Official DTE

Today is our official DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) date.  This past week our dossier was at the America World office being reviewed for accuracy then taken to the Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy for certification/authentication.  Today we received a FedEx tracking number to watch our precious paperwork travel to Africa!

This DTE date puts us officially on the waiting list.  It is from this date that we expect to wait 18-24 months for the referral of our next little boy.

Adoption Financial Update (January 2012 - June 2012)

Total Cost to Date

America World Application         $250

America World Program Fees     $3500

Hauge Training                               $195

Home Study                                     $1776.59

Passports                                          $394.27

Birth Certificate                              $47.50

US Citizenship & Immigration      $890

Post Adoption Deposit                   $1000

Courier Fee                                       $150

Ethiopia Program Fee (1^st Half)    $3750

Shipping and Copies                        $30.91

Cost to date:                                     $11,984.27

Fund Raising

Just Love Coffee                                $385

Donations                                           $2150

 

This past month we have also applied for two grants that may help to alleviate some of the financial pressure.  We have been told it may be up to twelve weeks before we hear back of the results.  We are so grateful for those who have already financially partnered with us in this adoption.  We are humbled and feel extremely blessed. 

And it’s off!

All of our paperwork has officially been sent this evening to America World.  We celebrated by having ice cream with sprinkles!

I have had mixed emotions today regard the entire situation.  When I returned home from the Secretary of State’s office this morning with our paperwork certified, our oldest asked, “Mommy did you bring home a brother?”  I am excited.  His words melted my heart and I am overjoyed that he is excited.  I also recognize patience and timing is hard for a little guy to understand.  I am relieved.   The important stack of paperwork is no longer in our hands.  We have had a number of slowdowns related to name errors and misfiled paperwork but we were still able to complete the Dossier in only 4 months 12 days (our agency states the norm is 4-6 months.)  I am overwhelmed.  The wait seems endless.  I am confident.  God is sovereign.

What now?  Hopefully by the end of the week we will have an update on exactly when our paperwork will be in Ethiopia (Dossier to Ethiopia - DTE).  What about the blog?  Our hope is that every month until our referral we will blog on what the Lord is leaning upon our heart related to adoption, information about our funding, what we are learning through friends and research about functioning as an adoptive family and about Ethiopia as a country.  We covet your prayers during this time as the Lord prepares our family for the wait.   

Checking Off the To-Do List

The month of May seemed to loom over our heads so it is exciting to get June off to a great start.  Yesterday, we collected the last required notarized documents and finished our photo pages for the dossier.  We also visited our local US Citizen and Immingration branch to get our fingerprints logged into their database.   Tonight we completed a local matching grant application and we hope to finish our Show Hope grant application tomorrow.  Yeah for progress!

Coffee Fundraiser

Our coffee fundraiser "church edition" starts tomorrow. We are so excited dear friends of ours have offered to head up the coffee table and oversee the sales. We are so thankful for their willingness to serve our family in this way. If you would like join in and order coffee please click here and then click on shop and support.

Fingerprint Appointment

We are nearing the completion of our dossier.  The next step is to get finger prints to finish our I-600A.  Once we get this back from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration, we make copies and send everything off to Eithiopia (with a big check).  Slowly but surely, we are excited to almost be done paperchasing!

Where have we been?!

Well... we have been waiting.  We obviously need to continue to learn patience, because that is what has been before us for the past 6 weeks.  We waited until the first week of April for our finalized home study.  We were ecstatic to be ahead of our planned schedule to send in our I-600A application.  Our excitement faded when we realized that our Indiana State Police background checks had switched our birthdays (putting my birthday with his name and his name with my birthday).  This meant they did background checks on nonexistent people.  This in turn led our finalized home study paperwork to be invalid.  No matter where the mistake was made, we were back in the same place - waiting.


Our second finalized home study arrived Friday the 20th only hours before we left for a grand vacation planned by my husband and some great friends.  The trip was to celebrate many of our birthdays, since we would be changing decades this year.  It also served as a time for growth in our marriages.  We did a marriage book study, took time to relax and enjoy God's creation in the Caribbean!

I also had time to read an adoption book called Wait No More by Kelly and John Rosati. Boy, was it challenging!  I literally couldn't put it down.  I read the entire book on our flight down to Miami.  It is an amazing "story of hope amid challenges, beauty from ashes, and faith that sustains.  It's a beautiful picture of what family truly means." (from off of the back of the book).  These two believers followed God's calling to love and rescue children despite the cost.  I was moved to tears many times.  This family's amazing adoption journey helped me more clearly see God's heart for the broken and recognize that God has an extraordinary plan even if it is not easy. 


We did officially send our I-600A application today.  So again, we wait.  Within the next 12 weeks we will receive a fingerprinting appointment and hopefully our 171-H Form, the “Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition” form.  We only have this approval, along with a few photo papers, left to complete our Dossier.  The end of this phase in the paperwork is vaguely in site.