Immigration approval letter arrived today

We received exciting news today. Our approval letter, which we have been anxiously awaiting, arrived this afternoon. We will fax it to our adoption coordinator and can officially receive a referral. Sometime during the month of May our baby should be born and we will get a phone call, birth photos, and her medical records. We then will have a week to accept the baby and take her medical records to our pediatrician. Aaron and I will then book a flight to Guatemala as soon as possible to meet her and sign the Power of Attorney papers. Once the papers are signed the legal process will start rolling in Guatemala. Our baby will stay with us in Guatemala City until we come home. I imagine it will be heart wrenching to leave her in Guatemala after meeting her. Please pray for this last month of pregnancy and that God has taken care of the timing perfectly, orchestrating which baby girl will be part of our family. We are so excited to finally be to this point. I can't wait to finally meet her!

Interview with Kinkade about adoption

I interviewed Kinkade about the adoption so he could share his feelings with our friends and family.

1. What are you most excited about adopting a new baby sister?
Kinkade - "I really like teaching people stuff."

2. Are you nervous about being a big brother?
Kinkade - "No, I love taking care of people."

3. When you pray for our new baby what do you talk to God about?
Kinkade - "Thank you for our baby."

4. What are you going to teach our new baby sister?
Kinkade - "I am going to teach my new sister how to play soccer and t-ball because I am on a real team."

5. Where would you like to take our new baby on her first family vacation?
Kinkade - "She would love Hawaii!"

6. What do you want to name her?
Kinkade - "I like Mirabelle."

7. How is our family going to change with a new baby?
Kinkade - "Mom can't read books as much she will have to feed the baby."

8. Is there anything you want Mommy and Daddy to tell her when we meet her for the first time?
Kinkade - "I think you should say this is a nice family and she won't be scared here."

9. What do you think she will like the best about being in the McMurray family?
Kinkade - "That we are so funny!"

10. How are you going to help?
Kinkade - "I am really good at feeding babies and our baby will probably even laugh when I feed her."

Interview with Keagan about adoption

I interviewed Keagan so he could share with you all his feelings about the adoption.

1. What are you most excited about adopting a baby sister?
Keagan - "I hope she is nice and doesn't cry as much as other babies do. I hope she is cute with curly hair!"

2. Are you nervous about being a big brother?
Keagan - "No, because I 'm excited. . . not nervous."

3. When you pray for our new baby what do you talk to God about?
Keagan - "I tell God that I love him and Jesus, and I hope we get a new dog with our baby."

4. What things are you going to teach your new sister?
Keagan - "Basketball, Soccer, Football, and real dancin!"

5. Where would you like to take our new baby on her first family vacation?
Keagan - " I would love to take her to Seattle to show her the space needle and the Rain forest Cafe."

6. What do you want to name our new baby?
Keagan - "Cinda - Bo - Binda or Paulita-o-so-sweeta"

7. How is our family going to change when we get our new baby?
Keagan - "We might have a new dog and it will be a different season outside."

8. Is there anything you want mommy and daddy to tell her when we go meet her for first time?
Keagan - " That we love her and she looks cute."

9. What do you think she will like best about being in the McMurray Family?
Keagan - "ME!"

10. How are you going to help with the baby?
Keagan - "with the diapers."

GO Black Lizards and Orange Tigers

The countdown is over! We have been talking about being on a "real team" since the boys could talk. This Spring they are finally old enough (four and a half.)

We have had 2 soccer games and one T-ball game. Kinkade is a scoring machine on the soccer field and Keagan is the defensive master! The highlights have been of the uniforms, the mascots, and playing together on a team. T-ball was a hoot to watch. Imagine baseball with no outs! The boys loved every minute and their parents are having a blast watching. This was my childhood game to game to game to game to another game!

Adoption news today - Please pray for a quick turn around from the USCIS (immigration office) to receive our 171H approval letter. We are still on the referral list in Guatemala (we can even move up the list while we are waiting for this form) but cannot officially get a referral until the form comes from this office. When the 171H form arrives we will fax it immediately to our case manager and then we are eligible for a baby.

Dossier to Guatemala

The boys at Ryan and Janny's wedding


The family @ the wedding - what a special day for our family we love Ryan and Janny!

THE PAPER CHASE IS DONE! OUR DOSSIER IS OFF TO GUATEMALA!

There are two major phases in any adoption process. We have just completed Phase 1, a massive whirlwind of paper work that culminates in a dossier. The dossier process included applications, intensive home study, fingerprinting four times, medical release forms, letters of recommendation and employment verification, the list goes on and on. . . All of these documents were notarized in Spokane County, certified at the state level in Olympia, and authenticated in San Francisco at the Guatemalan Embassy, which took just over 3 months to complete.

Please pray that the paperwork got to Guatemala quickly and safely. Our time line is looking very different from when we started and signed on with FTC (For This Child.) Guatemala has been experiencing delays in the adoption process due to some investigations that are going on in the government. We initially thought that our baby would be between 3-6 months old, but now it is looking like she will be between 5-10 months old. Darcy has taken a leave of absence from the school district next year to take care of all the details of the adoption, visit her as much as possible in Guatemala . . . . . and hopefully welcoming our new baby girl home before Christmas.

The e-mail below (which we've been waiting for anxiously) announces that our dossier has now been sent to Guatemala. Shortly, we will be receiving our "referral", which is an e-mail and phone call from the agency offering us a baby girl. The email will contain her birth photos and medical records up to this point. We will then take the medical records to our pediatrician to look them over to make sure we understand everything.

We will keep you updated on our progress and can't wait to post photos of our new baby as soon as we get them.

******************************************** Here is the most current email:

Subject: "Congratulations"

From: Case Manager, For This Child, Inc.

Dear Aaron and Darcy,

Hello! I just wanted to let you know that Linda has approved your dossier
and it is going to be sent to Guatemala today in FED-EX. You are now on the
list for a referral!

I am letting everyone know now to be patient for a referral as we have quite
a few families ready for a referral so we really need the stork to visit
soon! :-)

Congratulations!

Sincerely,
Shannon

Adoption Case Manager
For This Child, Inc.

Our Family is Growing

The McMurray family is planning big changes for 2007. After years of talking and praying about international adoption, we have made the decision to bring a new baby into our family..... a beautiful baby girl from Guatemala.

We hope this blog will provide a way to share the joys and frustrations of this journey with our closest friends and family.

We value so much your prayers along the way... that our daughter would be happy and healthy, and that she would join our family as soon as possible.