Finally . . . the Home Study is completed. Deb and I started reviewing what will be sent to the INS next wee. For those of you interested, the Home Study is the document that describes everything about Deb and I and our family. It is a comprehensive document that will be used to petition the INS for us to be authorized to bring a child into the country.
So what is the next step you may ask . . . We have now begun the Dossier. This is a set of documents that will be sent to Albania to petition them for consideration of an adoption referral. The Dossier includes much of the information from the Home Study, but it also includes all of the official documents (birth certificates, marraige license, copy of the deed to our house, notorized police and medical records, etc.). All of these documents need to be not only notorized, but also Apastilled . . . I know, I've never heard of that either. Apastill (app-a-steel) basically means that we have to take the document to the Secretary of State in the state that the document was issued and have them authenticate it with the state seal. So this means that we will need to visit Annapolis for the Maryland documents and Harrisburg for Pennsylvania. The others will be done by mail. Needless to say, this is a huge undertaking and Deb has been working hard at completing these activities.
We feel so grateful and blessed that God is moving this process along. It is going to be a long wait ahead, but we have faith in who God has for our family. As we draw closer to our waiting period, please continue to pray for us and for Sunshine.
