Weekly Update November 21

To alleviate some of the over-emailed irritation I know I have been causing some people I have come up with a weekly update format for future emails and I will be posting these update here as well.  From now on, all of my adoption emails will come with separate sections for where we are in the process, any fund-raising news, prayer requests, and a final catch-all category for other "stuff".  Hopefully that will streamline things a bit.  It should make life a bit better for those who just want a quick update on process, as well as satisfy those who want to know a lot of details.  I also promise to never send out more than one update email in a week's time - the only excepting being our travel notification announcement which I will shout as loud as I can from the highest mountaintop as soon as we get it!  I claim no once-a-week limit to blogging though so all bets are off here.  :)

Process Updates:

Our home study is almost complete – all visits have been made, the last of our doctor forms submitted, and TN paperwork has arrived.  We are now just waiting on our fingerprints to be cleared by the state of Maryland and the FBI.  My prints seem to be moving through the process faster than Dan’s, but we are still waiting on reports for both of us.  Once those arrive, hopefully SOON, we should be able to have our homestudy reviewed by our adoption agency, signed off on by our homestudy agency, and submitted to Immigration fairly quickly.  Hopefully….

We did make a bit of headway on our end this week.  I was able to take a collection of completed paperwork to Annapolis for county and state seals.  This makes that stack of paperwork ready for submission to the US State Department for that seal.  This is good, but not entirely helpful as we are waiting for that dang homestudy so that we can send everything to DC in one envelope as it will cost us $40 postage per package mailed.   Still one step closer though.

Fund-Raiser Updates:

I have heard from a couple of my Ultimate Girl’s Night Out vendors about sales donations.  One will be submitting a check for $20 and a second check should be coming for roughly the same amount.  That is at least a bit of good news – those 20’s will cover that needed postage to the US State Department.  J

We are still selling Show Hope t-shirts.  They are $25 each, and you can see all 8 shirts and ordering information at our family blog -  http://foraplace.blogspot.com.  Our first goal was to sell 50 shirts in order to profit $500 and pay our Post Adoption Deposit, due to CCAI before travel.   We have sold 37 shirts so far – not bad! – but we still need to sell the remaining 13 (at least).  We have 1 sale pending, but would love for you to consider supporting us by supporting Show Hope.  (www.showhope.org) 

***NEW*** 

We are also excited to announce a new fund-raising opportunity we have – “Joe” for Jack.  Just Love Coffee, a family owned business in Murfreesboro, TN, has set up an adoption fund-raising account in our name.  This means that you can now buy coffee and support our cause at the same time.  Please take a moment to visit our coffee store at http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheShipleys and see what “we” have to offer.  The prices are quite competitive with Starbucks and Gloria Jeans, and for each bag of coffee purchased on our site, Just Love Coffee will donate $5 to our adoption fund.  Coffee for you, a trip home for Jack - just another win-win situation.  J

Other “Stuff”:

Just as a side note, I was lucky enough to volunteer at the Show Hope table last night at “A Night with the Chapmans” event featuring the band Caleb, several song sets by Steven Curtis Chapman, and the testimony of Mary Beth Chapman.  I had a great time, and was very excited to see Jack’s face right in the middle of things.  The Show Hope newsletter featuring Jack on the cover was displayed abundantly on the Show Hope table, and it was such a blessing to watch our son witness for Show Hope all the way from the other side of the world.  I think his picture actually made more one-on-one contact with attendees than our group of volunteers did.  What a great story he has!  And what a wonderful way for me to spend the evening with our son.

**If you do not currently receive adoption emails from me but would like to start, please let me know with a "comment" and I will get you added to the list.  Thanks!