What does it take?

I have had several people ask what goes into adopting a child internationally.
And it goes a little something like this...

* Find a reputable agency that handles the type of adoption that you want to start. DO RESEARCH!
* Once signing with an agency you will have to have a homestudy. A homestudy consists of several things. You will have a social worker visit multiple times and you will talk about... well YOU! How you grew up, how you were disciplined, how you will discipline your child, whats important to you... that kind of thing. We filled out a 15 page autobiography about ourselves and some really DEEP questions.
* You will begin to prepare your dossier that will travel far and wide before it makes it to China! The documents you will gather will be:

A family information form
An application letter
Birth Certificate of husband and wife
Marriage Certificate
Employment Letter for both- how long we have been there as well as pay per year
Certificate of Financial Status- a break down of our finances WOW
A complete physical for both - hearing, vision, blood tests, HIV test, ...
Police Clearance for both
Homestudy
Photographs- of our family, our house, inside and out

These all need to be:
notarized: stamped
secretary of state: stamped
Dept of State: stamped
Chinese Embassy: stamped

There are several other steps that I left out like the child abuse clearances for each state that we have lived in since we were 18 and the immigration paperwork and fingerprints.

PHEW! There is ALOT that goes into adopting a child, whether you adopt internationally or domestic. All for the best interest of the child! Once all of our papers have been stamped, I will take a picture and post it. They look sooo official! It is so worth it, no matter how time consuming and utterly confusing it is! The end result is Samuel and that is worth it to me!!

Sweet!

Just wanted to let you all know about a super cool website that I found! Its Post Your Adoption Fundraiser Here and we are the main event right now! This website was created to bring awareness to the families that are fundraising to bring their children home! Stop on over... you just never know what you might find and help a family at the same time!

Sweets For Samuel

How appropriate is that! Just one look at that SWEET face and I am in love!
We are fundraising to finish our adoption of Samuel. Unfortunately we are not independently wealthy...so we have been saving and brainstorming ways to gets this lovebug home. My friend Nicole designed a fabulous website for us called Sweets for Samuel There are several ways that you can help us bring Samuel home:

1. Sweet Bites: These are DELICIOUS! Nicole makes these and they are to die for! The mint chocolate is my favorite and the peanut butter is Shannon's favorite :) They are amazing and everything you would want them to be! I have been known to hide these from my children so I can have them all to myself. Yes, that is true. All of you parents out there... try them and you will see why!!!
You can buy these in either 6 count or 12 count. We will ship them to you - anywhere in the U.S. :)

2. M&M Tubes- These have been the ticket so far! So here is what you do: request the tubes and eat the chocolate. How can you go wrong with that! All that we ask is that you place your loose quarters in the tube (roughly about $20.00 in quarters) and either mail them back to us or I can come and pick them up!

3. Puzzle pieces: We have a puzzle of Elias and Norah holding Sam's picture. We have made that into a puzzle. You can sponsor pieces and when you donate your desired amount for the piece(s) we will write your families name on the back of the piece. once the puzzle is complete we will seal it and frame it for Samuel's room! Lovely!

4. And last but not least, the donate button.

We would like to thank those of you that have donated so far! It means so much to us that you GET it! Thank you!!!

Also, we are planning to have a Harvest Moon Festival September 25th on Daniel Island. We will post more information as it gets close, but you will not want to miss it!

Much Love!!

Sam's "special" need...

Samuel was referred to us with a malformed earlobe (that is absolutely perfect in my eyes) and hearing loss. We will not know the exact amount of hearing that he has until he comes home. His right earlobe is malformed slightly and he has moderate hearing loss in his left ear. Once home we will visit MUSC to get this little sweetie checked out. He may need a hearing aide, he may need some sort of implant, we just aren't sure at this time until we actually bring him home. Whatever he needs, we will do our best to see that he gets the best care possible!!! I am so ready to have him home with us!!!!!

MOVED AGAIN!!!

Guys, I am so sorry to do this to you! I have moved our home AGAIN... but I am all settled in and ready for visitors! Please stop by when you can!

www.bendingbeneathmercy.blogspot.com

Window Shopping :)

I have been browsing the net shopping a bit for Samuel. I cannot wait until he joins our family and think about him everyday! So, doing a little "shopping" helps the time go by!!