Matching Grant from Hand in Hand

We just received exciting news!

October 30, 2014

Dear Ethan & Randy:

We have reviewed your application for a matching grant and are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a dollar for dollar matching grant up to $5000.  The specific amount received will depend on the amount of funds donated by family and friends on your behalf.  The grant amount includes both the funds raised and the funds matched by HANDinHAND Christian Adoption, Inc.  If you raise $2,500 from family and friends, HANDinHAND will match those funds for a total grant of $5,000.  Funds received over the grant amount will go towards your adoption expenses not to exceed the outstanding adoption expenses but will not be matched by HANDinHAND.  Funds received over outstanding adoption expenses will help other children find "forever" families through the general fund of HANDinHAND Christian Adoption, Inc.

All monies will be disbursed directly to your adoption agency, adoption lawyer or other adoption expenses after HANDinHAND has received an approve invoice from one of these sources.  Monies already paid will not be reimbursed.  Only outstanding balances will be paid by your awarded grant.  Monies will be disbursed up to the amount of the final awarded grant.

All donated monies must be in our HANDinHAND office or postmarked by December 11, 2014 to be considered in the dollar for dollar match for your specific grant.  Funds received after this time will go toward the general fund of HNDinHND Christian Adoption, Inc. to continue to help children find "forever" families.

In the case of a disrupted adoption, monies will be hald for your use for us to 1 yeard from the disruption then after that time will be used to help other children and their families through Hand in Hand's general fund.

We are so excited to be able in a small way to help a child find a "forever" familiy.  Thank you for being obedient to Gods call in your life to help a child.  We appreciate your heart and look forward to working with you in accomplishing this goal.

Sincerely,
Trudy A. George
President
HANDinHAND Christian Adoption, Inc.

We are excited to receive this good news!  If you would like to help us meet our $2500 goal to meet this match, please send your donation made payable to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption" and postmarked by December  11.  For tax purposes please include our name on the OUTSIDE of the envelope only - do not put our name on the check itself.  Send to:

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Ethan and Randy Lanz
18318 Mimosa Court
Gardner, KS 66030

If you have any questions concerning this grant you may contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by email at handinhandadopt@gmail.com .  This fourth international adoption within two years has us totally tapped out, so we are very grateful for your help. 

Enjoying Photo Memories

Another family who adopted from Pat's orphanage visited there this month.  I was able to send a photo book full of pictures of our time together this summer.   It was so precious to see him enjoying these memories.

One week down in the wait for LOA.  The current average these days seems to be upwards of 75 days.  Sigh... settling in for a long wait.

Official Log In Date today!

 I was very surprised to hear from our agency that our dossier has been officially logged in!  Only five days!  On to translation!

Our dossier arrived in China!

It is there!  We found out this morning that our dossier arrived at the CCCWA office in China. So thankful that it was an uneventful trip for these important documents.  They completed their first round in our country, so now we wait for them to go through the various stages in the second country.

Tax Deductible Gifts

Some have asked me to let them know when we establish a way for them to give towards Pat's homecoming in a way that is tax deductible for them.  We are happy to let you know that we have been accepted as part of the Family Sponsorship Program through Reece's Rainbow.  If you would like to contribute in this way, simply click the Reece's Rainbow graphic in the right hand border, and it will automatically transfer you to our FSP.  They will hold the funds for us until closer to travel. 

Thank you!

DTC!

That REALLY important step has been achieved!  I just got notice from our agency that we have DTC!  Yes!  Our Dossier has been sent To China!

Hopefully next week week will find us with an official LID (Log In Date) and a fast track to having our documents OOT (Out Of Translation.)  Is it time to brush up on the Adoption Acronyms ?

Dossier Complete!

The week began with the bulk of our dossier documents back from their final step of authentication in New York.

This was followed up today with the final three documents that went through the Secretary of State and then the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

So this afternoon has been a whirlwind of carefully, so very carefully making photocopies so as not to disturb the various certifications and authentication attachments, and then matching up all of these photocopies (eventually) into three identical stacks.

And here is what we have been working towards since August 6.

One packet of photocopies for our agency, and one beautiful packet of FULLY AUTHENTICATED dossier documents!  This is where it starts to get real!  :)

Dossier Documents!

First thing this morning Fed Ex had these fully authenticated dossier documents waiting for me!

Now we are just waiting for three documents to return from their authentication in D.C.   We are nearly there!

UPDATE 10:30 AM.  Just heard from our courier in D.C.  Barring any complications our final documents will be picked up on Wednesday!

Abigail's 8th Birthday

This is only the second birthday party the "baby" of our family has had. Last year she wasn't really sure what it was all about, but this year having witnessed the parties of lots of other family members, she KNEW. It was all about her! :) I'm pretty sure she likes birthdays!

Be careful what you wish for...

We've all heard the saying, "Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true."  This is a reality for Abigail right now.

Abigail LOVES attention, and believe me she is soooo stinking cute that she gets plenty of it!  But, she has had a jealousy issue with Jen and her mobility helps.  For the past year she has begged for a walker and also for braces.

This past week Abigail got her wish.  She got her own set of AFO's (Ankle Foot Orthoses)
 to help her pronated feet.

Now the thing Abigail didn't realize was that, until one gets used to them, these things can make your feet HURT.  They also make one's gait unsteady as you learn a whole new way of balance while walking.

They aren't as tall as Jen's, but they are TOUGH.  There is even a velcro strap that fits between her toes to force her foot into the position it needs to get used to being in.  Poor kid!

Jen's New Bike

Jen came home in May of 2013.  Because she had been in a wheelchair (and much of China is just not accessible) it seemed that she wasn't allowed to go to the camps put on by the agencies, or on any of the "field trip" type activities.  One thing that became pretty clear to us early on was that Jen just wanted to be like all the other kids.  She was sick and tired of being held back!

We applied for an Amtryke adapted bicycle through her physical therapy office, and a club in Beavercreek, Ohio took on fundraising for this project. It took about a year, but wow! What a bike they got her!

We went to a little ceremony on Saturday,  September 27.  It was a fundraiser event and they presented bikes to two children that day.  A physical therapist fit her customized features, then they introduced her to the people at the event . She said "Thank you" herself when they gave her the microphone. It was pretty cute! 

 She was so, so thrilled! We are super thankful for good folks who help to make doing something "normal" (like riding a bike with the other kids) possible for her.

 

Dossier Drama

An adoption dossier includes documents required by the US and the country from which one is adopting.  For us that is:

1. Inter-country adoption application letter

2. Birth certificate for Father

3. Birth certificate for Mother

4. Marital status certificate

5. Employment Verification for Father

6. Employment Verification for Mother

7. Financial status certificate

8. Physical examination certificate for Father

9. Physical examination certificate for Mother

10. Criminal/ Non-criminal record certificate for Father

11. Criminal/ Non-criminal record certificate for Mother

12. Home study report

13. USCIS Clearance (I-797)

 

We also included  Power of Attorney documents to go through the certification process just in case one of us isn't able to travel this time.

Our agency processed the dossier for us with our other adoptions.  Pat's file was specific to a different agency, so this time we got to take care of the certification and authentication of all of the documents ourselves.

The first step (for the state of Ohio) is to certify (at the county level) all of the notaries who signed our papers.  I was told that the notary is supposed to write the county in which they are actually commissioned.  Some notaries apparently misunderstood this and wrote the county in which they work.  This caused us so much trouble!

Not only did we manage to use notaries from ALL FOUR counties in our area, but I had to make numerous trips back and forth around the city when informed that the notaries wrote the wrong county on a total of SIX of our documents.  Whew... what a week!

After the county certifications, the state of Ohio had to certify that the county seat person was legit.  We also had documents from other states, so we needed state seals from four different states total.  The state seals were the easy ones.  I simply wrote a letter (and the check) addressed the envelopes, and handed them off to the Fed Ex guy!  Fed Ex is quickly becoming my new best friend.

Thursday was the really HARD day.  The bulk of our documents were sent to the courier along with copies of the original documents and copies of the county and state seals.  There were also forms for the Chinese authentication step.  It took a lot of concentration and attention to detail.  Or perhaps my brain was just on meltdown from the week's activities which made it seem harder than it actually was.

We've now reached the final step for our dossier preparation.  Three of the state seals are being certified at the Dept of State then they move on to the Embassy of China in Washington, D.C. for their authentication. The Ohio documents are in New York City to be delivered to the Chinese Consulate on Monday.  Here's hoping that everything checks out fine, and in another week or so our dossier authentication will be complete.

Once everything arrives back here, (and I make yet more copies of EVERYTHING again) it will be sent to our agency to add to our references and photos that are already waiting there.

So, the much asked question.... when will we travel? With our other adoptions we were in China  right about five months after the dossier submission.  It is a little trickier this time around since there are some very important things happening in our family that we will need to work around --think birth of a grand baby, a son's college graduation, and then this same son getting married!  We're trusting that the timing will work out to minimize the amount of time Pat waits for us, and so as not to miss any of these very important events.

Updated Monday morning:   I just got a call from the courier that we hired for the dossier documents going to the New York Chinese Consulate. Everything looks good. They have been dropped off (with much craziness since the Consulate was closed for Chinese National Day last week) and should be on their way back home next Monday.

True Story...

True story...  last night during family devotions we read about Esther. This particular book ended our reading with, "And so Esther the orphan became Esther the queen." Abigail got up and ran over to look at the picture, thrust her fist in the air and exclaimed, "Oh YEAH!"

Red Thread Photo Session

Chinese Proverb:

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break.

 We were blessed with a "Red Thread" photo session by Erin Hull Photography.  Erin specializes in birth and adoption photos.  After a long week of dossier drama, it was a pleasure to find the photos in my mailbox!  Share some happiness with us.  We'll catch up with the drama later...