Our adoption timeline

I wanted to add a timeline with significant dates on our adoption journey. Here is what we have from the beginning of the process until present.

February 21, 2011: Attended an adoption seminar hosted by Bethany

March 2011: Turned in our preliminary application for international adoption at Bethany

April 2011: Turned in our formal application to Bethany

May 31st, 2011: Our first of three home study meetings.

October 4, 2011: Completed the home study

November 2011: switched to Adoption Associates

February 17, 2012: Completed and sent our dossier to Washington D.C.

March 16: We are officially on the wait list for an infant boy from Ethiopia-Number 22

March update: 19

April Update:  16

May update: 10

June:  8

July:  6

August: 6

September:  5

October 5, 2012: REFERRAL!!!!

Oct 24: Found out our court date

November 13: COURT!

I can't wait to add more significant dates to this timeline!!

19th of 20

So March turned into a great referral month for our agency...we moved up from number 22 to 19 in just 10 days! I am hoping this trend continues as we are so anxious to receive a referral. I cannot wait to lay eyes on my baby boy! My heart aches when I think about him being out there and not knowing we are waiting here for him. I will continue to post where we stand on the waiting list each month. My case worker usually sends an update at the end of each month.

We are currently trying to come up with boy names...not to say we will definitely change his birth name...it will all depend. But in the meantime, it sure is fun coming up with names we like! (and also very difficult.) I have so many girl names I love...and very few boy names...

22 out of 23

We MADE it! We are finally officially on the waiting list for an infant boy from Ethiopia!!!! It is a strange feeling to be here now...it has been about a year since we started this journey. We never thought then that it would take us an entire year to get here. God has definitely shown us once again that this life, this journey, is not in our hands but in his. We have learned to be patient, we have made mistakes, we have felt heart broken and frustrated, and we have felt true hope...and are still learning to keep the faith. I know that Andrew and I have become stronger as a couple, and as a family through this all and I hope that this journey continues to bring us even more joy and revelation.

As of now, March 19, 2012, we are number 22 out of 23 on the waiting list. This doesn't mean a whole lot other than that there are 21 families waiting in line ahead of us. However, each family has their own preferences for a child as far as age, gender, and even health specifications. Therefore, the number is just a number. But it is all we have right now so we are wearing 22 proudly and with much anticipation of the numbers before us dwindling. I will keep the blog updated as the numbers go down.:)

SO thankful and SO in love already with a child we have yet to lay eyes on.<3

On it's way!

Our dossier is finally on it's way! We recieved our immigration approval on Friday, February 16. This completed our dossier checklist of documents to send to Ethiopia. We got it all sent out to Washington DC to be translated and certified the next day. It was an AMAZING feeling, like a weight had been lifted from our shoulders. We are done with paperwork! (at least for now) There is nothing in limbo, not waiting for paperwork to be returned, or signed, or notarized. It just feels good.

Now the real waiting begins. We are hoping that the paperwork will be sent to Ethiopia in the next week or two which will put us on the waiting list. It looks like we will be number 20 on the list. However, not everyone on the list is waiting for the same age or gender of a child. Fromm the way I counted it, there are 7 families ahead of us who have similar preferences. So once they have accepted a referral, we would be next in line for an infant boy.:)

I have been watching youtube videos of "meetcha days" and different adoption stories....I cannot wait to watch ours unfold! I am so excited to hear that phone ring with the news that we have a referral....that our boy is waiting for us like we are waiting for him. I read a poem last night that brought tears to me eyes:

Kisses in the Wind:

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you
strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your
skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the
wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the
wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each
night

It's getting so real now. I just want to see his face and hold him in my arms. Hopefully in a few months, we will have a little face put in a picture frame until we can actually meet him.

So close I can taste it!

After we resent our immigration request, we received a letter about a week later with our finger printing appointment on it. It was all set for January 3, which is today. Buuut, we went early and although they were not thrilled about it, they took us anyway on December 16. I have been hearing that we should get an approval sometime around mid-January, as this has been the trend over the past few months. Once we hear back from immigration, we will need to get our dossier state sealed. Then we will be ready to send all of our paperwork in! From what I understand, we first need to send it to the Assistant Stork, who then brings the dossier to the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington D.C. to get authenticated. They will send it back to our agency within about 10 days. Then AAI will be sending it directly to Ethiopia!! (assuming all of our fees are paid) It is at that point that we will finally be a "waiting" family!! We are so excited to be on the wait list! This is when the "real" waiting starts...which is funny considering we feel like we have been waiting since we first decided to adopt and turned in our preliminary application in March of 2011. Once we are officially moved to the wait list, it can be any day that we will recieve a phone call from our case worker that they have a baby for us!!!! We have an estimated wait period of 0-4 months. So it could be any time! We are so ready to hear some good news and be able to share it with our family and friends! Stay tuned!!!!!!

Oops

We sent our immigration packet off almost 4 weeks ago, with the knowledge that it would take around 8 weeks to get the approval back. We planned to use that 8 weeks to complete the rest of the paperwork for our dossier. Well....apparently they expect you to sign all the dotted lines....which we failed to do. OOPS! So we just got our packet back in the mail to sign. Now we have to resubmit it and wait another 8 weeks for approval! AHHHH!

After the emotional roller coaster of the past few weeks...I probably should have cried over this mistake. However, at this point, all I can do it laugh. I am tired of worrying and crying. I am ready to laugh, ride the ride, and enjoy the journey. This may set us back a few weeks...but that just means that our baby isn't going to be ready for an extra few weeks. Soooo, we will sign the portion we missed, resend it, and wait.

The good news is, everything else is almost completed! We are just waiting on Andrew's work to correct a letter they wrote as a referral. They have all theses policies about releasing info and have been a little difficult. But, it will all work out!!!!

I keep reminding myself that we will only get the baby we are suppose to get. I may make mistakes along the way, but God never does. He will provide us with the only child for us at the end of all of this. That makes me smile.

Beautifully Different

We are SO close to being done with our dossier, the paperwork for Ethiopia. Once it is completed, they will send it to Washington DC, and then off to Ethiopia! We will then OFFICIALLY be a "waiting familiy." It's so funny because I feel like all have been doing since March is "waiting," on things. But, this kind of waiting seems different. It's more like waiting at the end of an airport terminal. You know your person is coming soon. You will see them soon. You will watch them walk out of that terminal. You just don't know where in line the person is. All the previous waiting seemed so endless. There wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel. At least not one that was in sight. We knew there would be eventually, but now I feel like we can see it!!

I was talking to a good friend the other day who has also had biological children and chose adoption. We were laughing at some of the "waiting" similarities. I remember being pregnant for Maya and becoming so emotional about anything to do with children, babies, and even animals! All those sad commercials on t.v. would pull at my heart strings like they never had before. I blamed it on my raging hormones.:) I also, like most pregnant women, went through a nesting stage. I wanted everything ready and clean for Maya's arrival. I needed everything packed and in order. Planning was SO fun! And if you know me at all, you know I made endless amounts of LISTS! Every day we get closer to a referral and a child to hold, I feel some of these things starting again, and I have to admit, it's a good feeling. There are so many things that I was worried I would miss by not carrying my own child in my belly. (we carry our child in our heart instead.) But I have begun to be emotional about things again. I cannot hear a sad story or watch ANY of those horible infomercials on t.v. about abused pets or hungry children without sobbing. I am also feeling very protective of Maya, almost like I can feel that things are about to change for her and I am worried about how she will react. I want to protect her from any uncertainty. I can also feel that our time as we know it together is going to change as well. It will never be just the 3 of us again. On top of that, I feel nesting setting in. I have had this urge to cook and clean, and prepare again. Lists are everywhere!;) It's just funny to me how although my body is not necessarily preparing, my mind and heart have taken over to prepare me for another child.

I have begun to understand little by little that although this process is different, it is no less amazing and wonderous. Just because something is different than you are accustomed to, doesn't make it any less beautiful. Different is not always bad, just different. And different is beautiful too.

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