Adoption Update

Several months ago, we announced that we are adopting from India. Since then, in between moving into our new house, working, and chasing after an incredibly active two-year-old, we are making progress!

We sent off a large batch of paperwork last week. I met with our amazing social worker at AWAA this week, for a lengthy interview, and my husband will meet with her next week. We are still working on our dossier, which is French for paper chase, and they aren't kidding! Birth certificates, physical forms, background checks, finger-printing, child abuse clearance, employment letters, two different forms of financial statements, and on and on and on. Some have to be notarized, some have to be originals, some have to be copies. I'm grateful I like to be organized, but even so, our dining room table sometimes holds nothing but piles of papers.

We still don't know who she is, where in India she is from, or what our timeline will be for bringing her to our home. We have recently learned, though, that our agency has decided to keep our family's birth order intact, meaning whoever she is will be younger than Reagan -- a decision we totally support.  Part of me feels sad for the older children who may end up on the streets soon, but we have said from the beginning that we feel like there is a specific child in India who is meant to be with us, so we are fully trusting and supporting the agency's process.

We are also leaning towards taking Reagan with us when we go get her. We may take someone with us to take care of him during the day while we are running all over the country getting various documents signed. I want this entire experience to be one Reagan remembers fondly as well, and while we haven't decided for sure, my instinct right now says he needs to be as much of the experience as possible.

We're very, very, very grateful for everyone who has helped support us in bringing her home. It's been a humbling blessing to see so many of our friends, near and far, make a contribution into this entire process. Words will always fail me when I think of the ways people have helped us out. The estimated cost is as much as $40,000, according to the latest information on our agency's website. But, while we have been concerned about many, many things throughout this process, the one thing my husband and I have said over and over again is that the financial aspect of the adoption has never been one of them. We really do have faith that it will all work out.

With that said, we're planning a few more fund-raisers, so stay tuned. I'm already working on a few dinner party ideas and a songwriter night, and I'm very open to other ideas as well, so feel free to pass them on!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our friends who are walking this journey with us. We are very blessed.

P.S. To help us bring her home, click here, and in the bottom right-hand corner, put 'Johnny and Gayle Thompson' in the space for Designated Family. Checks can be made payable to AWAA, and sent to America World Adoption Association, Attn: Accounting Dept., 6723 Whittier Ave., Suite 202, McLean, VA 22101, along with a form that can be found here. Checks must be designated for the Eternal Family Fund. Or, you can donate to our GoFundMe page.