Dossier On It's Way!!!

Guess what dear friends, dear loved ones!! We're PAPER PREGNANT!!! Our dossier; into which we have lovingly poured a year of our lives, blood (from paper cuts), sweat (over getting things done "just so" and "in time"), tears (over delayed document arrivals and completions, etc.), prayers, sleepless nights, gas money, day trips and much more; is finally on its way to Poland! The paperwork was reviewed and deemed complete and accurate by our adoption agency and is officially headed to our daughter's homeland, where we pray we will follow it sooner than later.

Most of you want to know what all that means exactly. What does the timeline look like from here? Have we been matched by Polish authorities with a little girl yet? How do you know it's a little girl? Let me answer some of these questions as succinctly as possible.

The timeline from here is, as we've been told, "variable"; average wait times reveal that it will be 2 months before our dossier is fully translated from English to Polish and in the right hands, from there, it could be 8-10 MORE months before we are matched and given a referral to consider. That being said, our God is a God of miracles, a God of love and justice, a God of mercy and goodness. He sees our family and He sees our daughter; He knows exactly when we should be brought together as a forever family. We pray that He will move both heaven and earth to bring her home to us as soon as possible, trusting His timing completely. My heart prays that He will, with great excitement and pleasure, complete the translation and matching in record time, blowing us all away, but we'll watch and we'll pray. (That wasn't very succinct, was it? Oops.) Next, as I have basically already answered, we have not been matched with a specific little girl by Polish authorities. We have, however, been matched with a specific little girl by her Maker; He has known she was ours from before she was born just as He knows the date and time I will hold her in my arms for the very first time, never ever wanting to let go. Finally, we are assuming we are bringing a little girl home because that has been the desire God has placed in each of our hearts from the start and we have requested a girl. That does not mean the child we bring home will definitely be a girl, but that is what we are planning for. It's fun that way; kind of like being pregnant... they tell you girl when they read the ultrasound and then... "SURPRISE!!! Oops.... we THOUGHT it was a little girl. Hmmmmm." and you love him to pieces anyway. ;-)

That's all for tonight. I think. if I have time, I will write tomorrow about the sacred echo ringing in my head and my heart through a beautiful song that seems to come on the radio EVERY time I happen to be in my car recently. Love you all and thank you so much for your prayer and financial support!

Not much time to elaborate, but after countless hours in front of the copier, computer and in the post office; after numerous hours logged in Jackson for the home study; after an entire year's worth of excitement, joy, grief, tears, set-backs and successes, our DOSSIER IS ON IT'S WAY to our adoption agency in NC!!!

From there, it will go off to Poland to be translated and a referral created. Please continue to pray with us that God will move Heaven and Earth to bring our little girl home quickly and safely.

If you want to check out our biggest, most exciting fundraiser yet, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I to see a BothHands project in action! To give a tax-deductible donation towards our adoption and sponsor our work on a deserving widow's home, click here: http://www.bothhands.org/bobby-and-jaime-briggs

Finally coming together...

Check it out!!! I have goosebumps all over! I just put our dossiers together! We lack one medical letter on its way back from Tx Secretary of State this week and I print the pics of our house tomorrow to add!!

It's finally happening!!!

If you want to check out our biggest, most exciting fundraiser yet, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I to see a BothHands project in action! To give a tax-deductible donation towards our adoption and sponsor our work on a deserving widow's home, click here: http://www.bothhands.org/bobby-and-jaime-briggs

HAPPY CYBER MONDAY!!

 

Happy Cyber Monday!  

 

Today, people will buy a lot of stuff online. That isn’t bad but how much of it is lasting? We are currently raising the funds needed to bring our little girl home from Poland. Money donated to our adoption fund or given to buy a T-Shirt brings one more orphan home to her forever family. The impact your donation will have in bringing this little girl home to us IS lasting; our family, her life, and her understanding of true love will be changed forever.

 

While you are shopping online today, why not go here and support our adoption efforts and our attempt to introduce this very special little girl to the Savior of the world, who has adopted us all? This investment is eternal. It lasts way longer than an iPhone, toy or new kitchen gadget.

 

You can buy a T-shirt or donate through paypal. It's really simple and fast. And here's our Cyber Monday offer: 100% of your investment will go to bringing one more orphan home and introducing her to Jesus.

 

Following where He leads,

Bobby and Jaime Briggs

 

P.S. You can make a donation through Paypal or, if you wish to make a tax-deductible donation towards our adoption efforts, please mail a check to:

Both Hands
PO Box 2713
Brentwood, TN 37024
Attach a piece of paper indicating your giving preference is “Briggs #187 adoption”

Or call Aimee Sipe at 615-480-4282 to give over the phone.

T-Shirt Fundraiser

Our T-Shirt Fundraiser is Up and Running!!

Please buy shirts and support our adoption efforts.

Buy shirts for your family and friends and for Christmas gifts too!

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/briggs-family-adoption

There are several styles to choose from. The shirts are Navy Blue.

We must sell 50 shirts by December 9th.

Praying God will move Heaven and Earth

I know. I know. It's been forever since the last adoption update and most of you have just stopped checking altogether. Don't blame you. We hit a bit of a standstill in the process after a super successful first fundraiser in the garage sale and the initial meetings for our home study and I just stopped writing.
I wish I hadn't. I wish I had record of the thoughts, the feelings, the prayers and questions and God's faithful answers. I wish I had kept my friends and family more in the loop so they would know how to pray and what to say when we needed it most, but here we go. Starting fresh.
Recent information has made us aware that it could still be about a year before we ever have a referral in our hands, but we are praying that "God will move Heaven and Earth to bring our little girl home to us". Now, I'm not going to pretend to put a definition or outline on what that should look like, I only know that it is my God Size Dream and prayer.
I miss a little girl I've never met, I don't even know her name. I miss her like she is mine and I can not get to her to bring her home, where she belongs. My heart longs to lavish love on her and my arms ache to hold her. My heart grows weary of the wait but more in love with her with every passing day.

Our home study is signed, sealed and delivered. We have gotten our USCIS fingerprinting form signed and stamped. We are currently waiting on the final apostilled documents to be returned to us so that our completed dossier (collection of official papers needed to adopt a child) is ready to send to our adoption agency and then off to Poland for translation. Apparently the translation could take up to 2 months and then a referral would normally take from 6-10 months. This is where it gets hard. We had hoped to have her home by the time we now understand we will just be getting a referral with a picture of her precious face and record of her given name.

Please join us as we pray and seek God's guidance in every step of this process. Pray that the Father of Lies would be unable to sway or deceive us in times where the path doesn't seem clear or are not going as we had planned.

And, STAY TUNED!!! We've got a TShirt design primed and ready to go live any day now for our newest fundraising effort (thanks to Jessica Wise).

FBI Clearance Arrived and The Garage Sale Prep Begins!!

WOOHOOO!!!! Our FBI clearances arrived in the mail today. It is officially on record that we have no FBI records. :-D That document has the second longest processing time of all of the dossier documents. The apostille (certification) from the US Secretary of State on all major documents, including the FBI clearance is what takes the very longest, apparently.

So, it is a HAPPY day at our house. (Minus the part about me backing into a parked car in our friends' neighborhood while picking up Sunday School supplies for tomorrow. Boo.) But, they're just cars. No one was hurt. Life goes on and our adoption is moving along!!

All next week we get to spend preparing to GARAGE SALE it up at Grace Bible Church!! HOORAY!! And MANY THANKS to everyone donating items and energy to making it all happen.

For more information on the sale, check out our awesome flyers (thanks to Will Anderson at Paradigm Creative Media), or if you're wondering how to help, click HERE.

If you can't volunteer your time or donate sale items, but still want to get involved,  you can help us purchase needed supplies by giving a gift card or cash donation; provide food for volunteers, whether a snack or a meal; pray for our efforts and that God's name would be magnified; bring empty, usable grocery sacks or hangers for us to use.