It's official!!! I just received the following email from our adoption agency:
"Congratulations, your dossier was sent to the CCCWA (China) today. The tracking # is....
We will be contacting you soon when we have your LID date."
Praise the Lord!
The last nearly 8 months of work and prayers have finally come to this. This is one of the biggest milestones in the adoption process.
Next we wait for LID (Log in Date), the date our Dossier arrives in China & is logged into the system at CCCWA. I have seen as quick as a week and as long as 45 days. Praying for quick LID.
Now, for those non-adoptive folfs: Our Dossier is PAGES of official, original, notarized, certified & authenticated information about Steve and I, our marriage, our jobs, our children, our family, everything about us...
It is now on it's way to the officials at China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (
CCCWA). They will translate it into Chinese and review it and review it, and compare it to Eli's file to make sure we are the right parents for him, before sending a letter of approval (LOA) for us to adopt Eli. We have been told LOA can take anywhere from 30 days to 120 days. So again praying ours is quick.
But as soon as we get LOA, we need to send China a "Donation" for Eli's Orphanage in the approx amount of $5,600... Yes, you read correct - 5 thousand and 6 hundred US dollars.
So since God moved & Steve got his back pay so that we were able to pay the remaining adoption agency fees, we have decided that our Puzzle Fundraiser will all go towards the Orphanage Donation.
It is a 1,000 piece puzzle and at $5 per piece, if we get all 1,000 pieces sponsored we'll have $5,000.
More good news: After all the many expenses to date (between $11-12,000), we still have about $1,000 saved up in our adoption account. So we will have the last $600 to pay the Orphanage Donation, and be able to pay the $300 needed to wire China to get Eli's Visa. Praise God!
Update on Puzzle: We have 35 pieces sponsored to date... which equals $175 towards that goal.
So only 965 pieces to go...
We NEED to raise this $5000. We have to pay the Orphanage Donation fee to move forward in our adoption process. The orphans need that money too. So please consider sponsoring a piece of Eli's puzzle. For every piece sponsored, we write your name on back and Eli will be able to see all the names of those who helped bring him home. Please share this fundraiser with others you know.
Next prayer request: We applied for a Show Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman) adoption aid grant. This application cycle ends June 30th. Show Hope takes 90 days to review all the applications. Please pray for favor for us to be one of their receipitants. This will help us pay anything still needed and to travel to China to bring Eli home. Something that is very expensive, but is required for us to go & be there for 12-14 days.
Reminder: We do have a Brittany's Hope "Seedling Grant". Which means we need to raise $1,000 in donations directly to Brittany's Hope and tax deductible, but can't be from us (per rules); then they will match it and donate $2,000 towards our travel expenses directly to our adoption agency. Check it ont eh right side of our blog.
And last but not least, we are still accepting donations towards our Video Camera Give Away. See info on the right.
Well that was a lot to update. But we SOOOO appreciate all our prayer warriors and supporters. Please please pray for our puzzle fundraiser and consider sponsoring a piece or two so your name will be there for Eli to see and help us pay the orphanage donation fee needed to bring Eli home.
Thank you all & Praise be to God who called us to add this wonderful boy to our family.
With a heart of praise,
Sherry