Home Study is approved! Yea!

So today we found out our home study was approved! Thank you, God (and Lisa :-). It's been a great day so far.

What does one do to celebrate, you ask? One fixes a belated Thanksgiving turkey, of course! Honestly, in a weird sort of way, today feels more like a Thanksgiving to me than the actual holiday did. Maybe it's because the biggest thing I'm thankful for just got a step closer.

I know many of you (friends and family) are wondering how this whole adoption process works and what the steps are. Well, the Home Study is kind of the foundation of the whole thing. Until this VERY thorough study is done (our history as individuals, our history as a couple, our families, our home, our finances,our health, our beliefs and values, our community, even our dogs), the US Citizenship and Immigration Services won't process the documents saying we can bring Kaley into the U.S. And until the Home Study and that USCIS documentation are finalized, the Taiwan government can't start the adoption on their end.

So you can see how important today was...and why we're celebrating. Seriously, I feel like I just completed the first trimester of a pregnancy. Like, no matter how long we've known about this, it's finally ok to believe this will go "full term" and we will end up bringing home the little angel we've been praying for. I know things could still happen that would prevent us from getting Kaley, but when we got that news, the bit of my heart that still said "it's been 15 years already. Maybe you're not going to have a child", just woke up and said "woohoo...there's a baby coming!"

A couple of supporting documents needed to be added in to the home study report after our visit today, so those will be added and the agency should send the report off to USCIS by Friday or Monday. Then we just wait until USCIS sends back our approved documents. When we get the USCIS approval, we'll send copies of everything, along with a pictorial of our family, home, etc., to Taiwan so it can be translated and go before the judge. After that, it's just a time of waiting until they set our court date when we go over to Taiwan to meet Kaley, her wonderful caregivers and go before the judge for approval of our petition to adopt.

There's still a long way to go and as frustrating as the waiting can be, we know it is because people are protecting the children. God will bring Kaley home in His time...that's all we've ever wanted.

OK, got to run baste a turkey! Thanks for the prayers!