PLANE TICKET REFUNDS THAT NEVER GOT ISSUED

From my FB adoption group: 

Post #38 So as I was digging through documents trying to find birth certificates for ALL of my kids, I came up on two letters that I had received from Northwest/KLM after I had come back home from Uganda back in 2008 with no kids. They were approvals of 4 plane tickets to be refunded. In the Merger of NW and KLM, we had never received the refunds. I felt like I should write KLM and explain that even though it was years ago, I just wanted to know if they would still honor us getting those refunds back? It doesn't hurt to ask does it? So here's hoping that they will have compassion and possibly give us 4 plane tickets or the money back. I know its a long shot but it is a FEW $1000's . Wouldn't that be awesome? Wanna join us in prayer for a miracle? 

smile emotico ‪#‎KLM‬

Adoption update #26 A Switch

post #26
Well, its been a while since my last post. Life has kinda been busy with the holidays and adding 2 new teens. Now that we are up to 4 teens in the house and our son is home from college. Its been the "life is a party, throw out boundaries kinda thing going on a round here! " Anyway, all of us are adjusting. We had an awesome Christmas and are looking forward to a great 2016.

On the adoption front, nothing much has progressed except to say that we are changing home study agencies. Our other home study agency was great but they were located all the way in S. Cali and having a SW travel all the up here for home visits was going to be costly and there were a few other issues that were making accomplishing somethings difficult - on our part. 

So it came across our paths of a new agency in the Sacramento area that could do our home study and who would accept our past training and experience. 

Its going to allow us to complete the home study quicker and in the long run less expensively even though we are losing money on leaving the other agency. I am glad this is working out and it makes me a little excited to get it going. 

Also, on a side note, one of our friends got their I600a approval for immigration in a little less than 2 weeks and that is encouraging news. 

We can't start that process until our home study is complete. Please continue to pray for the finances as well.  Once we get the home study completed, we can start applying for some grants and donations towards our adoptions. Duane will have to make 1 short trip to Uganda with me and I will hopefully only make one staying til the adoption is completed to avoid two trips. We are wanting to take the rest of the kids with us to Uganda. We think it will do a few of them good to see others from their past and where they came from. So we are praying about that as well. We appreciate your prayers and will keep you updated.

Adoption fundraiser Page 11-30-15

We have two adoption fundraisers going on. Here is the 1st! We are selling ceramic ornaments with my paintings on them. They make great stocking stuffers! $12 each. You can see which to order here:https://www.facebook.com/events/191842814483230/

Post #17 Our Adoption Fundraiser Site

We have an adoption fundraiser site up til we get our home study finished.

https://www.youcaring.com/duane-and-melissa-carter-for-johnny-and-maria-s-adoption-465250

Adoption UPDATE #16 10-12-15

POST #16
Its been a while since a post. But nothing happening much. I am missing J. I want to just want to hop on a plane and go get him! 
I wish there was NO RED TAPE or complications of paperwork, huge amounts of money, etc... to bringing this little one home to be our son. I wish we could snap our fingers and put Carter on the end of M's name. She has become so bonded to us on an even greater level since we changed her name to Mxxx this summer. She is full of joy and loves her daddy! She expresses her love to us by drawing a lot of pictures. Between her and Isaiah, we have a dresser full of pictures! She had her 9th birthday this week. I cannot believe how little she was when we got her. How she has grown. Please pray that I can carve out this time I need to get some major paperwork done. There seems to be so many wheels turning in our lives. lol! I am hoping to do a major fundraiser in November so stay tuned!

Post #15 10-1-15

Post #15 
Has it really been July since I last posted? Goodness how time flies. Life has been a whirlwind with kids starting school, and one getting off to college and transition galore. No progress on the home front except we got our references. 
I really need to buckle down and get the home study paperwork done. It just seems like there is a brick wall of sorts that I cannot really explain. 

We could use prayer for finances to open up for these adoptions. We can't apply for grants until we have the home study done and its costing us more than planned in time and money. 

But since God opened doors, we figure he's going to provide. Also pray that I can carve out time to get this done. It is truly moving slower than I want it to.

Adoption UPDATE#14 August 5,2015

UPDATE#14 August 5,2015 : There is not really an update on the progress of paperwork filling out. I went to the Library and found 1 book we are are supposed to read. Hoping to find the others somewhere else. But really hoping we don't hae to read all of that after I send her the titles we have already read. I have been in Davis for a few days getting Graham registered and in orientation in college, so haven't had much time to do anything. I did find most all of the certificates I was looking for to show what kind of parenting training we have. I am missing one but hope to find it soon. So that is Yay! I got a surprise tonight as someone sent me some photos of J when he was a baby and some photos of him that are more recent than what I had. ( To see photos, you must be in the FB group)  BUT THEY ARE SO CUTE! 

Adoption Post #13, 7-29-2015

POST #13 July, 29, 2015
Well, we got all our initial payments in and now to start on the mountain of paperwork that is entailed in a homestudy. It can be quiet overwhelming for sure! Wish they had an "epidural" for all you have to go through while being adoptant. It is definitely a more intensive process now with Hague policies in place than it was even 6 years ago!

 Between the 5 books we have to read and reports we have to do on them, CPR training, parenting classes, to the personal profiles and criminal checks in every state we've lived in since age 18, ordering birth & marriage certificates, and dmv reports, my mind is wigging out. 

So it's deep breathes, lots of essential oils, and one step at a time. So here are the prayer requests:
1. That I can find our certificates for our three trainings for aftercare and emotional healing/parenting training that we have done in hopes that we can bypass some of the parental training. 
( I FOUND THEM! )
2. That govt. agencies will send our results from finger printing and criminal checks rather quickly
3. That finances would be provided for each step. We are thinking about some creative fundraisers very soon.
4. That "Uxxxxxx" govt. would not have any negative policy changes during this process
5. That we would be brave in our faith to trust God in this journey

Our Adoption Journey Continues....

I will post on this blog when I can about our adoption process but will not be able to post pics showing the kids or personal info. If you want more details on the journey please FB request that I add you to the group of our adoptions journey.
In this post , I will include several post I have put on the FB group. If you want to read Updates 1,2,3, & 4, You will have to join the group. :)

July 7, 2015: Update #5: We are not going with either of the two home study Agencies that we had originally looked at. We found another one in close by and it looks like we will apply there. After talking to the adoption agency director in late May, We decided to go with a certain adoption agency who said they are willing to help us pursue little J's guardianship as well as get the guardianship of ( M.) changed over to us. So here we go!!!! Timing is everything!: 
For this agency to work with us, we could only have 5 kids in the home per their policy. As it turns out, The twins- age 23- moved out last month, 
smile emoticon and our other older son is headed off to college in August, leaving us with 5 kids! 

Now comes the hard part in my mind. The money. But in God's mind, it is simply pocket change. There are days that my mind wanders off and says, how are we going to do this financially? But I have to be intentional and remind my mind of all the times that God has provided for each child in our family to become a family member. His promise is to "set the lonely in families". 
He knows a price tag comes with it, so I guess if he has slung these doors wide open, he will finance it as well. One other thing is that we have changed V's name to M. 
( God's favor and love towards a longed for child).  So she will from now on be referred to as M. (but in these post, I will refer to her as M. and the boy as J.)                   
 She loves her new name and we are getting used to calling her by it. We will at some point change J's and will let you know what it is. I love giving our kids new names for their new beginnings. God did it all the time in the Bible.
It's been 8 years since we have had to do a home study and so here it goes. 

Paperwork piles upon paper work piles, finger prints and criminal checks. Questions about finances,our whole life laid out for the Social departments and Governments to see and to determine if we are appropriate parents etc..... Let the race begin! We could use your prayers for all to go smoothly. Since they implemented the Hague Convention Rules, there is a lot more to do to prove our "worthiness" to adopt internationally. LOL.

July 15, 2015: UPDATE #6 : 
Well, there hasn't been much new news. I'm still trying to nail down a home study agency and I talked to one today. Its a little tricky with all the new Hague policies in place and then there are some other home study agencies that just don't fit our family or are not able to do it. The area we live in does not have a lot of options so we have to look more towards bigger cities to get one done. That means travel is going to be included to get visits and interviews done. I spent after lunch scanning documents we had on M. to the adoption agency so I feel like I got some stuff accomplished. Last night, I went through our tub of adoption documents (Yes, we have a rubbermaid tub full) and found all of our old home studies, in hopes it might make filling out paperwork easier! I also discovered that I need to get my passport renewed. One praise is that we got creative and made a few sales and the money when added to our savings was exactly enough to cover the home study! yay! So, there is our 1st step towards making these kids Carter kids!

Scanning documents to our adoption agency

UPDATE #7 July 19, 2015 : It's starting to get real! Our adoption process for Maria and Johnny begins! Here begins the first step of faith- Filling out the application for the adoption agency who has agreed to take our cases under them. If you would like to be added to our Facebook Group to follow our journey, let me know!

Filling out adoption agency applications

Update #8 July 21,2015: 
Today we got a phone call from the Adoption Agency who is for sure taking our case and talked to our friends at J's orphanage for them to connect with the agency, got an email from the attorney in U. that he will look forward to our dossier arriving as well made a phone call to the home study agency. It looks like things are falling into place. Please pray that doors will be opened for a quick home study for both kids. U, we will see you soon.

UPDATE #9 July 22, 2015
So starts this roller coaster ride. I didn't hear back from the home study agency for the last two days so decided to call them. Unfortunately, they informed me that they could not do our home study because they are not licensed to complete a home study for a child already in the home. What???? I will tell you that I am a little frustrated for sure. I do not understand some of these state policies that I keep running into. 

All we  really need is an international home study for 2 kids. It seems simple but it is not.

 So back to the drawing board I go. I contacted 2 other agencies today. Hoping and praying one of them might be good news.

UPDATE #10 July 25, 2015
After going online and contacting two home study agencies the other day, I had a call from one of them today. After talking in depth about the complications of our processes, the agency said that they could do our home study for us! Saying all goes well, ( and it will) they will allow for three children (incase of a sibling being found) ‪#‎ithashappenedbefore‬ . 

Since they are not the adoption agency as well, they have to sign an agreement with the adoption agency we are using. They said that should be no problem as they were the ones who accredited Adoption agency for their Hague Approval . 

And....even though they are in S. California, we can do our classes online and may get to skip some since we have been trained and have adopted already. The cost is only $300 more than we were going to pay the other agencies because of travel cost up here to visit our home. She thinks we can have this home study done in a month or so which works wonderful for a hoped for Fall court date in U. We also thought we were going to have to get a pool fence around our entire pool but she gave us alternatives that were acceptable in California as well which is going to save us unexpected thousands of dollars. Yay! A good end to a busy week!