need.  They are however being very accommodating to the point that we have our appointment this next Wednesday which is amazing in my opinion since I know it can be difficult to get in to see a psychologist quickly.  I had to step back last night and remind myself that if this had been on the print-out originally for what we had to do we probably would not have even questioned it.  Not that we really questioned it, just were a bit discouraged. 

All this being said, please be praying for the appointment to go well, and that the estimated time that we were told it would take on the Psychologist's end would go quicker so it might not cost so much.  I trust that God will truly provide all that we need to make this happen and are firmly believing that God just wants to fully show us that this is only happening because of Him, not by anything that we could ever do on our own!

Please also be in prayer for our little one still waiting in Honduras.  Pray that she is getting the care that she needs, that she is getting attention and that she is receiving love from her caregivers.  Pray also that the Lord is at work in her heart to prepare her to join into our family!  Looking forward to the day that I can hold her in my arms and welcome her home!

Just for fun!

This video has nothing to do with our adoption, but as we met tonight to put together letters for the Both Hands Project, Derek Coyle made me aware of this video.  Enjoy!!

A New Step

We thought we had finished all of the process work needed to complete our dossier.  We thought we were ready to send everything off to our agency and then to Honduras as soon as approval came from USCIS.  Today brought us a new hurdle to jump in the dossier process.  This is one of the problems with being one of the first few families in a new program with a foreign country.  The Honduran government has added the requirement of a series of pictures to be added to the dossier - no problem, we can do that quickly.  Also, they are requiring that all prospective adopting parents undergo a thorough psychological evaluation.  We received some referrals from our agency, so now it is just a matter of making an appointment and getting this evaluation added to our dossier. 

We did get some good news...we received our first report of donations made to Lifesong for Orphans for the Both Hands Project.  So far, friends and family have donated $1076.92.  Thank you to all who have given of themselves to help us with the expenses of our adoption.

Still Waiting!

On Wednesday, May 25, Alicia and I made the journey to NE Philadelphia to have our fingerprints done for the approval process with US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS).  Every day since then we wait for the mail to come, hoping that the letter of approval would come from USCIS.  We are still waiting...the rest of the dossier packet is ready to go, so as soon as USCIS approval comes off goes the paperwork.  We thank the Lord for His grace, and for His patience with us.  We also thank the Lord for so many friends that have been praying for us, and regularly ask us how things are going - Thank You!

The Both Hands project is coming together.  We have a team of friends and family that have volunteered to be part of the team.  We are preparing for June 25th (the project date) and beginning to pull together supplies and other details.  Our team members are sending out their sponsor letters and we have been encouraged by some local companies that are getting involved by posting fliers at their location or making a donation to the project.  Recently, Nyce Shirts in Harleysville, Advanced Chiropractic & Spine Center in Souderton, Diddens Greenhouse in Hatfield and Main Street Java in Souderton.  If you aren't sure what the Both Hands Project is all about, you can read our letter at the Both Hands site.