Still Waiting!!!

All our paperwork has been translated and submitted to the court. The court sent us some questions that we answered a week and a half ago and now we are still waiting for a hearing date :( We did a fundraiser at Chick-fil-A, it was fun and we want to thank everyone who came and donated every dollar helps us bring "Percy" home.

Down Syndrome awareness month

Since October is Down Syndrome awareness month I would like to share a few facts about Down Syndrome..... 1. Down Syndrome occurs when an individual has 3, rather than 2, copies of the 21st chromosome. The additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with Down Syndrome. 2. There are more that 400,000 people living with Down Syndrome in the USA. 3. Down Syndrome occurs in people of all races and economic levels.

Dossier is on it way :)

All our paperwork is notarized,state authenticated and TECO authenticated and our agency sent our Dossier last Wednesday so now we are just waiting for a hearing date. It was rush rush rush to get the paperwork completed and now we will wait wait wait. Also,we have been told that we will get to skype with our little guy soon. It will be interesting to see how that goes since he only speaks Chinese and the only Chinese we know is Ni Hau and Ni Hau ma (Hello and how are you). We will need to think of something entertaining to do.

Updated picture :) Can't wait to bring him home!

USCIS Approval!

Yesterday we received our USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services)approval! It is just one of the big hurdles he have to jump for an international adoption. Now we will take all our official documents to the State of Utah for approval. Then we will send them to California to get a TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office) stamp. Then off to Taiwan and wait for a hearing date. We are one step closer to bringing our little guy home!

$1500

Thanks to all the help of our family, friends and strangers our recent fundraising events have got us $1500 closer to bringing our little monkey home. Thanks Everyone!

Shop Amazon to help

For those of you who love Amazon or plan on doing some Christmas shopping through Amazon, please Shop Amazon.com from this link to help us raise funds. A portion of your purchase goes to help us bring him home. Just click on one of the DVD's below and it will take you to Amazon and from there you can start shopping, you do not have to be buying the DVD's showed. Thank you for your support!

Fantastic News!!!!

We are so excited to share the news that our family has been approved for the match of the little boy we want to adopt. Our agency case worker visited his orphanage this week and got to spend some time with him. She got some updated pictures she is going to send us and she also had the opportunity to talk with his caregivers. She said the orphanage and staff are great and he is well taken care of. You can find out more information about him at www.reecesrainbow.org/category/waitingchildren/ds-6-boys he is listed as "Percy". We can't wait until we can bring him home and kiss those cheeks off :)

Updates

Last week the social services in Asia wanted us to send them some more snapshot pictures of our family and our house before they approve our match, so ....we are still waiting, hopefully we will hear something soon. Today we sent off our immigration paperwork and a check for $920 to Homeland Security. This application is for approval to adopt an orphan from out of the country. The average time for this takes about 2 1/2 months. This is going to be a long summer............

Got Scentsy?

We have started a new fundraiser.....It is Scentsy and Velata products.  You can see the products at www.PauletteChecketts.Scentsy.us and www.sweetanddelicious.velata.us.  Find us on the websites:  For Scentsy Click on "My Open Parties" (Tori Averett).  For Velata click on "Host" (Tori Averett).  You can order online and have products shipped to your home or contact Paulette Checketts at 801-728-0273 email pqchecketts@yahoo.com to avoid shipping charges and she will deliver your products if you live between SLC and Brigham City Utah.  All proceeds will benefit the Averett's adoption from Asia.

Winner of the Wedding package is......

Trinia Conrad!!!!  We would like to thank everyone who participated!

Photography Giveaway

Our agency is sending our homestudy to Asia so we should know in a few weeks if our family is a good match for this little monkey.  We are praying everything goes well :) !  It will probably cost us around $20,000 to bring this guy home.  Now the fun begins and we need to start fundraising.

I am giving away a wedding photography package valued at $700 provided by myself.  To see my wedding photos blog visit http://www.photosbytori-utah.blogspot.com/.   This includes engagement sitting, bridal session and the complete coverage of the wedding day activities!    To enter click on the  “Donate” button this will go directly through our Paypal account.  Then send me an email so I can make sure you get entered into the drawing photosbytori@yahoo.com.
* For each $10 donation, you receive 1 entry into the drawing
* For each $25 donation, you receive 5 entries.
* For each $100 donation, you receive 50 entries!
* If you share this you will receive 1 entry (be sure to email us if you do this since it will not show in paypal).

We will draw the winner on May 19th.  Please Share this link on your Facebook, Blog or Twitter if you know anyone who will be in need of these services.  Thanks for all your support!

Love,

The Averett Family

Our family has decided to adopt!!  We have chosen to adopt a child with down syndrome.   We felt like our family was not yet complete and we needed to adopt a child with special needs.  So now we are in the long process of international adoption. This is our first adoption and yes it is scary but it feels right at the same time.  The kids are excited to have another little monkey running around here to share their lives with! Those of you who know us will agree that we LOVE our home to be filled with kids and laughter!

We have contacted an agency that will help us through the processes.  We found the agency through the Reeces Rainbow web site and we have our eyes on a special little boy in Asia.  He is 5 years old.  I will be posting his picture soon.  So far we have completed the application process and home study.  The next steps are to submit the home study to his country for approval and USCIS for approval.  Thanks for all your prayers and support to help bring this little boy home to his forever family.