Since then...

After we submitted our adoption application, we began writing our own autobiographies and completing a Parenting Resource Plan -all of which took many, many hours of time, research and deep thought. We submitted these documents to our social worker on 04/10/2009 and had our home visit with our social worker on 04/19/2009. Our home visit went well and seemed to be pretty painless.

During all of this, we also attended some adoption classes and have also been preparing our other required home study documents -getting our Child Abuse & Neglect Registry Clearance forms, requesting certified copies of birth certificates and our marriage certificate, getting medical clearance forms completed, completing financial statements, health insurance forms and other required documents. We also have some of our kindest friends writing reference letters on our behalf. We have submitted our I600A form, which is our Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, to the US Citizenship & Immigration Services. They have received this form and are just awaiting a copy of our final home study report from the adoption agency, which should be completed in approximately a month. From there they will set us up with an appointment to be fingerprinted (again) and then we should receive our I-171, which is our Notice of Favorable Determination.

While we wait, we are gathering yet a few more documents to complete our Dossier, which is our packet of paperwork which will be sent to Ethiopia. Fortunately many of the documents required for the homestudy can be duplicated in one form or another for our Dossier, which helps us out a bit. Most all of these documents need to be notarized and then verified by the Secretary of State. We're awaiting just a few more documents to be returned to us from various people and then we'll be able to begin the verification process.

Once we receive the I-171 form, the Dossier will be complete and will be sent to Ethiopia. From there we will be placed on the waiting list to be matched with a baby girl up to 12 months to join our family. The expected time frame to be matched with a child is up to about 10 months. From there we will await a court date and then schedule our travel plans, which will likely be another 4 months or so after we are matched. So we're expecting to bring home our baby girl sometime in 2010.

We appreciate all the prayers, support and questions of those who we've shared this with so far. We invite you to share in this journey along side us.

In the beginning...

God has been preparing our hearts for adoption for many years. On January 17, 2009 God specifically spoke to us and made it clear that He was calling us into this journey. We immediately began researching adoption agencies and learning as much as we could about the process. It took approximately 6 weeks of nearly daily researching agencies before we finally decided on WACAP and submitted our adoption application on 02/27/2009. I was initially drawn to this organization for many reasons, but the overall confirming factor was the shorter estimated time frame for the process. And so it begins...