So, we finally mailed our dossier at the beginning of this month. The adoption agency received it (meaning, it did not get lost in the mail!) and reviewed its contents. We had to resend a couple of items (neither were a big deal) and they told John that everything was good to go. Our case worker told John that they would be sending it off to Washington DC this past Friday and then off to Ethiopia.
However... we got an email yesterday that said they have sent our entire dossier off to ETHIOPIA as of Friday. So, it's on its way to the Ethiopian government and our 7-12 month time clock can finally start ticking. We will be trying to read as many books as possible and prepare for the arrival of a referral.
Please pray that the paperwork will go quickly through the hands of the Ethiopian government, that there will be no problems and that we can get a referral as quickly as possible. After we accept a referral, we travel eight weeks later to go get her. So it's possible we would get a referral as soon as late October (but it could be longer grandparents)! Obviously John and I were very excited and hope you all can share in our joy as well. Thanks to everyone who has been on this journey with us, we couldn't do it without you.
3.22.2009
2.01.2009
Frustration
I titled this blog Frustration because that is the best way to describe yesterday. It's really not anyone's fault, but John and I had reviewed all of our paperwork a week ago yesterday and decided that it was very do-able to mail our dossier off yesterday. We had some final paperwork to get done this week and then we would be able to get the last of our stuff notarized yesterday at the bank and mail it. Yeah! We were excited all week and finished typing some letters, got our police clearance done and asked our very accommodating friends to (yes, again) get their letters of reference re-notarized since the year time limit had passed. Have I mentioned that we have wonderful friends and family? We were all set and yesterday morning we got everything together and were double-checking our instructions for the dossier when we discovered that two of our forms for the dossier have to be certified.
Now for all of you who have not adopted internationally, getting something certified is when you go and get something notarized and then you have to send it in to the Secretary of State for the state it was notarized in so that he/she can certify that the notary was an actual notary in that state and not just someone off the street with a fake notary stamp. Whew. We actually did have this done for our birth certificates and marriage certificate, but didn't realize that we had to do it for these two forms as well. So, after some disappointment and a lot of stress (with two of us reading about 20 pages of instructions for this packet, it got overwhelming), we went to the bank where a very nice notary helped us with about 8 documents. We will mail the forms on Monday to be certified and when we get those back, we should finally be ready to mail it all in. Hopefully we've done everything else right!
Some people ask me why Angelina Jolie doesn't have to go through all the paperwork to adopt. My guess is that she does have to do the same paperwork that we do. Except for the fact that she is probably not the one doing it. She probably has hired someone really good at organizing to get it all done speedy quick. I'm trying to be content with the timing God has for us. John and I were talking last night and we are fully convinced that if we had gotten her earlier, it wouldn't have worked out as well. I might not have been able to stay home with her, or we might have bought a house that was too expensive that we'd be stuck in now, or it might just have been the wrong child. God is teaching us more than ever that we do not have control over this no matter how much we want to and that His timing is better than anything we could imagine. Still, I want to meet my little girl very soon, so please continue to pray that we would get the paperwork finished as soon as possible!
Now for all of you who have not adopted internationally, getting something certified is when you go and get something notarized and then you have to send it in to the Secretary of State for the state it was notarized in so that he/she can certify that the notary was an actual notary in that state and not just someone off the street with a fake notary stamp. Whew. We actually did have this done for our birth certificates and marriage certificate, but didn't realize that we had to do it for these two forms as well. So, after some disappointment and a lot of stress (with two of us reading about 20 pages of instructions for this packet, it got overwhelming), we went to the bank where a very nice notary helped us with about 8 documents. We will mail the forms on Monday to be certified and when we get those back, we should finally be ready to mail it all in. Hopefully we've done everything else right!
Some people ask me why Angelina Jolie doesn't have to go through all the paperwork to adopt. My guess is that she does have to do the same paperwork that we do. Except for the fact that she is probably not the one doing it. She probably has hired someone really good at organizing to get it all done speedy quick. I'm trying to be content with the timing God has for us. John and I were talking last night and we are fully convinced that if we had gotten her earlier, it wouldn't have worked out as well. I might not have been able to stay home with her, or we might have bought a house that was too expensive that we'd be stuck in now, or it might just have been the wrong child. God is teaching us more than ever that we do not have control over this no matter how much we want to and that His timing is better than anything we could imagine. Still, I want to meet my little girl very soon, so please continue to pray that we would get the paperwork finished as soon as possible!
1.01.2009
Finally, an update!
Okay, I'm sorry for the long lapse since my last post. The paperwork part isn't going as fast as we would like, so sometimes it's discouraging to get on here and announce that we really have no news... We do have some news, though not as good as we would like.
We submitted our immigration paperwork to the USCIS back in November and were pleased to see that it had been processed and waiting for us when we returned from Christmas vacation. The United States Government has now approved us as adoptive parent and (presumably) won't try to take our child from us when we bring her back to the U.S. This is a good thing. Also, we got our marriage certificate and both birth certificates authenticated by their respective Secretaries of State, so that is another thing off the list.
We have a few more things we know we need to do. We are waiting for our case worker to return from vacation (Monday) to tell us if there are anythings we do not know we need to do before we send all our paperwork to Virginia (our adoption agency's headquarters). Once we are able to do that, they send it to Washington, DC, where the US Government looks at it again and then it will be sent on to Ethiopia where it will be translated into Amharic and processed. This process can take anywhere from 7-12 months we are being told.
Please pray that we would complete this paperwork quickly as things do have time limits and will start to expire throughout this year. With all the talk this Christmas, I don't know what our families will do if we do not have a little girl by next December 25. We, too, are very anxious of course as well.
I will try to write soon to post all the great gifts we've been receiving already. We have so much support in this, it's unbelievable. I don't know how else we would be doing all this! Thanks so much for your love and prayers.
We submitted our immigration paperwork to the USCIS back in November and were pleased to see that it had been processed and waiting for us when we returned from Christmas vacation. The United States Government has now approved us as adoptive parent and (presumably) won't try to take our child from us when we bring her back to the U.S. This is a good thing. Also, we got our marriage certificate and both birth certificates authenticated by their respective Secretaries of State, so that is another thing off the list.
We have a few more things we know we need to do. We are waiting for our case worker to return from vacation (Monday) to tell us if there are anythings we do not know we need to do before we send all our paperwork to Virginia (our adoption agency's headquarters). Once we are able to do that, they send it to Washington, DC, where the US Government looks at it again and then it will be sent on to Ethiopia where it will be translated into Amharic and processed. This process can take anywhere from 7-12 months we are being told.
Please pray that we would complete this paperwork quickly as things do have time limits and will start to expire throughout this year. With all the talk this Christmas, I don't know what our families will do if we do not have a little girl by next December 25. We, too, are very anxious of course as well.
I will try to write soon to post all the great gifts we've been receiving already. We have so much support in this, it's unbelievable. I don't know how else we would be doing all this! Thanks so much for your love and prayers.
9.06.2008
We Had Our Home Study!
Or at least the first one. Our social worker did come over last Saturday and inspect our apartment, our apartment's pool, and us. It turns out that we have plenty of space for a child, the fence surrounding the pool at our complex is actually taller than it needs to be and she didn't make any weird comments about us either. Seems like things are going well at this point.
We each have to meet with her individually, but that should happen this week for both of us. Then she will send our home study to the courts so that we can get re-certified as adoptive parents (Arizona is apparently the only state that requires this). We can now start on the immigration paperwork and the rest of the stuff we need for our dossier.
There seems to be a little bit more to do in the way of paperwork, but these people seem to know what they are doing much more than the other adoption agency (or at least they are communicating those things to us better). So, even though we have had to start over, it should be done correctly when it is finally done.
Things to pray for:
1) That we can finish the rest of the paperwork with as few delays as possible.
2) That our doctor's office can fill out the forms correctly this time (yes, we have to go back to that wretched place and have them fix the forms they filled out. I would like to blame the doctor 100%, but I do think it is partly the agency's fault for not putting all the instructions on the forms the first time).
3) That we can prepare emotionally and spiritually for the waiting process once we get through this.
We each have to meet with her individually, but that should happen this week for both of us. Then she will send our home study to the courts so that we can get re-certified as adoptive parents (Arizona is apparently the only state that requires this). We can now start on the immigration paperwork and the rest of the stuff we need for our dossier.
There seems to be a little bit more to do in the way of paperwork, but these people seem to know what they are doing much more than the other adoption agency (or at least they are communicating those things to us better). So, even though we have had to start over, it should be done correctly when it is finally done.
Things to pray for:
1) That we can finish the rest of the paperwork with as few delays as possible.
2) That our doctor's office can fill out the forms correctly this time (yes, we have to go back to that wretched place and have them fix the forms they filled out. I would like to blame the doctor 100%, but I do think it is partly the agency's fault for not putting all the instructions on the forms the first time).
3) That we can prepare emotionally and spiritually for the waiting process once we get through this.
8.27.2008
New Home Study Time
Okay, so barring any other unexpected delays, we should be having our home study this Saturday at 11:00am. We have (only by the grace of God) kept our apartment clean this week and should only have to vacuum and dust (and maybe mop the kitchen) before our visit. It should be a little less hectic at least.
John has been working back at MasterPieces, but only temporarily. They need some help during the holiday season (believe it or not, companies are already getting things ready for Christmas). It is as good a way to make a little extra money as any. We are still asking God for some direction as far as permanent employment goes, so you can still be praying for that for us. We are seriously looking at starting our own business (with a little help from the Lings) where John and Andrew would design freelance and also do things like wedding invitations, stationary, etc. Please keep us in your prayers- and don't forget our little girl as well. Thank you so much!
John has been working back at MasterPieces, but only temporarily. They need some help during the holiday season (believe it or not, companies are already getting things ready for Christmas). It is as good a way to make a little extra money as any. We are still asking God for some direction as far as permanent employment goes, so you can still be praying for that for us. We are seriously looking at starting our own business (with a little help from the Lings) where John and Andrew would design freelance and also do things like wedding invitations, stationary, etc. Please keep us in your prayers- and don't forget our little girl as well. Thank you so much!
8.23.2008
Pile of Cake®...
So, those of you that follow this blog on a regular basis may be checking in to see how our home study went today. Maybe you've been praying for us and this was a highlight day. Well, we appreciate your prayers and that is why we're going to ask you to keep on praying. We did not have our visit today as planned. About a half hour before our social worker was supposed to arrive to opine about our prospective parenting capabilities, she had a family emergency and had to reschedule.
The good news is that our apartment is completely clean! So anyone who wants to hang out at our place tonight is welcome. This is an anomaly that may not last long...
The good news is that our apartment is completely clean! So anyone who wants to hang out at our place tonight is welcome. This is an anomaly that may not last long...
8.21.2008
A Minor Setback...
As is becoming custom in this process, something has changed yet again. I think I'm really getting sick of that word- Change. I don't know how we would be getting through this process if God hadn't given BOTH of us the strength of adaptability. We learned today that our first home study was not quite complete enough for our new agency (who knows how Ethiopia would view it?) and so we are no longer able to do just an update. We have to do the whole thing over, which will include three separate visits by the social worker. I'm not sure how everyone has such different requirements, but we are trusting that the people we are working with now are the correct ones so that when all of this is over, we have done things the way they need to be.
Our first visit is still this Saturday (at 11:00 am local time for those pray-ers out there). However, this is going to be quite a bit more expensive than an update would have been (like 4 times more) and obviously take more time. Please pray for our sanity! We have quite a bit of money saved up from before John lost his job and I know God will provide financially, but I was pretty excited to get things moving. Please pray that things will go well at the visits, that we will not be nervous, that our house will finish getting clean, and that things will go quickly.
One other note is that John was cleaning today and his back starting hurting very badly. He is a trooper and is continuing on with some mild pain pills, but it is slowing him down a bit and increasing my stress. Pray that his back would feel better and we could continue as normal. Most of all, pray that our dependence will be focused on God and not on ourselves. All of this is most likely a reminder to trust our Provider for a child and not an agency or ourselves to get us one. Thanks for all your support and encouragement- every little bit helps!
Our first visit is still this Saturday (at 11:00 am local time for those pray-ers out there). However, this is going to be quite a bit more expensive than an update would have been (like 4 times more) and obviously take more time. Please pray for our sanity! We have quite a bit of money saved up from before John lost his job and I know God will provide financially, but I was pretty excited to get things moving. Please pray that things will go well at the visits, that we will not be nervous, that our house will finish getting clean, and that things will go quickly.
One other note is that John was cleaning today and his back starting hurting very badly. He is a trooper and is continuing on with some mild pain pills, but it is slowing him down a bit and increasing my stress. Pray that his back would feel better and we could continue as normal. Most of all, pray that our dependence will be focused on God and not on ourselves. All of this is most likely a reminder to trust our Provider for a child and not an agency or ourselves to get us one. Thanks for all your support and encouragement- every little bit helps!
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