FORMAL APPLICATION--- DONE!!!!

Hi everyone. Even though we have already been talking back and forth with our social worker at AAI and making plans, we still needed to send in a formal application. So, we mailed it off this week (that's us holding the envelope- we've decided to take a picture of each step, no matter how dorky that might seem now, maybe someday our baby will be proud to know how excited we were to prepare for him/her!!!). We had to send proof of insurance, our marriage certificate, tax returns from the past three years and a picture of ourselves (and no this was not the picture we sent!) We've already been warned that paperwork will be the theme for us over the next year. Our social worker from Lutheran gave us a list of all the documents we should start collecting since we'll need them to include in our dossier that goes to Thailand.
We're taking a break from all the paperwork for a while though and going on a much anticipated trip! At the end of the week we'll be leaving for Ohio to help our best friends move :( then its off to Tennessee for Thanksgiving with Stephen's side of the family. We're really looking forward to seeing Stephen's parents and getting to talk in person about all of this exciting stuff!! We pray you all have a wonderful holiday and please know we are soooo thankful for each one of you!!!!

Sawat-dee thook thook khohn!

Angela & I would like to welcome you to our first ever blog. This is new to us, so bear with us. For those of you that do not know, Angela and I have been in the adoption process for some time now. We started in the domestic side and recently decided to look into International Adoption. After looking into agencies, we settled on Adoption Advocates International (AAI) in Washington state. We have chosen to adopt a child from Thailand! By the way, the title to this posting is Thai for Hello Everyone. Since we had already processed for a domestic adoption, the paperwork process will not be as difficult or time consuming as it normally would be. In addition, we found out that our domestic agency, LCFS, works with AAI, so we do not have to redo our homestudy! Their website for that program is http://www.adoptionadvocates.org/thailand/thailand_process.php

We have been told to expect a 12-18 month wait. We are open to children with minor special needs and will most likely receive a boy. The children are typically older (2 years) by the time they come home. Once we receive a referral for a child, within 3-5 months, Angela and I will be traveling to Bangkok, Thailand to pick them up, go before the adoption board, and bring them home. We will be in country for at least 10 days.

In the meantime, we will be updating you throughout the process and hope that you enjoy this and maybe even learn something along the way. We are also looking into learning some of the language, since we have some time. If anyone has any tips, please let us know.

We are extremely excited to have been blessed to be able to do this. We are also so blessed to have such great support from friends and family from all over the country. Please begin praying for our child. Although we do not know who he/she is, we know they are out there somewhere.

Check back frequently for updates!