Shirt Sale for Baby Paul

We are getting closer with each prayer and paperwork that we check off the list!! However we are still needing your help! We are selling Paul Companies t-shirts to raise money for our adoption. Please help us by ordering a shirt or two. It would really help get our child home plus you will get an awesome looking shirt! Below are the details of how to order and pay. Thank you so much for your help and support!

The shirts will be available in dark colors, no red or white. They have a vintage distressed look to them with a Paul Companies logo. Shirts are $15.00. They can be ordered by sending a message to T.J. Paul on Facebook or by emailing tjpaul117@gmail.com You can also pre-paid for your shirt with Pay-Pal if you like. The sale will end on May 7, 2014. So get your orders in soon! 


Please leave a message with your name, contact info, quantity, size, and color (address if you need them to be shipped). Once they are ready, we will contact you so you can pick them up at Paul's Body Shop, or we can ship them to you. Thank you again for all you support! 

Home Study Update

We have received our Home Study and everything looks good. We now can send off for our Immigration Approval and Dossier. YAY! We also can start applying for some grants. Please pray with us as we get everything sent off and we send it off correctly. I am feeling a little overwhelmed because I want everything to be done. Also, lately, time as been on my mind. It is hard to explain but thinking that we are running behind "schedule" is driving me crazy. When we started this journey we knew that this was God's will for us and that the Devil would be doing his best to derail us. Using anything and everything. I feel like now that we are getting closer, he is pushing more and more on some issues. So I ask for my brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for me to stay strong in Christ and trust in His timing. And for me to take it one day at a time and stay focus on our sweet baby coming home! Thank you all for everything! Love you!

Brandy

Spring Cleaning 2014

I just wanted to share a few updates by Brandy that were posted on our FB page https://www.facebook.com/pauladoption , but not here.

January 31st 

We had our soup supper fundraiser that we blogged about earlier.

http://pauladoption.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-cup-runneth-over-soup-supper.html

Brandy posted this about it:

We cannot express the joy we feel because of the amount of support that you all have shown us during this adoption. When we sat down to discuss our next fund raiser and decided to do the Soup Supper we had an amount that we would like to make (God willing) to make the hard work "worth it". God and you guys shown up BIG TIME! We almost doubled what our goal was for the Soup Supper!! God is awesome! And we give Him all the glory and want to thank you all that supported us through prayers, donating and/or stopping by on Friday! Each day God is showing us that this is what His will is for us!

T.J. and Brandy

February 1st

We had photos taken for our dossier.

You can see some of them here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.663240687067010.1073741831.516369861754094&type=1

February 7th

We are turning in our last paperwork for the Home Study TONIGHT!!! Then we are done with this HUGE step! This is such a relief for us! We still have our Dossier to finish however that is a lot of repetitive info that we have already filled out for the Home Study and getting that info notarized by the state. So we should, hopefully, be able to finish that quickly. Also we now can start applying for grants. So please pray with us for God to open doors. We are def feeling the excitement of the next stage. Even though we still have a lot of waiting time ahead of us, we are getting our home and hearts ready for our little addition. Love you all and thank you again for being there for us through this journey!

T.J. and Brandy

February 18th

Asking you all to lift us up a little higher right now. Home Study has been approve (YAY) however our agency is wanting us to change some things that are very important to us about our child. We are getting in touch with our agency to dig a little deeper on why. However in the meantime we need our prayer warriors to get to praying that this will be an easy fix. We will update you all as soon as we know something! Thanks!

T.J. and Brandy

Talked to our agency and everything worked out! Thanks for the prayers! One step closer! 

T.J. and Brandy

March 17th

Sorry it has been a minute since we last updated however we have been crazy busy. We are done with our Home Study however when we received it last week we notice while reading it over that there were some information that were written wrong. This is upsetting news because what we have to do next (Dossier and Immigration approval) are needing this Home Study. When you adopt international ALL paper HAS to match up or China will kick it out. We called our social worker and she is rewriting it right away. Hopefully we should have it back in a week or two. On a brighter note we are done painting our child's room this past weekend. I know it might be early however we were painting other parts of the house so we decided to get that room done also. It's a pretty light grey color that will go with any color depending on the sex of our child. I walked in that room and saw the bare walls waiting for picture, drapes etc I couldn't help to think that one day it will be filled with toys, laughter and a very special child that God picked to be our baby! This journey has its up and downs however the day I get to hold my sweet child I know this will all be worth it! Love you all. Thank you again and again for all your support!

Brandy

March 20th

I have been trying to write Thank You notes to you all that have helped in some way and I am sure I have missed some! This is not because we are not thankful. Just the opposite, we are overwhelm with thankfulness and humbled by the kindness you each have shown us! I am still busy writing thank you notes, I just wanted you all to know that I know God is HUGE and thank Him everyday for softening each one of your hearts towards us! Thank you each for your prayers, donations, and encouragement! 

Brandy

March 22nd

Update on the Home Study that we had to send back because it was written wrong. We got the proof last night and everything looks correct. Now we are waiting on the copies to be mailed to us so we can send our Dossier and Immigration forms. After that it is a waiting game until we are match with our child.  We just hope and pray that everything goes smoothly! Taking it one day at a time and trusting in God's timing!

There's a Reason They Call It PaperWORK

From T.J.,

First, I want to apologize for it being so long since my last blog post.  I know you have all been agonizing over the lack of my witty, informative rantings.  A lot has happened since I posted about us being accepted by CCAI for adoption.  I have been entrenched with loads of responsibilities at work.  I have devoted what little free time I have to working on adoption paperwork with my beautiful wife, and treating her to the most romantic date nights imaginable.  The look on Brandy's face is indicative of our emotions when this paperwork process began.  We were concerned and overwhelmed.  "How much paperwork is there?", you ask.  We are required by our Home Study agency and our Adoption agency to compile an extensive list of documents, photos, and training; some of which overlap with each other.  



A few items are:

Home Study - This one deserves a blog all it's own, but it went very well
12 Hours of Adoption Education
Autobiographies
Child Safety Agreements
Background Checks
Sex Offender Registry Checks
Rankin County Sheriff's Office Checks
Mississippi State Background Checks
Police Reports
FBI Fingerprinting
Medical Health Evaluations
Professional Photos of Family and Friends
Passport Photos
Firearm Statement
Swimming Pool Statement
Petition to Adopt
Employer Letters
Form I-800 Homeland Security Travel Document
Financial Statements
Copies of every personal document imaginable

....and I'm sure I left a few out.

I bought Brandy a Christmas ornament that became our mantra for this entire part of the adoption process. It had an angel standing on the words "One Day at A Time". Once we got started, things really started to click away. We are still hard at work, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, I feel like Punxsutawney Phil. Once we get to the end of the tunnel, I wonder if I will see my shadow and have six more weeks of paperwork.  Nevertheless, we know that what we are doing is driving us toward the goal of bringing home our child.  We hope and believe that will happen in 2014. Today, we actually completed our twelve hours of adoption training.  Here is what Brandy posted on her Facebook:
T.j. Paul and I are done with our adoption training! Yay! It was a lot to take in however we did learn a great deal about what to expect when we get our child home! Feeling a little overwhelmed and excited at the same time. With all the support that you all have shown by praying, donating and encouraging we feel truly blessed beyond words! This journey has taught us that God love is still shining through His people! You guys keep His light shining no matter what because, I promise you, it is making a difference! We have to give a shout out to Ramey's in Florence who donated ALL the paper goods for the soup supper next Friday! Thank you everyone and we love you all!

We are still working and raising money, and being blessed with so many kind words and donations.  This week, we are gearing up for our soup supper fundraiser that Brandy and co. have dubbed "My Cup Runneth Over."   Please see our previous blog post for more information and join us and invite your friends this Friday the 31st.  We have already received pre-orders and donations for the event. Now, here comes the part where we thank our sponsors.  We would like to thank all our friends and family for their personal donations of money, soups, deserts, and time to My Cup Runneth Over.  Also, Ramey's of Florence provided us with a gift card that we used to purchase all of our supplies for the soup supper.  We would also like to thank Wrapro Graphics in Florence for providing the venue where we will host the supper.

Again, thank you all for taking time out of your busy lives to support us in this endeavor.  We are truly touched by your support.  We are constantly reminded and become more and more confident in the generosity of all people.

My Cup Runneth Over: Soup Supper Fundraiser

A lot of people have asked how they can help with the adoption.  This would be a great opportunity!  We're having a soup supper to help raise money for the adoption. Please come by for take-out for you or your family, or stay and enjoy a delicious meal with us to help our child come home! 

Date:   Friday, January 31st
Time:  5-7 p.m. (stay and eat or get it to-go)
Place:  WRAPRO, 2990 Highway 49 South, Suite N, Florence (by the Mexican restaurant)
Cost:   $7 per person
Meal:  Your choice of one of our delicious homemade soups, roll or cornbread, and sweet or unsweet tea.

*We will also have a dessert table and will accept donations for the dessert(s) of your choice.

We want to encourage you to pre-pay through our Paypal account so that we make sure to have plenty of soup available.  Just put a note that the money is for the soup fundraiser.

Thanks in advance for your support and prayers!

Smile, You are Approved! :)

Last time we updated, we were in the process of applying for a new adoption agency.  We had to switch from Taiwan because of issues with New Beginnings and their orphanage partner.  We are still doing our home study through New Beginnings, but our adoption will be through CCAI.  CCAI is a China adoption agency located in Colorado.

We just got confirmation today, that we are approved to proceed with our adoption through CCAI.  There were some things that meant that we only qualify for the Special Needs/Waiting Child program, but that was all we had signed up for anyway.  To me, it was just confirmation that we are following God's will.  Below, is the email we got from CCAI.  I edited it to just show the parts that let us and our friends know what to expect next.

Hi Brandy!

This is terrific! J I am thrilled to say that your CCAI Application is approved! Congratulations! J  Full-steam ahead (with your home study agency as well!) Please open and print the attached Orientation Packet, you will find a cover letter with detailed instructions concerning the documents. Also attached is a Risk Statement that CCAI requires for families who do not meet China’s qualifications in some way (a formality really). 

         

Upon receipt of your signed Risk Statement, Fee Agreement, first fee payment and Service Agreements, we will send you an e-mail with your family’s password that will allow you to access the secured portion of our website and the instructions to download your Adoption Dossier Guide, Home Study Packet and access to CCAI’s online, Hague accredited, Parent Training Program. Please let me know if you are unable to receive this attachment. We look forward to serving you!

Also, we had a really great week in fundraising.  We sold some donated items on eBay, and got a check that really boosted our adoption fund!  Thank you all for your support, whether it be money, items, prayers, "Likes", questions, or encouraging words.

The Great Wall of Taiwan

As you know from previous posts, the adoption was slow moving due to changing in the orphanage in Taiwan. We have since found out that it will take even longer and with no sight to when everything will get back in order. We have stepped back from New Beginnings Agency (they have been wonderful so nothing against them) and we are now starting with the agency called CCAI. This will be a Special Needs Program from China. We are filling out the paper work this week and studying up/praying about each special needs so we can know, for us, the best match. This is a small hiccup in our journey however we have FULL trust in God! We feel as if we are back on track with His will! Please continue to pray for us and our child. Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement! It is much appreciation! Love you all!

Brandy and T.J