Dossier arrived safely!

No-there weren't quite this many papers in our dossier, but almost!

Praise God our dossier arrived safely at AGCI today. It has already been checked and one mistake was found. The notary on our police clearances wrote the wrong expiration date for her commission. Luckily, we have PLENTY of time to get it redone and back to AGCI. There is no real rush because of the possible 120 day wait-see post below. I already called the Sheriff's office and they are getting a new one ready for me and I will mail it off to AGCI. If AGCI receives it by Friday, our dossier will be off to DC for authentication that day or next Tuesday at the latest. How exciting!

On a sad note, because we have moved on to the next phase in this process, I will only get phone calls from AGCI once a month, instead of weekly. They are also trying something new and one month we will get a call from the program director and then the next month it will be from our case worker. I will continue to look forward to those bi-monthly e-mails. On the next one, we will be in the Dossiers in Office/Authentication/En Route to Ethiopia/In Ethiopia and waiting on CIS approval versus the Families Working on their Dossiers category. Yipee!!

Looking for a miracle

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ~ Mark 11:24

Lots of people have been asking me how long FDLs take in Washington State. When we asked on Friday, they told us "120 days, but we hopefully can process it sooner." They have been taking about 5-6 weeks, but recently our office has also started processing applications for Oregon too and no one is quite sure what that is going to do to the wait. (FYI-120 days is really long when some offices get them processed in 1-2 weeks)

I know God is in control and truly believe that all this waiting has to do with our referral to the specific child God has picked for our family, but it doesn't make the wait any easier. I also know that this is just the first big wait in the process. After this we will wait for a referral, and then after we accept the referral we will again wait, but this time to travel and pick up our child.

So I am inspired by Autumn, who told me that although this process is all about God's timing (which I fully recognize and acknowledge), it wouldn't hurt to pray for a miracle of sorts. Through an answered prayer, God would again show his glory to us. So I am praying that we receive our FDL much sooner than 120 days. I have no control in the matter (and if I did I would have stayed in Yakima annoying them until they just handed it over already) and recognize that the Lord will do what is best, but I am still asking God to move the process along a little quicker than the possible 120 days. I am filled with an overwhelming love for a child I have never met and I can't wait to hold her in my arms, so is it selfish to ask God to make it happen a little quicker?

CIS Application check, Dossier check

Because of the distance to travel, the weather forecasts, the imminent snow and the fact that we had to travel over Snoqualamie Pass, we decided to leave last night for Yakima. We were up bright and early this morning, although I actually got to sleep in until almost 7 without my 2-year old human alarm clock. (Ten years ago, I would have laughed at the idea of sleeping in being 7am!) We made it in and out of the office within a half hour and then were on our way home! Now begins more waiting. I am praying for God's will to be done and then of course that his will is a fast turnaround and receival of our FDL! : )

I also got to mail our dossier today and AGCI will receive it Monday. It is nice having it out of the house, but I will be a little concerned that it makes it to Portland safe and in one piece. Three months of our lives is tied up in that package!!

Beep! Beep! Beep!

That is the sound I will be awakend with tomorrow at the very ugly hour of 3...in the morning. Jason and I are headed off on another road trip for the adoption. We are leaving at 3:30 for Yakima and the CIS office there to get our final set of fingerprints taken (I think) and to file our I-600a. The office there has had a policy of letting people walk-in without appointments, so we never mailed anything into them and will just drop off everything and be fingerprinted all at once.

I will also be mailing in our dossier tomorrow and the tree we had to cut down to make all the required copies! After it has been received and processed by AGCI, they wll send it off for authentication in D.C. (which takes about 1-2 weeks), then it comes back to AGCI, then they get it ready and sent off to Ethiopia where Almaz (The fabulous woman who runs Hannah's Hope in Ehtiopia) has it translated (another 1-2 weeks) and keeps it at the office in Hannah’s Hope until we have accepted a referral. At acceptance of referral, our paperwork is submitted to MOWA (Ministry of Women’s Affairs) and it is another 3-5 months before they issue the court date so we can travel.

God's plan is slowly, steadily being accomplished...

Our home study was accepted yesterday, so the most fabulous social worker in the world is getting it notarized and then in the mail!!! We will head to Yakima next week to file our I-600a with US Citizenship & Immigration Services. Once we get our FDL from them, we will be a number on a list. The number means we are just waiting for God to match us with our daughter. How amazing is it to think that God has a child for us on another continent. A child he has picked out especially for us and we are the family he has picked out especially for her. This little girl is already loved and supported by our wonderful friends and family.

I can't wait to be on the list and then I can stalk the blogs & the AGCI listserv trying to figure out movement over the month between update phone calls! These months of paperwork are finally going to be worth it!! It seems like the process has been longer than it actually has, because we were accepted by AGCI right before Christmas and then the most fabulous social worker in the world was on vacation enjoying herself in Hawaii (imagine that!), so we lost about 5 weeks when not much was happening. Although frustrating, the things not in my control are in God's and I have faith knowing he has a plan for us and our daughter.

Praise be to God!

Resources

The most fabulous social worker in the world turned us onto the Adoptive Families magazine, which I highly recommend. In the Jan/Feb issue, there was a whole section on parenting African-American families. They included everything from hair to heritage. Their website has a lot of other great information if you have the time to check it out, including a section on Ethiopia as well as other countries. Also check out Culture for Kids for more great language and culture resources. You can order a catalog online also.

A tidbit of news..

Like I said this isn't much. Our homestudy was reviewed and sent back to our social worker for a few revisions. She called me yesterday for a little more information, made the revisions and then sent it back to Portland. Hopefully, everything was taken care of in the revisions and it will be approved. At that point, the MFSWW (most fabulous social worker in the world) will mail us many notarized copies and we can distribute them!! Back to the MFSWW, I am not joking! This woman loves her job and it is truly a calling of hers to unite families with these children. She is the best!

On another note, we have had the sickness in our house. I just got over it and the Bean has it now. I hate for my children to be sick, because you are so helpless. The one good thing is that the Bean is not an extremely affectionate child, but since she is not feeling well she has been cuddled up with her momma all day!

Birthday Party!

Saturday was very busy as we celebrated three birthdays at Nana & Papa's house. My oldest niece turned 3 a week ago, the Little Man turned 2 yesterday, and my yougest niece turned 1 yesterday. Throw in a few more kids and it was an energetic party! Here are a few highlights.

The birthday kids!

Nana & Papa with all their grandchildren (so far)!

The Little Man with his new Thomas t-shirt and beach hat.

The Bean entertaining everyone with her "kung fu" dancing.

Winding down at the end of a long day!

MARCH 12!!!!

On March 12th, 2008, Our Creator's Hope is asking everyone to give up a cup of Joe for a day to help an orphan come home to their forever family.

Yes, that's right $5.00 a year* can bring home a child!

If everyone on this contact list gave $5.00 to OCH a year, we could raise $2750.00 towards our grant program. Please go to our website Our Creator's Hope to submit your donation through our safe and secure paypal portal.

If OCH receives $500.00 on this day through our online paypal portal, Paypal will donate an extra $50.00 to Our Creator's Hope! That's FREE cash added to your donation!

We count on you to tell others about Our Creator's Hope, INC. so pass this along!!! If one of your friend's, email contact, family member, co-worker, or church member joins us today, we can raise an additional $2750.00, and so on. Together as a team, we can make a difference and help families complete their adoptions!!!!

We do understand that some supporters are not comfortable using online paypal portals, you may send your $5.00 donation to:

Our Creator's Hope
939 South Cedar Bend Rd
Southside, AL 35907

This is a unique opportunity to make a difference in many lives!! The children depend on your support and participation! We can do this!!!! Help us get the word out!!!

"It is God's plan for ALL followers of Christ to care for the orphans as this is denoted as pure religion before God. Therefore, the very act of caring for orphans is God-honoring despite any hardships or suffering that result to God's servants” (James 1:27)

Pack rats

The bean reading to the little man after bath time.

My little pack rats.

How do they fit in there with all that stuff?

The immortal words of the Pointer Sisters say it best...

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

Our home study is done and in Portland waiting for review!! It has been there since Monday, but the Ethiopian Program Director was out Monday and Tuesday. She takes anywhere between 5-7 days to review it and send corrections to our social worker, who them finalizes it, notarizes many copies and mails them to us. Once we get it in the mail (I might have to start checking the mailbox everyday, instead of waiting for J to get home), we will take the next Friday off and head to Yakima for our fingerprinting. I also will finally get to send my dossier in to AGCI. The home study is the final piece of it that I have been waiting for.

I have been really worried about what I am going to do to keep busy during this waiting period, but God finally gave me an answer. More to come on that in the future.

Home Visit

(Here is the family playing outside this morning, while I was straightening everything up for our home visit.)

The most wonderful social worker in the whole world just left our house. Our home visit went great and the kids did fabulous. (I know no kids are perfect, but I really didn't want to deal with a meltdown while we were trying to have a conversation with her.)

She just has to add in our home visit and then should have the completed study sent off to Martha early next week for review. That means we will be heading to Yakima with our I-600a application by the end of the month! Yeah!