Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Oh, the places you'll go...when you're in the paperwork process of an international adoption!!

So, I read that beloved Dr. Suess book to my kids the other night, and the title of it came to mind today as I was running around town working on dossier paperwork! I ran lots of adoption errands today...with a "pedicure break" thrown in the middle! :) My kids went to back to "Kids Day Out" today, so I took advantage of the time to get some things checked off the list! It was so neat because almost everywhere I went today, I heard a different adoption story!

First stop...the Mississippi Secretary of State's office! And you know I got a picture there!


The lady at the front desk that was helping me with the state certification was so sweet! She told me that she and her husband had been in the middle of the adoption process to adopt a baby from Ecuador when the country suddenly stopped all adoptions. But she soon found out she was pregnant...and now her kids are 11 and 12. It was really neat to hear her story...and I got the state certification done!

Next stop, pedicure break! Some of my preschool students gave me a gift card for a pedicure at the end of school in May, and I just now had a chance to use it today! Wonderful! The girl that was doing my pedicure was so sweet and excited about our adoption plans. She told me that her aunt had been a foster parent for years, and had over 40 children go through her home. And she actually ended up adopting one of the babies that had been in her home! Another neat adoption story!

Then I went to pick up Jody to go get our final dossier documents notarized (and some re-notarized!) FYI, all you adoptive parents out there working on paperwork...make sure the notary spells your name right! It is so tough being "Alison" instead of "Allison"! :) Our notary has helped us so much, we promised her that we will bring Caroline Faith in to meet her one day!

We then went to Walgreens to get passport pictures made and order some prints of our family and home for the dossier. We met a precious lady and her daughter there, and we told them about our adoption process. Her brother and his wife have two adopted children from Ukraine, and they have started a orphan hosting program and camp in south MS called Promise 139. It was so neat to hear about this ministry!

I felt like everywhere I went today, that God was using different people to encourage us on our adoption journey! It is so neat when you start sharing your story with people, and then they share something that encourages you!

Of course, we had to celebrate all this with lunch together at our favorite Mexican restaurant! Love it! I also had my scheduled call with our case worker today, who I love! She told me that we are doing really well with getting everything done, since we are only 2 months into the process! Praise God! Getting closer to getting this dossier mailed in...and getting on the WAIT LIST!!