Blaschke Family Adoption Journey

Erica and I took the girls to the Carson & Barnes CircusSaurus event in Clovis a couple of weeks ago. It was a great night with acrobatics, elephants, jugglers, clowns and more under the big top; but the very best part for me was watching the wonderful awestruck expressions on my kids' faces. They were absolutely beaming and glowing and enthusiastic to tell everyone about it afterwards. It also reminded me of the tightrope balancing act that we are walking these days. We have adoption fundraisers and grants to apply for and appointments to make and we are working on enclosing our garage to include an extra bedroom and schoolroom and a big enough dining room to fit 9 of us! It seems like every day results in more items added to the to do list and fewer items crossed off. We don't want to get so caught up in preparing for the future that we miss out on the meaningful moments today.  These are the Summer Fundraisers we are currently working on: 1) Nesira has a drive...

23 items. There are 23 items on the Dossier checklist. They include simple things like a copy of our mortgage to prove our residency and really complicated things like a full psych eval with MMPI assessments from a Ph.D. level licensed psychologist. Pretty fun stuff. We are down to about 3 items left there. The approval from United States Customs and Immigration Services will likely be the final piece of that puzzle. USCIS wants another set of fingerprinting and background checking done (this will be the 2nd full-blown FBI-level clearance for each of us in this process). Estimated timeline to hear back from them is about 2 months, so we could be looking at the middle of July or early August before submitting the Dossier. The Dossier itself will go to the Brazilian Central Authority (CEJA) for review and approval. Then we move to "matching." We have submitted our Letter of Intent for a sibling group of 4, 3 boys and a girl, range in age from 2 to 7, and we are praying with...

The letter of intent has been submitted to CEJAI (Brazil's Central Authority), along with photos of our family and house. We are waiting a couple of minor details to completely finalize the home study. We have appointments tomorrow to get passports renewed/obtained so that whenever we get to the end and need to travel we will be good to go! Biggest prayers right now: wisdom in keeping focused without distraction on the next step forward. Patience as we wait in between steps in the process. Kindness and gentleness toward each other as both Erica and I are more emotionally vulnerable at the moment than our previous baseline of "normal." Most of all, for L, M, L, & R, that God's Divine Provision would sustain and uphold them and they would find a good home, be that with us (joy of joys!) or elsewhere (God's will be done!). And finally, for Nesira, Gracie, and Eden as they think deep thoughts about orphans and siblings and all kinds of things with which little...

The e-mail ... "Hey Joseph & Erica, time for a quick call today? Got an update from our attorneys in Brazil yesterday and want to chat." We expected that there had been a change in laws or a new step added to the process. Nothing could have prepared us for the call on Friday at lunch. The phone call ... "Hey guys, are you sitting down? ... Our attorneys received a request from the home that we have worked with before. They have a sibling group that you might be interested in. Only thing is, it is 4 siblings! ..." I'm going to hear that silence for a long time. The jolt of my heart skipping a beat. The sharp intake of air through an impulsive, involuntary, and permanent smile. The eye contact with my wife. Her mouth almost as wide as her eyes ... "WHAT!!??!!" But my heart had already said yes. We said yes when we started this process in October. Yes to moving forward. Yes to God's timing. Yes to God's plan. Yes to God's kids. S...

While we are working back and forth to get our home study completely finalized (so, so close!) we have received information from our Adoption Service Provider about what happens next. I want to share with you all. Here is what I know, in big broad steps and with estimated timelines: 1)   Dossier Preparation - Erica and I have another set of forms to fill out and documents to gather up. The dossier process includes Preparation, Submission, Apostilles (authentication), Translation into Portuguese, and Submission to the Brazilian Central Authority. Usually this will take 3+ months. 2)   Approval - the approval process usually takes 4-6 months. This is the process of the Brazilian Central Authority reviewing our Dossier, asking questions, and ultimately approving our request to adopt from Brazil. 3)   Matching - once we have been approved by the Brazilian Central Authority, the orphanages in Brazil will review our Dossier and try to match us with a group ...

Fun fact about February: it has 28 days. 28 is divisible evenly by 7, which is the number of days in a week. Consequently, the days of each week of February correspond quite symmetrically with same in the month of March. It was this odd coincidence which caused the simple sentence ... "Yes, Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th will work great for us!" to lead to a month-sooner-than-expected visit from our Home Study Agent. Surprise!!!!! So, here we are on February 20, and I am proud, humbled, pleased, delighted, and a bit overwhelmed to report to you all that our home study visit was a success and we are being recommended for a sibling group from Brazil of up to 3 siblings from ages 0 to 10. What was it like? How did it go? What happens next? Whoa, there. One question at a time. I'm still processing. I thought she would put our home under a microscope - but it was really very encouraging instead. So ... what was it like? In a word: encouraging. Our home stud...

Both Erica and I completed our homestudy self-assessment paperwork and we got it mailed in last week. Lots of questions about family of origin, communication and conflict resolution, parenting styles, disciplinary preferences, and the like. Erica wrapped her answers up in 15 pages. I took 26. No surprises there. :) Next up is financial information and medicals. Both Erica and I got labs drawn last week for medical reports, as well as a standard annual physical. It is really remarkable how thoroughly everything is reviewed when you apply for adoption. No one asked me about how I was disciplined as a child during pregnancy classes! Great news! Our Puzzle Fundraiser was successful beyond our wildest dreams. Thanks to your support we raised the full $5,000 goal for our puzzle, and a generous donor contributing a matching gift as well. These funds will be vital in 1) completing our homestudy, and 2) making a significant start towards our Dossier. The Dossier is the Brazilian version of ...