The Big Pond

Five months ago, we applied to An Open Door Adoption Agency to adopt Warrior.  Even though we didn't have our mind made up at the time, we went ahead with the application anyway.  God confirmed to us that we should adopt Warrior this past January.

Today, our dossier document is officially crossing the Big Pond, on its way to Lat>ia to begin the translation process.  Once we get USCIS approval, a confirmation letter will be sent over to complete the dossier document.

The Muddy Mississippi

As far as our financial progress: we've paid almost one-third of the total cost of the adoption.  Two-thirds to go - which is approximately $23,000.  So far, we have paid the majority of this out of pocket.  We are continuing to fund-raise.  We are working on several grant applications, and we've created several online resources to help get the word out about our need (https://adopttogether.org/warrior/, Shop on Amazon using this link).  The grant applications are tough, because many of them require all or more of the same information we divulged for our homestudy.  Many of these grants are extremely specialized, and we don't qualify for them for various reasons.

Today, I had a quick trip to Kansas City, Missouri, for a one hour meeting for work.  I left the house for the airport at 6:15 this morning, had a two hour flight, boarded my return flight at 4:30, and I was home eating dinner by 7:30.  This seemed like the longest day of my life!  Snapped this cool picture of the Mighty Mississippi!

Adopttogether.com/warrior

Please help get the word about our profile at adopttogether.com.   This is another great way that people can support us (tax deductible).

https://adopttogether.org/warrior/

Support Us With Your Amazon.com Purchases!

I've added an Amazon.com link to our blog. If you use this link for your Amazon purchases, we will get 4% of the purchase price deposited directly into our Warrior fund!  http://www.amazon.com/?&tag=briourwarhom-20&linkCode=wsw&

Fundraising News...

Here is an update on our fundraising...

Rebekah and Rachel have now sold 26 necklaces!  I've added a necklace counter on the right side of the blog.

For the entire week of April 22, our family will be featured on the fundraising blog Give1Save1-Europe.  Each week a family is profiled.  Readers are encouraged to donate funds during that week.

Also, Warrior will turn 6 during the month of April.  Too bad we can't be with him to celebrate.  We're asking all of our readers to donate $6 in honor of Warrior's 6th birthday.

Today, I added a new blog to the Blog List.  Prestonpartyofsix.blogspot.com.  Jason are Kelly Preston are friends from our First Baptist days.  They are adopting a girl from China.  

Dossier Complete

Our dossier is ready to go.  I'll be over-nighting it to our agency on Wednesday.  The agency will handle the apostilling for us.  This is the process where the State of Georgia certifies that the county notary on each document is authentic.  After that, it will be sent to Lat>ia for translation while we await the approval from USCIS.  

Progress

If you haven't ordered your Warrior Necklaces, you're missing the boat.  Rebekah and Rachel have been getting orders left and right.  So many orders that Kristie had to go and get some more supplies today.  For a small donation, the girls will mail you the necklace of your choice.  Email me your orders, and you'll be impressed with how soon your necklaces arrive.

A little side note about Seth.  He has always been a curious child.  But recently, he's been asking a ton of questions:  "How do dogs wag their tails?", "Where do shadows come from?", "Does the moon move?".  I love having a boy.  I can't wait until his Latvi@n counter-part joins our family.

A quick update on our adoption.  USCIS is officially reviewing our I-800A application.  In about one week, we'll be getting our appointment information for our final round of fingerprinting.  Once the fingerprints are complete, USCIS should approve us.  We know one family who received I-800A approval 29 days after their application was received just a few weeks ago!  Once we get USCIS approval (and pay our agency $5,696), our dossier will be given to the Latvi@n Ministry.  Once approved by the Latvi@n Ministry, we will get the official invitation to travel to Latvi@.  If USCIS is actually taking 29 days, then we may be travelling as early as early June!

The Song and Dance Festival will be going on June 30th - July 7th, 2013.  This is a huge Lat>ian cultural event that's held every five years.

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I cannot get this song out of my head today...  This is one of my favorite Christian worship songs of all time.