Adoption Parenting ... a Must Read, Really

March 7, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today we got another book, “Adoption Parenting,” that we are required to read. This one is the longest one yet! Over 500 pages. I read really slow, so I hope I can finish it in time! I think this tells me that you are going to like to read. I’m guessing that you’ll be really smart, probably a little quiet, and often curled up on the couch with a book in your hands. Mommy and I will just sit across the room and watch you. Maybe you could read us a story. Or Lily Grace or Lia Faith. They both like to read also. Anyway, breezing through it, it looks like a good book, so, here we go ...

The Happy Doctor

February 20, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today, we visited our doctor’s office to have medical exams completed to ensure that we were OK to adopt you into our home. The Chinese authorities are very peculiar about this, so we had to have complete physical examinations by our doctor. And we had to document everything to send to Lifeline to be a part of the Home Study. With this information, there’s not much that you won’t know about us one day. The examinations were long and tedious and lead to other appointments for both of us to have things that seemed a bit odd checked out. There were no problems discovered, praise God, but we still had to go through the process. Another step complete!

The Married Couple

February 14^th, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today we had to visit the Probate Judge’s office to get proof that Mommy and Daddy are actually married! We had to get a notarized copy of our marriage certificate. It proves that we got married on August 25^th, 1984. Mommy and Daddy have been loving each other ever since and now we will have you to love too! And that marriage thing, don’t even think about it until you’re finished with college!

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

The Connected Child

February 8, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today, we bought a book called “The Connected Child.” It’s a book about children and how we are to best “connect” them to our families. It’s one of the books that we are required to read so we can be allowed to adopt you into our family. In the time since we had adopted Lia Faith and Lily Grace, much has changed. There are a lot more reading and education requirements. We have to read the material and then sign a form saying we have read it. I hope they don’t test me on it!

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

Starting the Home Study

February 4^th, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today, we had our first “Home Study” meeting with Lifeline concerning our hope to find and adopt you into our family. We know that it’s going to take a long time, so we’ve focused on Hebrews 11:1 to help us get through the wait. This verse of the Bible says “Now, Faith is being sure of what we Hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  We had a similar focus when we adopted Lily Grace and Lia Faith earlier. Lily’s verse was 1 Samuel 1:27 which says “I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him.” Lia’s verse was Ephesians 2:10 “For it is by Grace you have been saved, through Faith…” We knew that Lia’s middle name would be Faith and this verse reminded us of the bond that she and her sister Lily Grace would share throughout their lives. And now, your verse connects you to your new sister Lia Faith and reminds us that though we have not yet seen you, we have Faith that our “Hope” will soon be with us to complete our family.

During our meeting with Lifeline today, we completed several documents and signed several agreements about our efforts to complete the required adoption reading and training. We also answered lots and lots of questions about our home and family life. The answers to these questions will be used to write the “Home Study,” which will be used to convince the Chinese authorities that our home is the proper place to raise a little girl like you. Hopefully, after reviewing our information, they will agree with what God has already decided!

The meeting wasn’t very long and provided us an opportunity to visit with our friends at Lifeline and to catch up on what’s been happening in adoption since we’d brought Lia Faith and Lily Grace home. We heard about a planned trip to China this year by Lifeline to show the Chinese authorities how well the children who’ve come from China are adapting to their new life in the United States. We said we’d like to go if possible and we asked Lifeline to keep us informed of this trip so we could make a decision at the appropriate time.

With the first “Home Study” visit complete, we loaded back up in the van and headed north with more paperwork, fingerprinting, medical exams, and reading to do. But most of all, we knew that we’d taken the next step toward getting you home. Every little step we take gets us a little bit closer to knowing you and meeting you and loving you. Soon Lucy Hope, soon.

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

Fingerprints

January 15^th, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today, we had to go to our local sheriff’s office to be fingerprinted as part of our Home Study. A Home Study is a review of everything about a person’s home to decide if that person and their home are suitable for children (that's a layman's description with apologies to the experts who develop the home studies). We sure hope our home is suitable since it has three already! We’d done this twice before, so we were familiar with the process. The deputy who did the fingerprinting was even a friend of ours, the music minister at Granny’s church. He asked what we were up to and when we told him, he was happy for us and for you. It took a little while to finish the fingerprints and afterward, we visited with the administrative staff at the sheriff’s office who we had met during Lily Grace and Lia Faith’s adoptions. They were so excited to hear about you and wanted to know everything. We got more paperwork completed here and enjoyed our visit. It was a good day. Another step complete. With every little step, we're closer to finding you.

We love you Lucy Hope,

Mommy and Daddy

Love

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

New Year's Eve - 2010

December 31, 2010

Dear Lucy Hope,

It’s been an entire week since we prayed with the pastor and discovered God’s plan to bring you together with our family. So, we’ve been working on an application with Lifeline Children’s Services to adopt you into our family. We know the staff at Lifeline very well and we are sure that they will help us find you soon. Today, we finished that application and traveled to Birmingham to meet with Karla and Dave at Lifeline. They knew we were coming, but they were not sure why; although, I suspect they had figured it out by then. We wanted to make sure that we began this journey on the first day of 2011, so we wanted to submit our application to Lifeline on the last day of 2010.

We want you to know that every member of our family loves you and that you are very important to all of us. That’s why we all loaded up in the van and headed to Birmingham together. It’s New Year’s Eve in Alabama and we’re planning a new family, complete with another “sweet baby girl” to call our own. Austin is kind of quiet in the back as we ride to Birmingham, but Lily Grace and Lia Faith more than make up for the void with their endless chatter. I hope you’re able to get in a few words with them when you get home – you’ll just have to jump right in. They want to know if we’re going to bring you back from Lifeline today! So, we had to explain to them that it would take a while for all the details to be worked out, that this was just the first step in a long process that would eventually lead us to you and you to us. They understood that it might take a little while, but they both wanted you home as soon as possible. Austin just sat in the back smiling at the perceptions of two “sweet baby girls” of the new addition to our family. Having been through the process twice, I think he’s just conditioning himself for the wait, amused at the expectations of his impatient little sisters.

So, we turned in our application to Lifeline Children’s Services with Dave and Karla today so that we could be sure to start immediately in 2011! Everyone was excited that we’d reached this decision and were eager to get started. We planned to meet again sometime in January after we’d had a chance to complete some more paperwork! We also learned that since we had adopted Lily Grace and Lia Faith, new processes were involved that might lengthen our wait. New rules meant extra education, reading, and such, along with added approval steps. Ugh! We just want to find you and bring you home.

We Love You Lucy,

Mommy and Daddy

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six