...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!