...and still waiting

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. We are now entering our 7 month of official waiting time and I must admit that it has gone fast. There is not much to do but wait patiently and I feel like God has been giving us the patience needed. I am ready to start on the nursery but need some input from talented family members.

Good friends of ours just got their referral for a baby girl in Korea which made me think of this blog. I am very excited for them and their referral reminded me just how real this whole process is and that soon enough, we will be shouting out the same news. I'm a little envious but know that we must go through this time. Going by the current wait times, we have another 9-10 months of waiting ahead of us. That will help make the cold mid-west winter go by.

We are hoping to take a trip somewhere warm this winter as a celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary this coming year and also as a 'this may be the last chance in awhile' sort of trip. I have discovered that I am not much of a blogger so I apologize for not having many updates.

We are hosting our cooking club get-together next weekend and we picked Africa as the theme for the meals. Craig and I will attempt an Ethiopian dish along with Injera, an Ethiopian pancake-like bread that is very commonly eaten with most meals. I hope we can pull it off! Until next time...

Fingerprints

We go this week to get our fingerprints done on the national level.  I guess last time was just for the local area.  This is for immigration for the baby.  

Hard to believe but this is our last thing on our list (that I know of) besides getting some appointments to get the shots we need to travel to Africa.

So looking forward to updating this blog with our referral and photos!

Childcare 101

Craig and I attended a baby care class this past Saturday at Children's Home Society.  It was nice to be amongst other first-time parents-to-be.  I can't say that we learned anything that we hadn't heard before or that we won't figure out on our own but maybe that was an important lesson in itself.  The best part of the class was imagining myself bathing our baby or feeding them, etc.  

A friend of ours works with a man from Ethiopia who I have gotten in contact with.  We hope to make plans to meet he and his wife in the near future.  This will be such a great thing for us as he said he is very happy to tell us about his country and answer any questions.  He thinks it is great that we are adopting a baby from Ethiopia.  It has been awesome to see the support and we both appreciate the encouragement.

We just got to review our home study report and it is kind of strange to see your life wrapped up in a neat little document but our social worker had some really kind things to say about us.

Boy, does it feel good to be on the other side of the paperwork!!!!

We Are Approved!!!!

Today is a cause for much celebration - our dossier was received and approved at our agency!  Now it gets sent on to the Ethiopian Embassy and then forwarded to Ethiopia.   I am so relieved that nothing had to be redone - I feel like we just got an A+.  Now we are officially waiting for a child.  We have learned that the waiting times have increased to about 13 months and are projected to increase to 18 months.   This was quite disheartening to read but I am just going to try and take it in stride.   I am still ecstatic to have gotten this far and to know that the majority of paperwork is FINISHED!  Now we just need prayers for patience :)

Lost in Papers

Whew - I had completely forgotten about this blog.  We should be ready to submit everything by the beginning of April.  I will be throwing myself a party when we learn that everything is correctly done and no changes need to be made.  I have to say that the paperwork part was way less difficult that I had feared.  A little time-consuming, yes.  A little stressful, yes.  At times overwhelming but I think I had anticipated it would be worse so I am very thankful.  I know some parents-to-be don't like the official waiting period because they felt like they were at least doing something with the paperwork.  I am going to so okay with the waiting period!!!!  I can start thinking about a nursery and cute little toys and clothes.  I have already been looking for names with an Ethiopian sound to them.  I kind of have my heart set on a boys' name but so far, including Craig, not too many people like it which is why I won't list it here -I don't need anymore feedback!   Life is good and I am so looking forward to feeling closer to this little person who has potentially been conceived already.

Verify, Certify & Notarize

I just received our first official document returned to us that was verified and notarized and it is....wrong!  Ahhhhh!  I have learned my first important lesson and that is to be very specific in my requests.  I assumed that all notaries would sign their stamp/seal the same way -not true.  

All in all, the paperwork needed for our dossier isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I am finding that living in a small town is helpful.  The police station and medical clinic are all within 2 miles of our house and my work so that makes it easier getting things signed.   Of course, if you have to go back and request that it be redone, it does make it a bit longer, sigh.

It shouldn't be more than a few weeks and we will have everything compiled!!!

Bring On The Great Paper Chase

We passed our home study!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Our social worker left not too long ago.  We met with her last Friday at the agency and then again, today, in our home.  There was no white glove test and she didn't even peek in our closets (which are very organized thanks to Mom).  We should be contacted next week by the Ethiopian Program Coordinator to give us a list of documents needed for our Dossier for Ethiopia.  I have no idea how long it will take us to get those compiled but it is the last phase of our end of things.  Once the dossier is submitted to Ethiopia we officially become waiting parents!  Ethiopia is still at a 9-12 month wait for a referral (photo and medical evaluation) of a child.  We have plenty of things to keep us busy during that time.  I am feeling so relieved to be done with this phase of the process.  Thank you God!

We Have A Social Worker

We have been assigned a social worker and have our first meeting this Friday morning.   We will decide a date for our home study that day so it will be interesting to see how quickly it will be.  I am very excited and happy to be this far along in the process already but I also know the sooner we get through this phase, the sooner we will begin the mountain of paperwork needed for our dossier.  I am somewhat dreading that part.  Hopefully, Craig and I can maintain our discipline in getting the paperwork done.  

Home Study, Here We Come!

We completed our self-studies within our goal set for ourselves -whoop whoop!  The agency called today to say that they were received along with some other paperwork required.  We found out that the state of Wisconsin requires us to be licensed foster care providers in order to adopt. Anyway, we will be hearing from our assigned social worker within a week -yahoo!  Next step, the home study.  It feels good to be moving along.  

Classes Now Behind Us

We completed the 2-day class and it was so much better than we thought it would be!  Our agency really knew how to run the 2 days and fit as much stuff in as possible without being too overwhelming.  They are very encouraging and I know I left on Friday feeling really enthusiastic.  We are now working on our self-studies which are 19 questions in essay format and the average person takes 6-8 pages to answer them.  I am almost done and Craig is right behind me which I am very impressed with.  Once we turn these in with a few other documents, we can be assigned a social worker and start our home study!  It is usually in two phases -one meeting with the social worker at the agency and the other at our home.  We have been told that there won't be a 'white glove' test for dust or anything like that which is a huge relief.  Things are now rolling along and even though it is a lot of work, it feels good to be doing something.  Thanks to all of you who check this - I forget to check it sometimes.  Our biggest advantage to this process is all of you are supporting and encouraging us.

Class This Week

We attend our classes this week - all day Thursday and Friday!  Not sure what to expect except a ton of information.  I have been feeling mixed emotions these past few days so I hope I get sense of peace after the classes.  

Next will be our home study and I am actually not too worried about that.  Some cleaning and organizing will be needed but I am totally counting on my mother for help with that (I haven't really told her that yet!).    

I read an article last night which has me questioning the whole process.  It is called "The Lie We Love".  I tried to post a link but not sure how it will come through.  If anyone reads it, would love to hear your feedback.  Please keep in mind that Craig and I never started this process to do some great act of social service although I am learning of the need to find homes for older children.  

We Are In!

Well, so much for all of the complaining!  The needed document was faxed in at the last moment and we received our invitation to attend the 2-day pre-adoption classes for January!  Yea!  I guess I am gaining a better understanding for the roller coaster emotional ride in store for myself.

I am really looking forward to the classes.  We'll be put in small groups with other adoptive parents to be and it will be nice to meet others in the same exact timeline of this process.  We will also be discussing in depth the relationship of interracial parenting which is something of great concern for me.  I am looking forward with great joy to having an interracial child but not to all of the possible situations that could occur to make this child feel less than the wonderful person they will be.  It is quite overwhelming to think about at such an early time in the process.  One step at a time, I guess.  Thank you for the prayers!