Finally Approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly, the last month has been so busy with taking pictures, working on a website for someone, and Christmas/ New Years that I haven't had time to do much else.  So, I was actually relieved that things had slowed to a complete stop for a bit... But, after a phone call yesterday, we got this email today!

Dear Angela and Jason – We have received your finalized homestudy from Cherub international. A Homestudy Approval letter has been prepared and has been mailed to you. You will need to submit the approval letter to Immigration with your I800A materials and homestudy. Attached is a scanned copy; in the past, Immigration has been willing to accept this version.

So, as soon as we get everyone healthy (everyone has taken their turn being sick this week) and back to school and work, I am excited to start working through the next steps... the I800A and our dossier!!!  (and a little scared)  In my next post, I'll write about what is included in the dossier... I think I will get very familiar with Fed Ex... lol.  I had to sign up for a FedEx account. 

And, I had meant to write a little about how blessed we've been this last month (actually we always are, but it's been so obvious during these last couple months), but never got around to actually writing it down... lazy me...  Anyway, January 6th was just an amazing day... I was paying bills for the month, and again things were SO weird!  Over the last couple months, I have been taking care of paying the bills, and I know that I have been doing them very carefully... So, almost everytime I have to pay a set of bills, there has been at least one that has a credit on it... It's like someone's been paying them, but I know that no one is (because they can't access our bank account), and I'm fairly certain that I couldn't be over-paying... Also, Jas and I hadn't been very careful over Christmas with presents and all; so, we both had huge credit card bills... At the end of this month, we will still have saved almost $1000 for the baby!  What the heck?!  Before the adoption started, we weren't tithing and were still going in the hole!  Now, we are tithing and still save that much after a terrible month?!?  Only explanation:  God is providing. After my giddy text to Jas about this, I get an email from my friend Ann in Canada... (Short explanation:  We met and became friends through digital scrapbooking and IMing each other over the last couple years... I've never met her in real life, but we follow each other's families through pictures and emails, etc... Anyway, she's been reading this blog and asked (no, TOLD) me that her family wanted to be a part of bringing our little girl home!  What an awesome day!!!!!!  My friend Cyndi, at the very beginning of the adoption, also approached me about contributing to our adoption fund... We were able to be there with them through their time at the NICU with their tiny micropreemie until they finally got to bring her home; and now, they are with us through our adotion journey until we bring our little girl home (who will probably be the same age as their youngest)!  I remember her texting me to tell me about how her other little girl Solana prayed for our baby before their supper one night... So many people are praying us through this, and we can feel it!  Our neighbors, Jake and Jamie have celebrated the milestones with us... like passing the fire inspection, home inspection, and finishing the homestudy... I remember running over there and excitedly knocking on the door to let them know it was DONE!!!  That was followed by jumping, screaming, and hugging!!  It's just beyond amazing to feel how God is providing and helping us deal with the fears and confusion so far... I am overwhelmed with how good He is to us and how each of our family and friends (and their friends) continually support us!!!  Thank you!!!!!  :)