Preparing for the home study

 (Picture of our kids and cousins this summer)

There are MANY steps in international adoption! Most of the time I am thankful that they are so careful about who they let through this process, but some of the time it just seems oppressive. As we filled out the 26 steps of paperwork needed to begin the home study, we both said, "Our hat is off to anyone who would do this without knowing the kid they are pursuing!"

WOW! What a labor or love! At least we know the sweet boy we are pursuing since we hosted him this summer.

 With Perry starting his new job, and still working his part time job he has logged 60 hours these first two weeks of work. That has been an adjustment to us since he hasn't worked full time since last October. We did the last piece of our puzzle this morning! (For this very beginning home study step). Some of the 26 steps are involved (health physical, notarized guardian letter...) some are signing fee agreements etc. Perry mailed the documents today!

The caseworker is on vacation until Thursday, so in some ways that allowed me some breathing room this past week. We are hoping the papers will arrive at the end of this week and she can assign us the case worker. Their is only 1 worker who lives within an hour of us who works for this home study agency. Please pray she is available. We need this home study complete by Thanksgiving to get to the next step. Also, we need to find 15 hours to do some on line training classes together as well as a couple of other things to complete the home study.

One step at a time.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has been supporting us in prayer, encouragement and financially! We have already paid  $6,810 in this $35,000 process and are thankful for every gift!

This is the link to our "Go fund Me Page" if you are interested

The More The Perryer Adoption

 

Also a very sweet (and busy) church friend is organizing a yard sale for us at her house Sat Oct 29th. More details to follow, but if you have anything you would like to donate to the sale, we are hoping to raise some money to bring this little guy back home.

Feeling the Love!

We have been overwhelmed by all the love, encouragement, excitement, prayers, and money coming our way! THANK YOU!!
The start of school hit me like a ton of bricks. The paperwork, the fast paced schedule, anxious middle schooler! (No new pics of Jude, although I have reserved some for later posts)

Also, came the home study packet. There are 26 things we need to do before we can send it back. When we do, that will start the home study. Then there are about 10 things (including hours of education) that we have to complete before the home study visits conclude. (Then many more steps)

Some examples of the 26 things:

1. Pay the home study fee- okay, not time consuming (Amazing that after 10 months of unemployment we are able to do this. Praise our Provider!)

7. Individual autobiographies following a detailed outline (phew- dug up the one from Alyona- this one only took me an hour to modify. Perry still working on his)

16. proof of health insurance for adopted child - shouldn't be hard, but Perry starts his job tomorrow, so benefit info still pending.

22. Doctor examination of all 5 of us,( HIV test, Hep B, Tuberculosis for adults). This one was more time consuming than other numbers. Here we are 4 business days to get 5 appointments in while Perry isn't working. Our doctors got the 2 of us in on Wed (my only available day) and had the results of our blood work for us when we got our TB test read on Friday! The nurse, herself adopted, worked diligently to make sure our physicals matched. She said it was a privilege to help us. She knows first hand the blessing of adoption.
 I called the pediatrician on Tuesday and before I did I whispered a prayer, "Lord, go before me. We have one available time to make this happen, late Friday afternoon. ". I called. The ONLY nurse who knows me answered the phone! "Hey Mindy, going to sound crazy, but I was wondering if the doctor would see all my kids as late as possible Friday to fill out these forms?" She goes right to ask the doctor directly and comes back to the line, "Dr. Sutherland would be happy to see all three kids at 4PM Friday!"
Okay- checking these numbers off.

Right now the ball is in our court. I started working on this packet Monday, and I hope to get it in the mail by week's end. This is of course the tip of the iceberg. At least the mailing of the papers will put the ball in someone else's court.
Daily someone will remember something Jude did. We will chuckle or sing his favorite Chinese songs (none of us know what we are saying). Man, we miss him!

Prayer requests:

• Jude's protection- physically, emotionally, spiritually. Also, I'm asking the Lord to give him hope that we are coming for him
• Perry- his job official starts tomorrow (although he has volunteered 2 x/week at this place since May) this will be the first time in 10 months he will work all day! And although he could handle that, most days he is working 4-5 hours tutoring in addition. We don't want to turn down the tutoring gigs, especially since their busy season is finite, but 12 hour days are long for that introvert.
• Our new groove- we need to get into a good school routine. I am back to teaching 2.5 days a week, babysitting before and after school daily (Perry Care), adoption papers, dog sitting and normal life. I am feeling sustained by the Lord, not melting in a pile of crazy (yet), but need to pace myself.
• Praise for the Body of Christ and all of the encouragement and excitement they are sharing with us.

A Family For Jude!

God is so very faithful and sets the lonely into families! (Psalm 68:6)

After much prayer, counsel, and consideration, we are moving forward to adopt Jude!

At the beginning of the lay off, Perry pointed us to the verse Proverbs 3:6 "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight".  Who are we to know plot our course? His ways are higher than ours.
We would never have guessed, a lay off would lead to hosting which would lead us to our son.
We would have zigged, God had us zag.

It feels surreal. It is not logical to embark on an expensive adoption journey after 10 months of unemployment. A friend told me the adoption path is a "rugged road, but more of Jesus". We are taking the next step in faith. It feels a bit like when you are early pregnant and you aren't sure you should tell people because there are so many pitfalls that could happen.

We decided to move forward on August 25th. We filled out 2 extensive applications and now have a new gigantic stack to attack. Unfortunately this process could take a year and close to $35,000. Another friend said once, "It is gracious of God to not tell us everything our obedience will entail when He calls us to obey".
So we are going to faithfully take the next step. One step at a time.

If you want to continue with us on our journey please pray for us:

• We need prayers for endurance to get this process moving.
• Pray for Jude that he would know in his heart we are coming for him (they won't tell him until we are a month from traveling to get him, because there is so much that could make this fall through).
• Pray for us that we will take steps to strengthen our marriage and learn new parenting ideas that will best serve him.
•  If you are interested in supporting us financially, my friend Tracy has set up a "Go Fund Me Page" here:      The More The Perryer ADOPTION                                 
• If you prefer a tax deductible donation, you can make a check out to "Living Hope Adoption Agency" and put a note stating : Jude's adoption by the Perrys and mail it to: PO Box 579     Fort Washington, PA 19034
• We hope to apply for a grant and possibly matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans but aren't eligible to do that until we have the home study complete and are about $7k into the process. If you prefer to wait and give to our Lifesong account that would be great too!
• There is absolutely NO PRESSURE to give to our journey. God has proved Himself super faithful to us these last 10 months and we know He will continue to provide as He walks us down this path. Your prayers and encouraging words are extremely valuable.