Akshay emailed my agency last night!!!! He finally has Rani’s No Objection Certificate in hand!!!! There are tears of joy in India this day and tears of joy here at her new home! He says he’s not going to let a ray of sunshine touch that paper before it’s actually in the courts! Oh I am so relieved and happy! This part of the process took us seven long gruelling months. It usually takes only 2 months. Know one knows why it took so long, but the Lord knows and I’m sure it’s all a part of His plan. I’ve been oh so patient and now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief! Oh hallelujah! Happy Happy DAY!!!!!

Now let’s pray that our guardianship process goes more smoothly than the NOC process did. :pray

While I wait I’m passing the time keeping busy. LOL Here’s a poem I wrote. Keep in mind this is for my class, I’m not a poet. This was hard work! :weightlifter

A family Forever- a sonnet

A mother?s heart is yearning for a child.
A child sighs, she?s longing for a home.
As yet her heart is young and free and wild
undamaged by the world that she has known.
?Cross land and sea a million miles away
impossible it seems the twain could meet
yet pure celestial prompting shows the way
and links their hearts together as one beat.
At last the child with wary eyes appears,
a furtive glance, she peeks at Mother?s face,
finds Mother?s cheeks are glistening with tears
her arms wide open for a first embrace.

Encircled in a loving mother?s arms
a family forever, safe and warm.

But there’s no email, and no message on my phone. *sigh* Waiting is the most difficult part of the adoption process! :worried

So pleased to see that Wendy has been referred three wee ones from Ethiopia! Congratulations!!:skip

A year ago at this time my family was preparing to go on a weekend trip, just as we are today. Our adoption journey was heading nowhere and we were starting to ask God “Are we really supposed to adopt?” I was feeling so frustrated because for four years the Lord had been telling me “Adopt!” and now all I was feeling was confusion! We planned to use the trip as a special time of fasting and prayer. After our fast we prayed as a family and recieved distinct impressions that we were using the wrong agency, the child was older, and the child had special needs (we were using LDSFS to try to adopt a healthy infant.) It was on that trip that I drew this picture of the little girl I imagined might someday be my daughter.

We came home and I emailed thirty agencies asking for waiting child listings. Only four replied and there were a few children who looked promising, but didn’t feel like “the one.” In frustration I went back to the textlistings at ichild where I’d searched and searched for the past month, just to see if there were any new listings. As I perused the listing for AIAA I came across the little girl that would someday be my daughter. :princess Each time I’d read the listings before she had jumped out at me but I had passed her over for being too old! This time I KNEW! It was like a miracle after that moment. Everything fell into place! And now here we are a year later and she’s almost home. I trust the Lord. He guided us to Ahrana, and on He knows when she needs to come home. He also knows we plan to adopt again and so Rani needs to come home in a certain timetable. I’m so grateful for His guidance in my life and especially in this adoption. God is good!

I never quite understood the whole waiting by the phone thing before. But I have been patiently sitting by my phone every morning this week from 8:50-9:15 hoping it would ring. This is the first phone sitting I’ve done this whole adoption!

Email this morning confirms that the item has been sent, still not recieved. Sorry to be so cryptic! :pray

International Adoption
An essay by Tamra Hyde

More people would adopt internationally, if they knew more information about the process. Many countries are looking overseas to find families for orphaned or abandoned children. Numerous children wait for a forever family; some never find one. This article will point out some international adoption basics.

To find out information about the adoption policies in a particular country a person can perform an internet search using a popular search engine? google.com, mamma.com, or yahoo.com. Typing in the name of a particular country and the word ?adoption? will bring up adoption agency websites. Reading the information at each website, a person can start piecing together the requirements for each particular country. Each agency has different requirements and different fees. By taking a sample of a few different agencies a person can calculate the average fees and requirements for each country.

Fees for international adoption can run from $4,500 per child to $30,000 per child. Each country has different fees, so if money matters, fees can be an important starting point. The average international adoption will run about $15,000 not including travel, CIS fees, home study fees, notary fees, and authenticating fees. This may sound daunting, but many families come up with creative solutions to gather the funds needed for an adoption.

Funding for an international adoption can be accomplished in diverse ways. Some families have adoption fundraisers. Garage sales and raffles can attract people who want to help. Fundraisers provide the opportunity for communities to get involved. Neighborhoods are often motivated to help out when a family is trying to bring home a child from another country. Others take out home equity loans at low interest rates. Some families find that they are gifted the money when an anonymous relative finds out what they are doing. There are even places on the internet that offer grants and low-interest adoption loans to prospective parents.

Money should never hold a person back from adding a child to their family through adoption. Many times, children who are older or have a physical special need have lower fees. Children are waiting for families in all parts of the world. Agencies usually have lists of waiting children posted on their websites. Some agencies charge an application fee to view their list. There are also collaborative websites where many agencies add available children to a central list.

Two of the most popular photo listing internet sites are precious.org and rainbowkids.org. At these websites photos of waiting children from Guatemala, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Haiti can be viewed twenty-four hours a day. Some countries don?t allow photo listing of children. To find out information about children from these countries it is best to email the agency directly and ask them to send a list of children available.

When viewing the listings, it can start to feel daunting. Many of the children have physical special needs. Some are blind, deaf, even completely paralyzed. But there are also other children that have needs that are mild such as missing fingers or toes, strabismus (crossed eyes), a strange growth. These less severe needs may be unattractive enough to keep a child from being adopted in their birth country. In America that child could have many opportunities for a successful and satisfying life.

Usually a family will complete a home study before they locate a child. Some families prefer to find a child first. Both ways are fine, though completing the home study before looking for a child can expedite the adoption process. Home studies are conducted by social workers in each family?s local area. Prices vary from $500 to $1,500, so it is important to ask around. Getting a referral from someone that has used the social worker for a previous adoption is ideal. The social worker will come and ask some personal questions about a person?s childhood, home life, and motivations to adopt. A home study can proceed quickly and painlessly. Once the home study is complete, a person is free to start actively pursuing an adoption. It is highly recommended that one join an email list for international adoption or for adoption in the country of interest. An email list provides a good place to gather information, to find personal stories and discover which agencies to avoid. These email groups can provide support when something isn?t going smoothly and can offer advice to avoid common problems.

Though international adoption can seem intimidating, most families can accomplish it. So many children wait for a family to find them. Opportunities abound for families unable to have children and for families with children already in the home. Once a person knows how to get started, an international adoption becomes more attainable.

I had a lovely dinner with my new friend Cheryl tonight. :hug It was so fun to be able to chat and get to know each other! Her boys are so adorable! Turns out she has hit another roadblock in her adoption as well. Their I-171-H was approved for siblings under the age of 2, but their daughter is almost 3 so they have to change it! AND their fingerprints have expired(they’re only good for 15 months). So here they sit, as far as India is concerned they can come get her anytime, but they can’t because of our side! How incredibly frustrating!!! uch Say a prayer for Cheryl if you don’t mind.:pray

BTW I fixed the font color on the comments…sorry about that!

I still can’t say anything about what’s going on in our adoption. Leave a comment if you want to know!

It’s been so helpful! Aruna is pronounces AH-RUN (is in I need to run to the store)

So I’ve decided after much researching that I want her name to be Aruna but am going to Americanize the spelling a little to Ahrana. What do you think? Still have to run it by DH but I think he’ll like it. And as for the spelling, I just know if we leave the u that she’ll be aroona you know. And the AH is to stress the first syllable a little more so we don’t get eranna :veryhappy I’m loving it, I hope DH does too!

Ahrana Zilpha means Radiant Angel of Light or Dawn of the Angel of Light! Beautiful! Ahrana also means Ruby in some dialects (spelled aruna of course.)

And the NEWS is good, it’s just not 100% guaranteed yet. Boy do I wish I had a private blog! I’ll update as soon as I can!!!!

PS leave a comment if you want more details :wink

Teri called this AM and my phone died!!!!!! I swear I’m going to pass out!!!!!!!! She has news, I can tell, and I can’t get it!!!!!! :weeping :doh