No number yet

Just got a call from our case worker and found out that we won't get our number on the waiting list until Monday. There were about 8 dossier submitted this week and to be fair, they need to review them all and give out waiting list numbers according to the order that they came in. They also need to check to see if any of the dossiers need updated work (resubmitting for any mistakes). On the positive note, ours does NOT need to be resubmitted, it looks like we made no mistakes. =)

So, we will wait until Monday. Isn't that great that so many families are following God's call to bring an orphan into their family? How cool that so many families are all waiting for children.

To keep me busy, I am reading a great book that a wonderful blogging friend mailed me. Thanks so much to Tonya for this book. I am being challenged as I read it and understand more about God's view on adoption. How sweet and thoughtful of you to send it my way. I look forward to passing it on to many friends when I am done.


Sweet Pea

I pray you understand that adoption is God's idea and by His grace we are adopted into His family.

Love, Mom

We mailed our DOSSIER today !!!!

After working on this for almost 2 months, we are done with the dossier paperwork. I made my final copies this morning and sorted and stacked just to make sure it was all just right. I am still in awe that we are done with it. Now we will find out if there is anything we need to redo before we are put on the waiting list.

All that work is done for now. I feel so blessed to have this mailed before Thanksgiving. I had been praying that if it was God's will, we could send it before Thanksgiving. What a huge blessing. Only by God's grace have we gotten this far.

For those of you in the adoption world, you know what a big deal this is. Lots of time and energy and detailed work goes into the dossier. When we took it in to overnight it, the clerk told me I was just like all the other adoptive moms. Very cautious, very careful with putting it into the envelope, taking pictures, giving the paperwork one last "hug" goodbye. Glad to know we are normal in one way. =)

We prayed over it before we mailed it off. Prayed for Sweet Pea (or Sweet Peas). Shed our tears and then celebrated God's faithfulness and goodness. Trusting that He continues to go before us and clear the path. A little sigh of relief will come once I hear that it has arrived and is approved.



Sweet Pea

We love you so much and pray that God blesses all the work that has gone into the paperwork. I am trusting you into God's care each and every day. He loves you more than I do.

Love, Mom

notarizing

We printed out all of our dossier papers yesterday and had all of them notarized. Really, not much of this is difficult to do, it is just a little time consuming. We have been working hard at getting these last few documents done and it feels good to be almost there. My computer has been having hissy fits lately so printing anything right now is an accomplishment.

Each state is different, and our state requires one of our documents to be county certified and state certified. Really didn't know what that meant but I figured it out and hauled the family around yesterday to get that done.


The girls are good sports as we sit and wait for county workers to help us out. We try and get our school work done while we are waiting.

It is amazing all the hoops you jump through for all of this to happen. Crossing all your T's and dotting all your I's. Hopefully no mistakes.

So excited !!!!! Getting closer. Can't wait to hear that our dossier has been received and get that waiting list number.



Sweet Pea,

It is so exciting to be nearing the end of our paperwork. It has been neat to see how God provides and has made our path smooth. We are working hard to have you home.

Love, Mom

Homestudy update

Our homestudy report is done and has been sent to the international agency for review. Once that is done, it will be printed and notarized and we can be done with that part of the process. So far, I think we are also waiting on some child abuse clearances. Those had to be done for every state we have lived in since we were 18.

We have also been working on our dossier. We only have about 5 things left to accomplish. None of it is too hard. But as I said before, we are short some funds to send it in. Hoping those details work out quickly so we can press on ahead. I am going to try and get those last things done in faith and trusting that we can send the dossier in soon.

big week

The rest of the week will be a big week here. Today is our last homestudy meeting. This time the case worker comes over and visits our home and meets our girls. Nothing to be nervous about, she has already warned us she isn't coming to look in every closet, just a nice visit. This is nothing compared to having your home ready to show for real estate. Been there...done that.

We also need to decide the age range of a child we are willing to accept. That one has been a hard choice for us. We have decided that we will accept boy or girl (which most likely means it will be a boy). It has seemed unnatural for us to pick the gender of the child. At the moment, we are thinking one child zero to 18 months old (at the time of referral).

Once we have this last homestudy meeting, it takes the case worker about 2 weeks to write the report then we have a week to have it approved by the international agency before it is printed and notarized. Then we just have a few more things to finish up for our dossier. The dossier is the pack of information that is country specific. Once the dossier is sent in, it goes to Ethiopia and is translated and then we are placed on a waiting list. The problem for us is, when we send it in, we need to send it in with our next large payment. We are still waiting on the funds. That is why we have been working hard on the call-me-cards (HERE) and the yard sale. We have worked really hard to cut our own budget back to the bare bones, and we are praying that God provides the needed funds when we have our paperwork done.

We have been at the doctor every day this week and we aren't even sick.

Seriously...every day to the doctor for some adoption physical or testing.

MONDAY - Girls had their physicals and their arm test for TB (a requirement for the homestudy process).

TUESDAY - Chuck and I had our physicals and our arm test for TB.

WEDNESDAY - Back in to have the girls arms checked out for TB. Arms started to look like a positive result, scheduled to go back the next day to check again.

THURSDAY - Back to the doctor to have them look at the girls arms again. Sure looked positive for TB. Went over to a lab and had chest x-rays done to see if it was active TB. (It was NOT).

FRIDAY - Chuck and I went in for our blood work and had them look at our TB arm test. Those results all came out just fine. No worries.


So...all that to say, we have been to the doctor every day and we aren't sick. Of course sitting there in the waiting room as they mention that the arm TB test was positive made everyone there give you freaky looks. Like we are some kind of diseased family. Yep...I felt like I had to justify to everyone "We are not sick. We don't have TB, it just means we have been exposed to some TB sometime in our lives. We are not contagious."

As you can imagine, we were washing our hands every time we walked out of the waiting room.

On a positive note, we just got back from a fun play date at the park with other families in our area that have, or are in the process of adopting from Africa. I found out one of them lives in our neighborhood. How cool is that. What a neat area to be in and find such neat support. I love how God works out those details.

You will also notice, I have put up our adoption time line to help you get an idea of the process and how we are progressing. We just had our second and third (max of 4) homestudy meetings. And we have been really busy getting ready for a HUGE yard sale tomorrow as a adoption fundraiser. Please pray with us that it doesn't rain.