Rewarding Paperwork

What a day!! Right now it doesn't feel like much. But I tell you, this morning I was busy and it felt exciting and good!!! After doing nothing for our adoption since October, it felt so great to be actually doing something again!

Back in July, when we began our adoption I got all the Permanent Resident Visa papers together. But for some odd reason I felt that we shouldn't send them off. So they sat for the last seven months. Now that we have made the decision to go through PRV it feels *good*. So good to make this decision. As long as it was unknown and undecided, it was like a weight around my neck. I knew that we couldn't proceed with a referral, until we decided which way to go.

And the the pressure of knowing that if a referral came in, we had better know what to do RIGHT THEN, was awful!! Then last week on Wednesday, I just got this feeling of - NOW, DO IT NOW!

The ironic thing is, a friend of mine, Sandi, also had the same feeling last week. I didn't know this then. I found this out today. And the reason it is ironic is because our files went to Ethiopia on the same day. So maybe one of us is in the offing for getting a referral soon. Wouldn't that be remarkable! We both have a little bit of an unusual request. We are asking for girls basically 0-7 years.

So I sat today for hours!! Papers strewn all over the table, floor, couch; printer on the table, laptop on my lap....

It was a bit overwhelming what I had to fill in. Not because it was hard; because I was worried about making a mistake and losing time while the government sent the papers back to me to be redone.

I had to gather and fill in: financial evaluations, sponsorship agreements, applications to sponsor, document checklist, birth certificates, passport, marriage certificate, notice of assessments for income last year, statement of business activities and I am sure there was more!



Thankfully, we have the internet. So I was able to reach out to my two adoptive friends, Corrie and Sandi, who have also recently filled in their PRV forms and get help. They were wonderful and I got all my mistakes ironed out *before* I mailed the forms out.

Adoption is rather like riding a rollercoaster. First you go up the hill and that is when you have that tredidation in your stomach of what is to come. Nervousness! Well, that is what I felt like today while anticipating filling in these forms.

And then, there is the feeling of when the rollercoaster goes down the hill and you realize what fun it is!!!! WHEEEEE!!




My papers are going in the mail, and we are ONE MORE STEP CLOSER to adding our children to our family.

It is SO exciting to think that out there in that far away continent of Africa, there are children that God has chosen to add to our family. What an amazing concept!



It is so exciting to see that we are that one step closer. When the referral comes in, we will be ready. We will know which route to bring our children home by. What a rush!