Dossier is almost on its way!

At 11:00 last night we pulled into our driveway in Indiana after a 6 hour drive back from visiting family and friends in Michigan. As soon as the car stopped I got out and went to look on our front porch. We were expecting a Fed-ex package with the last piece of paper we had to have authenticated before we could send our whole dossier to our agency for review (and then it goes to China!). I was a little disappointed to see that it wasn't there, but I figured it would be here in a few days. We got the kids settled in bed and unpacked the car, then went to well-welcomed sleep ourselves.


This morning as I was walking by the front door I happened to glance outside. There was a newspaper on the front porch so I figured I would bring it inside. I opened the door and something caught my eye between the main door and the storm door - it was our Fed-ex package! Yeah! It must have been there the night before, but I didn't see it in the dark - and Fed-ex doesn't normally put it between the doors - but I'm glad they did this time! Now we just have a few more items to put together, and we can send our dossier on its way to our agency. We have to get a family picture, a picture of Kevin and myself, a picture of two more rooms in our house, one photo of the front of our house, and two passport photos of myself (Kevin already has his). Our plan is to have the complete package sent out on Wednesday!

Below is an updated picture of the puzzle. Thank you to those who have recently donated from Washington, West Virginia, and Iraq!


In His name,

The Burgess Family

364 pieces left to go -
many thanks to an old classmate living in
Ann Arbor, Michigan!

367 pieces left to go!

Thank you to those who recently donated from Indiana, New York, Kentucky, and our good old home state of Michigan!

366 valuable puzzle pieces left to purchase at a great price! On sale now - only $5.00 each - get them now before they are all sold out!

:) I just wanted to get in early on all of the sales that are coming up for Christmas. A few weeks ago I had thought that maybe I could sell cracked-corn bedwarmers and stick horses at a local craft show but when I called to see if we could get a table the lady had just signed out the last one. Plus, the cost of the table was $50.00... Wow! So, I decided to do a mass marketing campaign for the puzzle pieces instead.

We aren't really selling the puzzle pieces in case you didn't guess that already. We are asking for a donation of $5.00 for each puzzle piece. In return, we will write the name you give us on the back of each piece for as many pieces as you would like to donate for. You can even donate in memory of a friend or family member. When the puzzle is complete we will glue it together and hang it up for our new daughter in her room - and we will have raised $2,750! Thank you!

You can donate through the chipin button on the left - it uses paypal and is not tax-deductible. Or you can make a tax deductible donation through Kingdom Kids. Their website is http://www.kingdomkidsadoption.org/. You can donate through their website by going to the "donations" button on the top right and then clicking on "Family Grant Donation" or you can mail a donation to:

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries
1417 N. Lincoln St.
Spokane, WA 99201

All donors will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Checks must be made out to:
Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries and please, do NOT write our name anywhere on the check, but include a note saying where you would like the money to go. If you have any questions you can call them at 509-465-3520 or their email is ministry@kingdomkidsadoption.org. Just let them know you would like to make a donation for Kevin and Karen Burgess.

Finally, if you prefer you can just drop it in the mail and send it to us at:
Kevin and Karen Burgess
P.O. Box 456
Plainfield, IN 46168

The updated picture of the puzzle is at the bottom of the page -
have fun!

The Burgess Family

P.S. If you aren't able to make a donation, prayers are always priceless and we can use all of those that we can get!

Fingerprints are done!

What a surprise it was to the children (and me) that when we went to get our fingerprints taken we had to stand with our arms out so that the police could search us before we went into the waiting room. The guards just used a small hand-held metal detector but it was still interesting to watch each child's face as they had to put their arms out - they were so serious :) Afterwards a guard came over with little coloring books for each of them - I think it made the kids not so nervous of them! Everything went well and now we are waiting on (that word "waiting" comes up quite a bit, doesn't it?) another piece of paper to get mailed to us. After we get that paper in the mail we can send in to the Chinese consulate in Chicago to get authenticated THEN we will have everything we need to submit our dossier (great big bundle of paperwork) to China.

Over the past few months Kevin and I have found at least 10 children on the waiting child list that we wanted to adopt. Unfortunately, every time we ask about putting a child on hold for us to review her file she is already on hold with another agency. That's wonderful for the child but... it can get a little emotionally draining at times. We know that God is in control and that His timing is perfect. We have no doubt of that. Still, with each child we think may be ours, well, the best way that I can explain it is to compare it to wanting to become pregnant. Each month you think you are pregnant, you are hoping and praying that you are, and so you take a pregnancy test, but it comes back negative. You aren't pregnant. No baby. No child. Every time I ask our agency if a child is available it is like taking that pregnany test. Well, one day it will come back positive and when it does, that child will be the perfect one for our family.

In His name,

The Burgess Family