I-600A...check!!

So, we right after taking the kids to school this morning, we headed out to catch the trenino into the center. We knew the trains would be packed and they were. Fortunately, Judah still fits in the sling, so that's good news. We got to the Embassy at the appointed time...thankfully we weren't late--they are sticklers for that kind of thing. And thanks to some great advice from friends who had done the Embassy thing a couple of weeks before, we packed light and made it through security without a hitch. It took us an hour and a half or so to get all the fingerprints and papers filed...but they are FILED! That's one less thing that we have to do. All that is left on our list are the medical letters and Italian police clearance. We're working on figuring out how to get those completed.

Thank you for praying for things to go smoothly today--they couldn't have been better! We were back in our neighborhood by 12:15pm...CRAZY! We appreciate you all for how you support us with your prayers....I don't think we waited longer than 5 minutes for ANY train today (and we were on 6)...totally God! Praise Him with us!

Home Study Interview is Finished!

So we've checked off the toughest part of our home study completion--the interview! Our social worker was super sweet and very relaxed and laid back so there was no pressure or awkwardness. Jared met her without a hitch at the airport and things got underway on time and we finished on schedule and she was back to the airport in plenty of time to catch her flight home to Germany.

So that's huge relief. She has already been working on the draft so she figured that once the police clearances come in and she's able to add them to the report, we should have our completed home study in a couple of weeks.

Please join us in praying for the paperwork to be collected speedily--we've mailed our police clearance form to OK from Rome and then they will mail the clearance to Jared's parents' house in Hollis and then Jared's parents will then turn around and mail the clearances on to GA to our agency and they will fax them to our Social worker in Germany...so there are a LOT of steps that could easily get bogged down and add more time onto the waiting. So please pray against hang-ups.

When the Home Study is completed we will be finished with the first of three big steps in the adoption paper trail. The next step is to pass the USCIS approval...we go to the Embassy here in Rome on Wednesday morning at 10. Please pray that we are able to get in and out of the offices very quickly because it takes about an hour to travel there and we HAVE to pick our kids up by 2pm from school. Once our Home Study is completed, it will be submitted to USCIS and they, hopefully, will approve it quickly and then it can be added to the dossier. We're hoping to have a completed dossier by the end of October...we'll see!!

Thank you all for being faithful to pray for us on this journey...we are one step closer!!

the preparations are underway...

So, we are gearing up for a crazy day of cleaning and organizing so we can fully make room for that sweet girl who is closer to being ours.

Our social worker flies in tomorrow at noon and we'll spend a whirlwind 4 hours in interviews and paperwork shuffling an then she flies back to Germany at 7pm.

We've got great help offered from Taylor and Heidi who have volunteer to spend the day with our kids thankfully so that, hopefully, things can go more smoothly.

Please pray for us tomorrow. Pray that we will have quiet and peaceful hearts and that our minds are clear, enabling us to be articulate and genuine.

Thank you all.

just thought this was neat