Wait list possibilities

I have thought more and I think that we won't get on the wait list until the week after next. I'm totally fine with that. Whatever happens, happens. It is hard for me to comprehend that FINALLY we have this step within reach. It is exciting to think that our child might actually be born now or real close. :) I just got an update from our agency the other day. Just to give people an idea of how many people are in front of us, the current status is 75 families waiting for a referral of a girl and 46 families are waiting for a referral of a boy. A person doesn't have to be #1 to get a referral. When a child comes into the orphanage, they look at who is #1 on the list. Let's say the child that came into the orphange is a 4 year old girl. The person on the list at #1 might want a baby, so they go on to the next person on the list. The next person on the list might want a boy, so they go to the next person, etc...So--we will see.

A dose of reality

We have the honor to be babysitting our 11 month old God daughter. Her parents are out of town and the grandmas were busy. :) She came on Thursday night and will be here until Monday. What a dose of reality as to how our lives will be when our new one joins us. I've had many thoughts and feelings in the first few days of having an extra child in our house. The first night she got here about 8pm. She wasn't here too super long before it was bed time. I wasn't sure how to handle the situation. I didn't want to "abandon" her in new and scary surroundings yet I didn't want her to be spoiled rotten. It made me think ahead to how things could be when our new one comes here. It will be similiar, but on a more extreme level. I ended up sitting in the same room as her until she went to sleep. She attached to me quickly. It took a bit of time for her to attach to the girls and to Jason. It was nice to feel needed/wanted, but I also didn't want to have to sit and hold her the whole time she was here. This experience has been great for all of us as it gives us a sneak peak as to how things will be. It has SHOWN me things that we have read about. For the first time, I'm apprehensive about the coming home part. Maybe b/c we are a bit closer to it actually happening. Maybe the fact that it is really happening is hard for me to believe. Do I regret the choice we made to adopt? No way!!!! We know there are going to be many challenges along the way. We still are reassured that this is God's plan and that He will provide. With my personality being what it is, it is amazing I've made it this far without freaking out a bit. :)

This week is not our week

We received our phone call from our agency concerning our Dossier. We have some minor changes to make. I guess I didn't know what to expect. They are looking at every angle so that we can get approval from the Ethiopian government. I'd rather them be safe than sorry. Our reference letters need to have a few things changed. The letter we had to write to the Ethiopian government needs to have a few things changed. We need to get a copy of the license and agency number of Catholic Family Services that did our Home Study. All items can be sent directly to AGCI. As soon as these revisions get to them, they will look at things again and we don't have to wait until Friday (which is the day they review Dossiers) Well--one of our references is out of town for quite some time so it will be at least next week before we get on that wait list.

Stay tuned....

Our Dossier will be reviewed tomorrow. (Friday) They will look over all of the papers we sent and make sure everything is in order. Many, many times (more often than not) people have one document or another to fix and resubmit. We are hoping that isn't the case, but we are ready for it if that is what happens. Right now, I'm feeling very confident that it IS all in God's hands. That doesn't mean that I'm not ready to be on the waiting list. :) Hoping for good news tomorrow. What is meant to be will be. Stay tuned....

Safely in the hands of AGCI

I got an email from AGCI stating that our Dossier was safely in their hands and would be reviewed on Friday. It is nice to know that it didn't get lost in the mail.

Happy Day!!!

Happy Birthday to me!! (Yes it really is my b-day) I went to the mail and guess what was there? Our Home Study! Oh happy day!!!! I wasn't expecting that at all. Everything is ready to go for sending in our Dossier. I made copies of our Home Study. Now to mail it all yet TODAY!!! :) Next Friday it will be reviewed by AGCI. There is the chance that some documents might have to be redone. Hopefully that is not the case. Time will tell. Wait list here we come!!! :) Current wait time is 9-12 months for a referral. What a huge relief to know that most of OUR work is done.

Good news!!!

We went on a small family vacation to The Black Hills. We have never taken a family vacation. While we were gone, our cement for our addition was poured. Yippee!!! :) Also--when we came back, our fingerprint results were sitting in our mailbox. Yippee again!!! :) Apparently, we needed to go on vacation. HA! We were only gone for a few days. Today I sent our fingerprint results to our case worker in Aberdeen. Since she is on maternity leave, she doesn't check her email as often as normal. Hopefully soon she will check it and know there is a package soon to be waiting for her. She will need to add the date that we received the fingerprint results into our Home Study. Then she can sign our Home Study, notarize it, and send us our copies. We can then submit our Dossier to AGCI. After AGCI gets all of these documents, they will review everything on Friday of the week that it was received. They will tell us what changes need to be made, etc..Then we get put on the waiting list!!! We are getting closer! It has been 5 months since we began this journey. Some days it feels like we have been at this forever and other times it seems as if it was just yesterday. It is great to write you with good news. We are making progress. HOPEFULLY....we should be on the wait list by the end of the month for sure.