“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”

James 1:27

Our cell phone number in Ukraine is: +38 097 828 9477. We are 8 hours ahead of Texas time. We can receive text but cannot send them. You can also reach us by email at joniredding@hotmail.com.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Home Study!!! Homeschooling???

We got our final Home Study on friday.  I mailed our application and documents to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) today so now we wait for them to approve us to bring an orphan into the US.  We also paid $890.  So, this week, our costs have been $2890 with the $2000 payment to our agency.  Thankfully, we received a generous donation from our family for $1500.  God is so good!  I’m not sure how long it will take to receive our approval from USCIS.  Some people have said a couple of weeks and then sometimes it has taken up to 2 months.  As soon as we get that back, we can mail in our complete dossier (all the information and documents that the country requires for adoption).   After we mail our dossier to Ukraine, it will be translated and then submitted to SDA (State Department of Adoption, I think).  Then SDA will hopefully invite us to travel to Ukraine for an appointment.   The time frame varies on everything I’ve read so we don’t know how long we are looking at, but we are still praying that we can go as close to April as possible because that’s when our girl becomes available for International Adoption.  I know that God’s timing is perfect so I am not going to worry about how long things are taking – I should say that  I am going to TRY not to worry!   I thought it was funny that in my Home Study it says “Joni is a homemaker thus she will be providing care for the children, in the home and will also home school the child/ren until such time as they may go to school.”  Funny, huh?   I am the last person on earth who is capable of home schooling!  Homeschooling to me is like Ninevah to Jonah.  God,  I will go anywhere and do anything You want but please don’t lead me there!  Yes, my degree is in education and I am a good classroom teacher.  I really enjoy it.  But homeschooling?  Making my own schedule?   I NEED deadlines!   God’s power is made great through my weaknesses though.  I can’t even believe that I’m even willing to consider this!   Of course I’m hoping that she will be with us all summer getting used to the language and culture and then be ready to start school at the beginning of the school year.  If she isn’t ready, then I will be homeschooling her for as long as it takes!  I know that God can teach me so much through unexpected circumstances.  So, bring it on!  I am excited to learn whatever He is teaching me!  He has amazed me already during this process!  Remember to check out my friend Dawn's website for Valentine's Day Cards - sooooo cute!  She is donating all of her proceeds to our adoption!  http://lindleycreative.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/valentines-day-cards-2011/
We are also planning our garage sale fundraiser for the 1st weekend in March so we would love to have anything you want to get rid of!!!

1 comment:

  1. I'm definitely praying that things move quickly for you guys, and that you can bring your little angel home ASAP. The INS needs to hurry on up! :-) Oh, and your post title got me really excited for a moment, lol. We (tentatively, we'll see how reality plays out) plan on homeschooling our kiddos, but it thankfully never came up in the home study. :-)

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