Pages

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Adoption, Dave and Life

I have had a few people ask where we are with the adoption. We just sent in our supplement 3 for our I800A last week and it was confirmed USCIS received it on Monday. What that means is when you adopt, you have to have approval to bring an orphan into the USA (that's the I800A approval). With Finley, we had an I800A approval and that is good for 18 months. So, since we are still within the 18 months (it expires November 24, 2011-- cutting it close) we don't have to submit a bunch of additional paperwork and wait the 2 months plus for the full approval rather we just have to submit and new document that says we want to add an additional child to the original approval and then they approve it and send the new approval out to us. We expect the approval in about 3 weeks and then as soon as we get the approval back, it will be about 1 week to get a bunch of paperwork for our dossier (a bunch of papers that go to China) authenticated and sealed at the Chinese Embassy and then we are DTC-- DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!! Realistically, we are about 1 month from sending out paperwork to China and that is a HUGE step!! Once our paperwork goes to China we will be logged in (LID) and then and then we wait and wait and wait.  Our goal is to be in China in May, so it appears we are probably in line to be at about that time frame.

That is the timeline update and once paperwork is in China we will be able to show pictures and do all that stuff but until then, I have to keep things quiet.

On other notes, we are still working the Dave Ramsey budget really well. Even in the process of desperately trying to get money together for this adoption, we are still finding money to be able to pay things off. We are moving down our DEBT LIST that is posted on our refrigerator really fast-- way faster than we thought. Of course, we have some major adoption payments coming up so we might have to slow down on paying things off for a few months, but as soon as we pay our agency fees, we are back paying debt off. We actually only have a few things left to pay (bigger $$ items) before we are out of debt except for my student loan and our house. I cant believe how close we are and our goal of debt free except for the house in 2 years is totally going to happen-- I have faith!! Don't get me wrong, we still struggle but for the first time in our lives we are living below our means. It is not easy. I don't shop-- at all! I have not bought the kids anything new in many months with the exception of one birthday gifts for the girls. I have not bought myself ANYTHING in months and I am living on a tiny budget with literally no wiggle room. We don't eat out unless it is Wednesday nights (church) and we use a restaurant.com certificate and a few little .99cent things here and there. We are crazy dedicated  but it is serving us well. We have been able to save and pay things off and we are actually able to pay for our adoption expenses. Again, it is not easy, but we are doing it and I am loving the freedom I feel knowing this area of our life is in control-- literally for the first time in our lives. I don't mention this to say we are so great. I say it to inspire other that control of your finances CAN BE DONE!! We are proof of it and we were HORRIBLE before this program. If we wanted it, we got it and didn't really understand the idea of delayed gratification. We started to change things about 2 years ago but still did not live within a budget over the last 2 years. While we did not incur more debt over the last 2 years we still did not manage our money well and we are now digging out of the hole we created. I am so proud of ourselves!!! Plus I mention all this because I do get people asking about how we are doing with Dave's program so I figured it was time for an update.



 Owen giving the girls hockey lessons. Finley taking a slapshot. Sorry the quality is poor. It was with my cell phone.

Mia taking her slapshot

Other than that, we are living life. We are trying to slow things down during this time of year and to focus on the reason for the season. We are going to try to implement some low cost traditions this year so if anyone has any suggestions, we would love them!!! I am looking forward to this holiday season so very much and cant wait to bake cookies and bundle up in front of the fireplace (ya right-- not too cold here in So Cal) and watch Christmas specials. My friend Kim at 3Peanuts wrote a great post yesterday about slowing down and de-stressing the holidays. I read the post out loud to my husband and we both agreed we wanted to de-stress our holidays and we are going to talk about ways we can do that soon. I encourage others to de-stress as well and slowing down and paying attention to the reason we celebrate Christmas.


10 comments:

  1. You and your family are such an inspiration! I love reading your blog and hearing about your wonderful family. Congratulations on the adoption and paying down debt.

    Take care.

    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that is SO impressive about Dave Ramsey. We have been listening to him for YEARS on the radio here (maybe when we first married 15 years ago) and luckily we never got into any debt at all. I am guessing his show and advice and the callers had a HIGE impact on our habits and decisions. We do wait and we don;t buy unless we can afford it. BUT still.... I think I do spend too much. I really do. I try and certain times of the year, I do well and others not so much. I am thinking we need to implement a budget to be better stewards. You have inspired me. Congratulations! You will feel so free once you work down your debt.

    Thank you for the sweet mention. I am really happy with the way we are planning the holidays. My cards are ordered and were totally stress free. We are so excited to just be this season.

    Kim

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this post!!! Gives me the boost of encouragement I need right now to stop spending and get out of debt!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just found your blog through a RQ link. We are in similar spots and had very similar reactions in our circles (even family!) over our third adoption and 5th kiddo. Yowza! Just wanted you to know you're not alone. Excited to follow your journey. We're only about a month or so ahead of you!
    Blessings to you in your process!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's very straightforward to find out any matter on net as compared to textbooks, as I found this piece of writing at this web page.
    Here is my blog - accutane long term side effects

    ReplyDelete
  6. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about
    this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you
    could do with a few pics to drive the message home
    a little bit, but instead of that, this is great blog.
    A fantastic read. I'll definitely be back.
    Stop by my webpage - aciphex rabeprazole sodium

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome post.
    Feel free to visit my web site Http://Katalogstron.Darmowki.Eu

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey there! Would you mind if I share your
    blog with my zynga group? There's a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Thanks
    My web page - http://eilunh.de/webkatalog-ostsee/index.php?go=valid&user=c193be80bc8dd9e31154c90e70030a2b

    ReplyDelete
  9. Howdy! This post could not be written much better!
    Looking through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He always kept talking about this. I most certainly
    will send this information to him. Pretty sure he'll have a very good read. Many thanks for sharing!
    My webpage - hotmail support team

    ReplyDelete
  10. I read this post completely on the topic of the difference of hottest and earlier technologies, it's amazing article.

    Feel free to surf to my website Weltkulturerben.de

    ReplyDelete