From Charleston to China: The Clark Family's Adoption Journey

Mackenzie's school has been awesome to help put together this event to help us fundraise. Walking, Running, Skipping, Galloping, Fulfillment of a New Years resolution to be more active, whatever your motivation to get there, join us on April 16th @ 8 am at Oakbrook Elementary in Summerville/Ladson. S ign Up online and get more info at fromcharlestontochina.com . $5 or more suggested donation for walk/run only, $25 or more with awesome Bring Hone Bailor 5K race shirt which we think you'll really like! Think you can't do a 5K? Trust me you can! :-) I used to facilitate training people to do them so don't let that stop you. Think Summerville and think "that's far away"? Believe me it's just outside North Charleston. Here's a link:  Oakbrook Elementary School 306 Old Fort Dr, Ladson, SC 29456 Plus you'll be helping us bring this awesome kid home from China! Someone at our recent adoption training put it best: we have the bles...

I-800A Approval! No, we didn't get the IRS to allow us to use a special tax form although it sounds like it. :-) This is the very exciting. All of our documents have been approved on the US Immigration side (before heading to China). This is a big relief as this is the document we kept having weird things happen with. But now it is DONE! Does this mean Bailor's on his way? Not yet. This is the US approval. What's next is getting our Dossier (I-800A approval + Fancy Finger Prints taken at the covert government office next to Chuck E. Cheese + Homestudy + family pictures + original documents (where we never got a copy of our marriage certificate) + References ( I hope you all said good things) + Checks for random amounts like $3 to Shelby County Probate, $4 to Alabama Secretary of State and two random amount checks to someone name Cindy Marut (you're welcome Cindy if you're reading this) then subtract 15 and divide by the square root of 4 = Dossier) w...

We were excited to recently get our biometric finger print appointment mailed to us from the US Immigration office. This is one more piece in the puzzle of the elements that will be sent to China once all documents are approved and assembled on the US side. This is one of those things where the government tells you when it is and that is when you go. No phones or purses allowed, you jsu bring your appointment letter and your ID. :-) At our recent training we talked to couples who were done within an hour of their appointment to being there 5 or 6 hours. I'm blessed that with my recent change to 4 10 hour shifts I can take that full day without having to take vacation that I'll need later to travel to China. Pray for us on February 4th at 8:30am that all goes quickly (and if not quickly for patience) and also for the approval of our I800-A documents which have been having some odd unexpected technical hiccups along the way. In other recent news we received some new pictures of B...

We are so thankful for all of you and the support you have shown us Your donations and generosity continue to blow us away everyday. One challenge with adoption fundraising is a way to make your donation tax deductible. Challenge conquered! Enter AdoptTogether, a website that allows adoptive families to fundraise and the donations to be tax deductible. Here is a TedTalk from the founder of AdoptTogether that does a great job explaining what they do: Our next phase of fundraising will help fund our last! agency payment, our orphanage donation, and our travel expenses. If you feel led to donate, please visit our AdoptTogether page here. Thank you! https://www.adopttogether.org/clarkmiracle

This morning we got our fingerprints completed biometrically by US immigration. We had heard stories of it taking hours, but thanks to the friendly and efficient staff at the non descript strip mall building next to Chuck E. Cheese that we never knew was there we were done before our appt time. :-) yea! Our last pages of paperwork arrived at Immigration as well this morning. So we're very happy to have those there to continue processing. Once that processes in the US it will move on to translation and processing in China. We have a deadline for all that to be completed mid March so we're praying for its completion. If anything we've continued to realize everything is on Gods time and He is teaching us lessons of patience and grace along the way. :-) we continue to have and (when we feel like we don't have it, pray God will give it to us) faith that He is orchestrating every element of this process and He is always for us and faithful.  We also picked up an...

We recently got back from Atlanta where we got an opportunity to get trained up on what to potentially expect when bringing Bailor home. It was great training put on by our adoption agency Lifeline Children’s Services and the bonus was we got a chance to meet couples that were also adopting from China or other countries. One couple was even adopting from the same orphanage Bailor is at. Particularly great was the chance to hear from some children that had been adopted from China and other couples that had adopted from China too to hear their experiences, challenges and suggestions. While we came away with some great knowledge we ultimately found that every situation will be different, but we feel we have the support from God and the resources of others and are even more excited to get Bailor here to start this great adventure. And thank you to Atlanta for some delicious food while we were there and some free “Christian Chicken” from the birthplace of Chick-fil-a at the training....

Bailor recently celebrated his second birthday! We were excited to be able to send him a cake party and a few gifts. He look so much different than the last set of photos! He looks like he is doing well and this just gets us more motivated to bring him home as soon as possible. So say a prayer that our paperwork goes through quickly and that it doesn't get held up during Chinese New Year.  Lot's of you are asking, how long until you head to China? Well here's just a peek into our process and what the timeline looks like: Lifeline Adoption Checklist The average time line for a China Medical Special Needs adoption is 12-15 months. The listing below serves as an estimate to the time line. Please know this time line is subject to change at any point and is family situation specific.  __ X _____Home study completed (3-4 months).  __ X_ ____I-800a application submitted with finalized home study to USCIS  _______Immigration approval received f...