And we wait. . . .

Just a little update.  We are still waiting on our child abuse clearances.  The CARI division assured us we would have them by the end of last week:(  This is the last paper we need before we can send off our I600A.  I've also learned that it takes about a month to get a finger-print appt. and then another month to get that all important I-171 form.  So we are probably about two months from sending out our dossier.  On the up side we don't have much to do but wait.  The work part is nearly over.  So we will keep praying and waiting.

The t-shirt sales are going great!!!  I still have several left but I'd love to have to order more so if you want one just let me know!

Tee Shirts!

Our very talented friend, Bob, has put together a tee shirt design for us.  This is going to be one of our main fundraisers and we are hoping to sell lots of them so if you know anyone who where's clothes. . . oh wait?  You wear clothes!  Awesome how many do you want?  Hahaha, I crack myself up. 

Anyway, we are hoping to put in an order very, very soon and we would like to make an accurate guess on how many of each size to order.  So if you are planning on buying one either email me, facebook me, or just leave a comment with your name, sizes of shirts you would want, and, if I don't know you how to get in touch with you.  We are asking for a $20 donation for adult shirts and $15 for kids.

*Ragone Family:  We are hoping to have these in by the family picnic and wear/sell them there so if you want you can plan on wearing one too!

"Can't Hold On Much Longeeeeer!"

I feel Cliff Hangers pain (if you don't know who I'm talking about check out an episode of Between the Lions:)  We are waiting, and waiting, and waiting for our child abuse clearances to come in.  We initially made a mistake on them and had to redo them but they are just taking forever.  We think it has something to do with the fact that we've lived in a couple of different states.  Anyway, everything else is GREAT praise God!  Our home study and all it's visits are done.  Dana has written it up and sent it to the main office in VA.  As soon as those clearances come in they will sign and notarize it.  Then we can send off our I600A to get a biometric finger printing appointment and eventually  that last piece of the Dossier our I171.

I know there is much more waiting to come so I'm sure this is good practice:)  Also, my devotions today had me reading Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding"  Today I'm choosing to remember that God is in control of this whole process (glitches and all!) and He knows my son and exactly where we need to be on the waiting list to get him!  (Do me a favor and remind me I said that later:)

First Visit a Success!

So we had our first home study visit.  We were planning for three exhausting grueling hours of being scrutinized and having our house scrutinized.  It was more like an hour and a half of talking with a new friend.  It was great, we actually liked it and we think our social worker liked us.  I'm sure her liking us had something to do with my two beautiful friends who came and helped me clean and my darling children who sat on our laps and told us how much they loved us the whole time (I'm not sure who those kids were but I was so thankful to see them;)

As soon as she left I scooped us all ice-cream for being so good (gotta teach em emotional eating young:).

Our next visit is this Monday evening and I think we will schedule the third (and last!) meeting after that.  She told us that we would have our home-study report one week after our last meeting.  Wohoo!

Now time to get to work on that dossier!

PS.  If you are interested in seeing what it's like when a family sees their baby's picture for the first time check out the Fulmers' blog   They are working with the same agency and started the process last August.  They got their referral yesterday! 

PPS.  Alicia and Liz I think I owe you both ice-cream too:)

Home Visit!!!!

We've heard from our NJ Social Worker!  Her name is Dana.  She says we will have three meetings and she will be here on Monday.  HERE on MONDAY!!!!

/I have to go clean! 

My cute girls!  Christin knows where Ethiopia is all by herself:)

Good Day!

Today is a day for celebrating!  I know, you are thinking, "Yup, it's not everyday that the Phillies lock in the next six years with a deal like the Ryan Howard deal."  but there is more.  We got all our homestudy paperwork done and in the mail today!  After it's reviewed we should hear from a social worker in NJ and start our home visits.  Look at that list to the left just shrinking.  It's so exciting!  A major adoption milestone and major Phillies milestone in one day!  "Can life get any better?  I submit that it cannot!"

Chugging Along

It seems we are starting to put a dent in some of this paperwork!  We are hoping to have all of our Homestudy Paperwork done by April 19th.  That is when the girls physicals will be done.  We are waiting for a few things from other people and our Child Abuse clearances but hopefully by the end of April our Home Study visits will be arranged and maybe (hands folded in prayer) we can have our completed Home Study by the beginning of June.  

The UCIS has made some neat changes for adopting parents.  They have created a seperate division for processing adoptions and are hoping to shorten the timeframe for I600A processing to 30 days.  So if we can have our home study done by June we may be able to be DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) by early August and get on that waiting list!  

Happily things are moving along for all the people ahead of us.  After a complete standstill and lots of court holdups families are beginning to pass court which means families are starting to see referals again.  A big relief to those people already on the wait list.

This process seems to alternate between moving so slow and flying by but it will all be worth it in the end!

Thanks for following us in the crazy, amazing journey!

Love,

Shannon