Update and Yard Sale Fundraiser

Hello everyone!

We are in the midst of putting together our dossier...the final step in the paperwork for adoption.  Since people are always asking, here's what we have to gather:

New original copies of Marriage Certificate and Birth Certificates
Home Study
Child Abuse Clearances
Autobiography
FBI Criminal Check
Medical Letter (From Family Doctor)
Employment Verification Letters
Photos of Home
Copy of Lease/Deed
Copy of Passports
Approval from USCIS (This is immigration...it involves setting an appointment to be fingerprinted and then waiting for the approval)
Letter of Intent (literally writing a letter to Azerbaijan stating why we want to adopt and gender/age requests)
Photo Collage of our family with labels
Power of Attorney (giving our representative in Azerbaijan permission to act on our behalf)
Agency Hague License (proof that our agency is legit)

Everything has to be notarized.  We have everything so far except for the letter from the doctor and the Child Abuse and FBI clearances...and the USCIS approval.  Once we have everything, we have to send them back to the state they originated in (Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Virginia-depending on the document) to be Apostilled by the Secretary of State...basically double checking the notary.

Once we receive the paperwork back from being Apostilled we will send it to Azerbaijan!!!

...and then we wait.

We will be paying quite a large sum of money as we send off the paperwork.  This money mostly goes for "translation and documentation" fees in Azerbaijan.  We are thrilled that God has provided that money already through our own savings as well as generous donations from many people.

Once we pay everything for this first half of the process, our savings will be quite empty, so we are preparing to do a few fundraisers over the next several months.  The first one is a YARD SALE!!!  A dear friend and her sweet mom approached me with the idea in the spring.  The plan is to get all of you wonderful people to donate whatever you want to get rid of, sell it at the yard sale, and put all of the proceeds toward our adoption.  My dining room is already filling up with rugs and dishes, stuffed animals and clothes.  The yard sale is planned for the weekend of August 24th.  If you are interested in donating, just comment here on the blog, on facebook, or send me an email...or stop me at church...or call me...Just let me know :)  The more stuff, the better!!!

Spread the word and come shopping on the 24th (and maybe the 25th as well).  I will keep you posted! Please pray for us!