Travel plans

So exciting!  I purchased our tickets today for Ethiopia!  Good grief it is so hard to believe that this is happening!  We will spend Valentine's Day on two airplanes.  One will take us to Washington DC and the second to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  I am working out the details on where we are staying but it looks to be Ethiopia Guest House. I have read so many wonderful blog posts I cannot imagine staying anywhere else.  They are involved in a great deal of ministry with orphans in Ethiopia.  We are hoping to partner with them with bringing donations on our first trip.  We are unable to bring donations of goods to Joshua's orphanage on the first trip because he is not legally ours yet.  It would be unethical to bring things and make it look fishy.

I have attached the symbol for our guest house.  Feel free to give it a peek!

What about the girls?  Well, for the first trip, the girls will be staying at home and going to school and all of their other activities.  Thankfully we have moms that will take care of them.  Donna and Ricki will be coordinating their care.  As for the second trip, we will see how the first one goes and then decide.  ;-)

Please continue to pray for our Joshua, his caretakers and our file that is in the courts of Ethiopia.  We are praying that we are granted custody on February 21st.  If so, we will be able to bring Joshua home soon!  If there is a delay......there will be a greater period of time in between our first and second trip.

COURT DATE!!!!!

It is with great joy that I share our Christmas miracle with you... We received our court date at 10:30 am this morning!  We will appear in front of the Federal Court in Ethiopia on February 21st.  Our travel dates are yet to be decided.  We will get those here shortly...

I will then be contacting our two choices for guest houses...YGF and Ethiopian Guest House.  I have read wonderful reviews on both.  Both will provide meals, a place to sleep and drivers and translators.  My guess is we will travel on the 18th and be gone for a week or so. 

It breaks my heart to know that our little Joshua will not know the warmth of his mom, dad and sisters for his first Christmas but I am so hopeful that he will spend his first birthday with us!  (April)  :-)

Please give thanks to the Lord for his son this holiday season.  I am so thankful for our Christmas miracle that we and many of you prayed for.  Please also pray for all of the orphans and their caretakers around the world.  I am called to also pray for our Joshua's mom.  Without her ultimate sacrifice.....well tears....


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Vaccination Week!

Wow!  Len is now the proud owner of 6 band-aids on his arms!  I received 5.  We both get to take Typhoid medicine for the next week.  It is amazing to me how doctor offices operate.  It took Len three hours and me two!  I sat in the room forever!  Funny thing was Len did too!  Completely separate offices and on different days.  Truly amazing!

We have prescriptions for tummy issues if they occur as well as Malaria medication in case we get the opportunity to leave Addis to visit the area Joshua is from.  We know a bit more about travel and are beginning to get VERY anxious about a court date.

We are praying to have notification of our date by Christmas.  Once we have a date we can start planning and packing!  Woo Hoo!

An Answer to Prayer!!!

One star.....one month......waiting patiently

Well we have been waiting one month since our referral of our precious Joshua.  He is already growing in our hearts.  The answer to prayer you ask?  We received an update today with two NEW pictures.  He has gained 3.7 pounds since October 24th.  Praise God!  He is now a little over 12 pounds!

We are so happy to see his little, now chubby face!  We are so sad at the same time...he is growing up without us.  Please pray for a court date soon!  We are so hopeful that we can go to Ethiopia in February to see him and stand in front of the judge.  We cannot take him home at that point but he will legally be ours. 

We received another update from Dove today talking about 4 weeks inbetween travel dates.  I would be shocked if that were true.  The last we were told was 8-10 weeks.  If it is four weeks.....I might need to stay in country and take care of my little guy and bring him home after his US Embassy appointment.  We will cross that bridge when we come to it.  After all, why travel twice and pay for all of that airfare.  :-)  I am always up for an adventure.  That, like all of this, is in God's hands, not mine.  Thank Heavens!

Please continue to pray for our little Joshua, his caregivers, those that handle our paperwork and for a court date.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  It is making a difference in my son's life.  Wow...that was the first time I remember saying that.  :'-)

Michelle

The Latest in Labonar Land!

Well we are feeling blessed this Thanksgiving weekend.  We feel even more so with our referral of our little boy.  We had an AMAZING Thanksgiving.  Len hosted, I take zero credit, and his mom and my dad whipped up a feast for 16 adults and 5 children.  It was served buffet style and was just scrumptious!  We had many family members and friends to share the day with.




It has been a whirlwind since the last blog update.  I have managed to get Len and I appointments with medical specialists in international travel.  Len's appointment is December 20 and mine is December 21.  We will be the human pincushions as we prepare our bodies for travel.

We have a travel agent now. Susan Parr Travel from the West coast will be helping us find airfare and whatever visas are necessary for both trips. 

We also have received our final packet from Dove, The Family Preparation Packet.  Good grief talk about heavy reading!  It contains general medical information regarding adopted children, post adoption resources on getting a US birth Certificate and social security card, child development resources and information on transracial and transcultural adoption.  We will be chatting with the Dove Social Worker regarding post adoption reporting.  Woo Hoo!  Got to learn how to burn a CD with a doc file and pics.   Oh Missy....where are you?

We are overwhelmed.  Emotionally we are sooooo excited but anxious.  We are hoping for a court date for Christmas.  I would love to hear very soon that our paperwork has been translated and all has been submitted to the court.  This would allow us to know when we are traveling.  We spent some holiday shopping time looking at car seats and strollers but are afraid to purchase anything.  We have our daughters names on the walls in the living room but are anxious to put Joshua's name up there.  It still feels sooooo far off and not real.  Sometimes though....to be honest.. I am in tears.  Is someone holding him when he cries?  Is he warm enough?  Does he have a clean diaper?  Has he begun to teeth?  Is he gaining weight?  He really needs to grow the poor little guy.

We have contacted our homestudy agency and they say everything is a go.   So now we wait...and wait.

Please continue to pray for our little one, his caregivers, those that handle our paperwork and his paperwork as they will meet in the court system.  Please also pray for the many children who wait for parents.  So many orphans in this world.  Just breaks my heart. 

It is off!!!

Yesterday, the girls and I dropped off the final payment, referral acceptance form and invoice to our local mailbox store.  They were so excited to be a part of the process that brings their little brother home.  As of this morning at 8am the envelope had left the Schaumburg Fed Ex facility on its way to Oregon.

I have a cute picture to add here....


This morning I will be speaking to our social worker regarding any details with Illinois and DCFS here.  Hopefully that will be smooth. 

We have a name!

Hurray!

Tomorrow we will be sending in our referral acceptance form and final payment.  Thanks be to GOD for answering our prayers and helping us find the last amount of money necessary!!! On the form, there is a space indicating..."  Name that you will be given your child if you will be changing them"

We can now fill that in with

Joshua (Ethiopian Name we cannot share) Labonar


We are soooo excited and anxious for the next step. 

I will be emailing our guest house tomorrow, YGF Villa and Hotel.  I will also be interviewing travel agents that specialize in working with adoption families.  I am not a travel guru unless it is Disney so I am all about keeping it simple and accepting all of the help I can get.

Also on my list tomorrow is a phone call to the health department in DuPage County.  They will be able to help me come up with a list of the vaccinations that Len and I will need for traveling.  I need to get that list to the doctors so they can order everything.  Then I will be the human pin cushion...so will Len!


Please continue to pray for our little one, Joshua, his caretakers and those that handle our paperwork.  May we have a smooth transition and bring our baby home soon!

Accepted into our hearts and home!

What a whirlwind week it has been at our house.  Referral, refinance, first Daisy meeting, tought times at work, Hannah's piano recital and Sarah has a slight cold and is not sleeping at night.

I am so thankful for all of it, to be honest.  I just need some down time to process it all. 

Here is where we are...the referral was sent to us on Tuesday afternoon.  By Wednesday, it was at the University of Alabama's International Adoption Clinic for review.  Thursday was spent shopping for a dryer.  How random that broke and died this week.  The lovely gentleman at Home Depot told me to wait for the one I wanted to be delivered.  Then he told me to go to the laundromat.  Can you believe that?????  We went to ABT picked it up and voila, Len installed it.

Thursday night was spent with little to no sleep.  Sarah is a bit under the weather and I'm so raw right now it is difficult.  Thankfully Aunt Lisa came by to make us smile and take a gander at the pictures.  :-D
I spent much of Friday morning praying for peace and wisdom and patience.  All were granted by the grace of God.

At 11:25, Len and I had a phone conference with our Adoption Director from Dove to answer any questions we had about the referral.  Len was hoping for more information on the little guy.  I was just hoping for some clarification on a few concerns I had.  42 minutes later we were satisfied and the converstation ended with discussion about how we plan to travel, vaccinations and where we plan to stay.  All of which need to be addressed in the short term now!  We wrapped up stating that we are waiting for the International Doctors to give their stamp of approval and we will get in contact with the Adoption Director immediately.

At 2:57, I heard from Dr. Chambers.  We went thru the referral very carefully.   She stated that she really wished he was a bit bigger, currently only a little over 9 pounds at 7 months.  But all looks good and we should proceed.  Well that was all I needed to hear!!!  I thanked her, called Len and told him that I wanted to make sure he was on board and I was going to call Dove.  Yah, I called Dove and got the voicemail. 

At 4:26 while in a meeting with some of my Oxford parents, Dove returned my call and we officially accepted the referral of our seven month old little boy.  We discussed the official paperwork that needed to be sent to Dove along with the final check.  Still praying on that one! 

My mom came up and took us out to dinner to celebrate Hannah's recital and the referral.   And yes, I was still up most of the night.  I would say I am getting ready for the next phase....but I need some sleep!

Now what?  I know that is what you want to know.  :-D  We will send in our official form of acceptance, invoice and final amount due.  All of that must be in Dove's hands on Wednesday.  In the meantime, he is having an additional HIV test and they are preparing our paperwork and his paperwork for court.  Out next big wait......a court date.  Once we recieve a court date we will receive our travel dates.  Then we book our trip, find someone to stay at our house and take care of every detail here at home and we go!  We expect a court date in February.  We are praying for February!!!  We will be given a months notice to two weeks notice to travel.  YIKES!  I guess I have lots of groundwork to do with a travel agent as well as vaccinations.  Maybe some sleep tonight.....I hope...if not there is always horsey therapy at the barn tomorrow that will help!

Please continue to pray for our little guy, his caretakers, our escrow (long story ask Len), and those handling the paperwork that they may do so in a very detailed way so there are no delays.

Thanks!

Hugs to all....... and blessings to Hannah today on her first piano recital.

Michelle

Referral!!!!!!--will add details as I continue to calm down and remember them.

At 3:10 this afternoon, I was checking my email!  My cell phone rang......

I was told that Len and I have a referral of a "really cute"  little boy.  He is seven months old and truly cute as a button.   I am REALLY paranoid about giving away identifying information so I apologize if this is not all of the details that you want.  His birthday is in April.  He was found by a man in his hometown.  Sadly, this means we will not have any information on his birth family.  We received his paperwork as well as two pictures that seem to be have taken just a few seconds apart.  He is in pink pants with a flower blanket.  Pretty funny!  I was told this was typical in Ethiopia for boys to be dressed in pink.  :-D

So what was it like when we found out?

Well for me.....I was sobbing and overwhelmed.  I sent Sarah to our neighbor and good friend, Shannon's house to come be some support for me.  She came down as well as her kids.  I had to jet off to pick up Hannah from Chess Club.  I called Len before I left, of course a sobbing mess.  The teachers in his department were concerned that someone had died I was so hysterical on the phone.  He was relieved to hear that...."We have a referral!"
He replied,   "OH, so you're happy ...oh ok."
I told him I would send him the information so he could see the pictures....then of course I left to go get Hannah.  Two friends that are adoptive moms were there to hug and cry with me.  Wow!  So thankful for them.  The best part was telling Hannah as she stood next to her good friend, who is adopted!  Wonderful for them to be able to share in that moment.

I came home and called Len back.  He was anxious for the pics so I sent them.  He and his friends and students were able to ohhh and ahhh over the pics.

Well....I managed to call another couple of dear friends and headed out to gymnastics practice for Sarah.  By this time...I was exhausted.

Len and I were so relieved to see each other.  We went home and called family and friends and looked at each other completely dazed.  The dinner conversation revolved around names.  The girls are going thru their bibles trying to come up with one.  We are keeping his Ethiopian name that he was given as his middle name.  First name options are:  Thomas, Noah, David, Daniel, Michael and Benjamin.

What is next you ask?  We are sending the referral info to an Adoptive Medical Specialist.  They will review the information and let us know their thoughts.  We will accept or decline the referral based on their medical recommendations.  We will overnight our official acceptance letter as well as the final payment. 

Court dates are currently looking like 3-4 months out so we will see.  :-)  Then 8-10 weeks from there and we will be home forever!  Wow!  Could this really be happening!

Four Months! We are in the "average zone"!

Well we have been waiting for FOUR months.  Yes, initally I was so glad to be done with the paperwork and just wait.  Second month....more of the same.  Third month....finally heard from Dove and was encouraged.  Now....tired of waiting.  Wondering if we are crazy.  If we get our referral in the next two months we will hopefully be all set to travel this spring.  But once again...if.  The "ifs" are so hard and the wait is starting to wear on us both.  We cancelled our trip to DisneyWorld in December this week.  Between the roof this summer and the hopefully upcoming trips to Ethiopia we needed to focus on paying off debt not spending.  So the House of the Mouse will wait.   :-(

I know this is all in the Lord's hands.  Wow this waiting stuff is hard.  It is like being pregnant with an elephant.  22 months gestation.  I think we might reach that soon! 

I have some friends who have adopted from Ethiopia, Russia and Guatamala.  I am blessed to be able to see their kids and think that maybe just maybe this will happen.  Somedays....are just so long.

Referral/Travel Meeting

Well...It finally happened.  We had our referral/travel meeting with Tami of Dove Adoptions today.  She went over the entire packet of information that we received on Friday.  Here are some highlights that I am so excited to share with you.

• We received the official "Referral Acceptance Form".  This is the form we will fill out and next air to our agency once we accept the referral.
• We learned that children in the age range that we have requested are 50% abandoned and 50% relinquished.
• Most children are orphans due to illness such as Malaria, HIV, death of the birth parents and extreme poverty.
• The HIV test is done after the referral is accepted.  We will be informed of the results and can make a change if necessary.
• The average wait time for a referral is still 4-6 months.  We have been waiting 3 months and one week. 
• After we receive a referral....we can expect to wait 4-6 weeks for a court date.  We will be given 4 weeks to prepare for our first trip.
• After we return home...it will be 8-10 weeks before we can return to pick up our little guy.

How the referral works.....this is what we are waiting for!!!!

The orphanage at SOS EE makes the matches of children to families.  Dove receives an email with a bunch of legal  info, medical info and most importantly pictures!  As I mentioned before, we will not be sharing these pics electronically as that could foil our adoption.  Once they have reviewed the info and the referral they will call my cell phone, if no answer, the house phone and finally my work phone.  They will tell us about the little one.  They will share his age with us as well as other details.  We will then log into our wonderful email and look at the referral documents and the picture of the little one.  We have 14 days to review the info and make a decision as to whether we will accept the referral.  We are planning on sending the medical documents to an international adoption clinic for professional review.    Once we accept the referral, Dove will request a court date!  That will be another wait, I imagine.

We also received a great deal of travel information.  The reality of this trip began to set in today.  We are going to partner with a reputable and highly recommended travel agent who has experience in international adoption with Ethiopia specifically.  I am researching where we are going to stay.  The orphanage has a guest house that we can stay in that will provide us with meals and a driver/translator.  I am thinking that is the best route at this point.  I am going to chat with some friends that have been there in the last year to get their opinions.  The one thing I REALLY want to do...is visit the area where the little guy is from.  Ethiopia is a very big country.  I want to have as much information about our little one's birth home as possible. 

We, as you can imagine, are a little overwhelmed.  This is actually going to happen.  Wow!  Well please continue to pray for our little one, his birth family, especially his mom.  I am so thankful to her for what she is going to give us! :')

Attached below is a video of a family that adopted thru the same agency, the same orphanage.  I thought you might enjoy a visual of our family's future.


The Journey to Josanna

Happy Threemonthanniversary!

Well...the clock continues to tick by and we have arrived at three months.  It has been three months since our cover letter reached the desk of the orphange directors.  It has been three months since our dossier crossed the Atlantic Ocean.  It has been three months since we breathed a LARGE sigh of relief as our paperchase was coming to an end.

In reading the blogs of others I have found some fun stuff.  One compared this wait to the stages of grief.  From depression and denial to acceptance and excitement, Len and I have run the gamut.  Amazing process to be honest.  There is just as much emotion if not more than with a biological pregnancy.  I can honestly say it is FAR more challenging.  I am thankful to have a few friends from Grace Community Church that have adopted from Ethiopia that are home with their little ones.  A quick glance at Facebook and I feel better.

In my last post, I mentioned that we have $2000 of the last $5600 payment.  Amazing how much all of this costs!  We entered into this with our eyes open and well aware of the financial committment.  It has been a true leap of faith for us to completely trust in the Lord for all of this.  I have been concerned but not overly with the next payment.  Whenever, I went to prayer I heard so clearly...."I told you I would take care of this".  He is so much more patient with me than I am with Hannah and Sarah.

Get the kleenex now.....

Ok so Len just called today on the Threemonthanniversary.  (Not sure if he knows that, yet.)  We are in the process of refinancing our house as the rates are so low, it is silly not to.  There is, of course, something up with the refi.  I have not a clue other than our tax bill is due and we have to have extra money at closing unless we roll in the next payment and blah, blah, blah.  Needless to say, we have to pay our next tax bill at closing and we will recieve a refund of the balance 10 days after closing.  Any idea what the balance is...you guessed it.  $3600.  Seriously, I could not make this up if I tried.  Tears, tears, tears.  I have not a clue what we did to deserve this grace but pray that all goes well with the refi and we will be ok for our referral. 

He is so good.  Trusting in HIM has been hard.   But he has made his will known and we will press on with this adoption.  I cannot wait to meet the little one that has been chosen by him for us!  Truly amazing!

Our travel/referral meeting is in just 6 days!  I will have more information then.  In the meantime, I will wait for the mailman today to bring us our packet from Dove.  :-)

Thanks for reading and praying!  It is like a big hug from all of you!

A Light!!!!

Well on Thursday, September 30 at 4:24 p.m. we receieved an email from our placing agency.  They are ready to mail out our travel/referral packet and have our long awaited phone conference!  HURRAY!

So needless to say, I took the first available time...October 11 at 12 noon.  Thankfully Len has the day off so we will be on the phone for 90 or so minutes on a conference call working with Dove on what is next!  How exciting!

I do know that we do not have a little one chosen by the orphanage just yet.  I do know that he has already been chosen by God for us. 

Now we wait, wait for the packet in the mail.  Wait for the phone conference.  Wait for the referral phone call with pics and the like.  (Just a heads up...we cannot share any pics electronically...it is forbidden by the Ethiopian Government.  They have banned families for those sorts of things.)  Wait for the rest of the money for the last payment for the adoption.  It is truly by God's grace that we have gotten this far.  I cannot believe how long this has taken.  There is great peace knowing that it is HIS time not mine!

Oh the little light......we are getting there!

Two months down and ??? to go!

The two month point...



Well Happy Labor Day everyone.  Summer is over and fall has arrived.  While I sit here and update the blog....Len and the girls are outside draining the pool and riding bikes.  We have had a wonderful weekend as we celebrated Len's 37th birthday and Hannah's 8th birthday.   It has been a good and relaxing weekend.  Hopefully you have enjoyed some time with your families as well. 

Well the question we have heard the most this month...."so anything?"  Well.....no.  I am not anxious about the referral.  Excited yes, anxious no.  I just want to hear from our agency telling us where things are and what the next steps are.   I can tell you what I do know.  We will be given a list of required and recommended vaccinations.  Thankfully, we have a wonderful woman at church who is willing to order and administer all shots that our insurance does not cover.  PHEW!
The other one is to prepare for the referral.  We have a wonderful friend in the neighborhood who has adopted a amazing set of twins from Russia.  They are such a hoot!  Anyway, she has contacts with the adoptive medical community.  We can send all of our referral paperwork to them and they will evaluate it from the medical perspective.  This will allow us to make an educated decision as to whether we will accept the referral.  
Everyday, I pray...."Will this be the morning we hear from the agency so we can begin to prepare?"  Please help me pray for patience while we wait for this email as well the health of our little one.  I am starting to wonder if he is born yet.  :)

I have also kept a close watch on the blogs the last few months.  The courts are closed in Ethiopia due to the rainy season.  The blogs are saying that there is a great deal of surrendering after the rainy season ends.  I am also praying for those moms and children as they make the difficult decision to break up their families which could result in a complete family somewhere else.  Amazing paradox isn't it? 

Have a wonderful September.  Hopefully you will see a post indicating we have heard from our agency soon!

One month down....

Well we have been a waiting family for one month now.  We have been told it will be 4-6 months for a "typical wait". 

It has been an exciting and settling month.  The reality has begun to set in.  Len and I are now saying when he comes home not if the adoption happens.  So fun to change those verbs.

Our adoption director from Dove is in Ethiopia now.  She is walking some families thru the process.  They are hoping to have a better handle on the two trip process with her visit.

This week we are waiting for an email from Dove to schedule our phone conference and referral/travel packet will be in the mail soon.  Hopefully, before Len scoots back to school.

We are anxious and excited for this next month of waiting.  My birthday has passed, Len's is next on September 3rd and Hannah's on September 4th.  Between birthdays and the start of school....we have lots to keep us busy.

I am thankful for the Strategies training that occurred this past week.  It was exhausting and challenging but rewarding to think of all of the students that will be touched by the teachers and specialists that we trained.  On the financial side....it paid for 50% of our last payment.  Phew....He is good.  He has provided every red cent that we have needed for this adoption.  What a blessing.  I am just overwhelmed thinking about His role in this process.  One word......wow.....well two words.....thanks.  :) 

Your Dossier Was Sent to Ethiopia!

Holy Cow, Batman! 

What an awesome email to recieve.  As I am typing, I am praying and thanking the Lord for getting us just one step closer.  It has been over 1 year to this point in the process.  To be honest....we did not know if we would get this far some days.

You might notice our new ticker....!   


(Sarah and Hannah holding the dossier before it is mailed to Dove)

So here is the scoop...our cover letter and Dove's cover letter are in Ethiopia in the hands of the Board of SOS EE.  They are the ones that will match us.  Our dossier has left Portland, Oregon as of 5:45 pm this evening. (PST) It is on its way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

The million dollar question????????  When will you get your child?   Well it, like everything else is not that easy.  Our agency and the orphanage that we are working with does not do things numerically.  We do not move to the top of the list as time goes by.  We are in more of a salad bowl.  We are chosen based upon our cover letter and dossier matching the needs of a child.  Once that match occurs...we will receive a phone call.  I hope Len is around when that comes.  I am crying just typing about it!!!!   We can be matched any day now.  The wait is typically 4-6 months.

Our next step is to prepare ourselves for the referral and travel.  We will be having a lengthy 90 minute plus phone conference with Dove at some point in the next 4-6 weeks.  This will give us the details necessary for the next step in the process. 

In the meantime...we are celebrating!!!  Praying!!  ( and I am crying!)

Thank you for your support and prayers.....  :)

Soooooo now what?

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Well we continue to move forward on the adoption front. The comment I get most often is "now what"? Well here is the latest....

Our dossier was received by Dove on Friday, June 25th. We have received the "next step" email from Dove. So here it is... our Power of attorney form and I171-H (the forms that Len and the girls had authenticated by the State of Illinois in Chicago) are now in Washington DC being authenticated by the US state department and the Ethiopian Embassy. Those should be returned to Dove at some point this week.

Next thing that happens...Dove will write a letter to the SOS EE introducing us to the Board of the Orphanage. That letter as well as the one we wrote to the board will be emailed this week to them.

Once the documents return from DC....our dossier will be on a DHL airplane to Ethiopia. We will have a tracking number and will keep an eye on our papers from Hoffman Estates.

The thing we are most looking forward to is a Travel training session with Dove and our referral/travel packet to arrive. The bad news....shots and lots of them are in our future! UGH! My arms hurt already!

Very soon we will be an official waiting family. That means we are waiting for the blessed phone call that states that our family has a little one waiting. When we are officially on that list there will be a new ticker on our blog. 4-6 months is typical for that wait. Our agency does not do things numerically. They do it based on the child and the family. So look for the ticker!

Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts. Happy birthday America!

It is off!

Well we did it. Our dossier was sent to our agency, Dove Adoptions International, in Oregon, yesterday. We have extra copies of everything. Thank you so much for all of your prayers for our patience. We managed to assemble everything and get it to our local mail box store. It is now on its way!

NOW WHAT?

Well we are waiting to hear from our agency in the meantime. Hopefully, we did everything correctly and can move on to the next step.

As for the home study agency drama...well Glenkirk closed...the agency they sent us to was requiring us to start over again with more fees too!
Len spent lots of time on the phone and found an amazing and compassionate social worker, at Adoption Link. She will provide us our post placement visits. She has been awesome in getting our file transferred and the required documents for our dossier.

So now...we wait to hear from Dove. When we know...we will post info on the blog here. :)

Thanks for your prayers and positive thoughts. They are a blessing to us as we prepare to move from a family of 4 to a family of 5!

Blessing to our friends Anji and Steve as they travel on Friday to pick up their little ones from Ethiopia!

What a Week!

Just when we thought things were starting to run smooth. The lesson learned this week is never to relax in adoption world. Here is a run down of the highlights of the week:

1. Len, Hannah, Sarah, and Donna (Len's Mom) planned on going downtown to have paperwork from the Federal Government authenicated. Len's plan was simple on Wednesday. If the Blackhawks were to win the Cup on Wed., we would go downtown Monday 6/14 to avoid the parade. If the Stanely Cup Finals went to a game 7, we would stick to the Friday Plan. DA DA DA DA DA DA Kaner scores and HAWKS take the CUP! Dancing in the living rooms of Hoffman Estates (priorities are priorities). So Monday (tomorrow) is the trip downtown.

2. Since our homestudy agency shut its doors, we have to switch paper work to a new agency. The new agency was supposed to honor all fees and payments we already made, but of course they did not. Essentially they want $1000 to redo a homestudy that is less than 2 months old. After hours on the phone talking to various agencies, it seemed like we had no other choice and would face yet another delay.

3. After discussing the issue with our Adopting Agency, they insisted that the Homestudy did not have to be redone and that we should submit our dossier ASAP.

4. On the recommendation of a trusted source, we connected with another homestudy agency that agreed to honor our homestudy and provide post adoptive visits at their normal rate. Money that should be refunded to us from our original agency.

So simply stated, after hours of frustration all day Friday, we ended up where we started. Going downtown tomorrow to wrap up paper work. We should be mailing the dossier this week. And then we will simply be waiting for the referral.

It feels like we are getting close, but we cannot relax now!

Thanks for all the support and well wishes.

Len and Michelle

More Fingerprints....:)

Well... The I600A went to Texas and was received on Monday, April 5th. On Monday, April 12 we received a request for our fingerprints from the USA! Len and I will head to Norridge to have our fingerprints taken for the federal petition to adopt an orphan. Once the fingerprints are done...it is a waiting game until we receive our I-171...THE GOLDEN TICKET. Federal permission to adopt.

May 3 at 12 noon.....more fingerprints! :)

Wrapping up the dossier pieces this weekend so we are ready and waiting. Hurray!

Keep praying for our patience as we move forward as well as all of the orphans that anxiously wait around our world.

Approved!

Upon returning home from a wonderful week in Disney...the magic continued! On my dining room table sat the paperwork that we have been waiting for. DCFS approved our homestudy! We will apply for our I 600A finally. It will go in the mail on Monday morning.

Our paperwork has had to change a bit due to a change in Ethiopia: we now have to be there in court to adopt. As a result, we will be heading to Ethiopia twice! Once to meet our little one and legally adopt and then return 6-8 weeks later to pick him up to bring him home.

So relieved for some forward progress!

Some more backward movement... :(

Well. Adoption is not for the thin skinned! We are still waiting for our homestudy to be approved by DCFS. Once that is done then, and only then can we apply for our I600A. So we are waiting!

On a bit of a challenging note. We received an email yesterday stating the following:

At the end of the business day on March 10, 2010 (March 1, 2010 according to the Ethiopian calendar) the Ethiopian First Instance Federal Court posted a notice that, we have been told, will affect all prospective adoptive families who are waiting for adjournment.

Agencies were anticipating that a formal proclamation would be issued by the end of the week explaining the details of this notice and how it will be implemented, but on March 11, 2010 Dove was notified by our attorney that it appears that this is not going to happen.

Effective immediately prospective adoptive families must be present at the court hearing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


What does this mean? Well frankly, as far as the paperwork is concerned, I honestly do not know. I am trusting in our agency to walk us thru this. As for the reality, Len and I will have to go to Ethiopia, not once but twice! We both will have to be present at the court date. Then 6-8 weeks later one or both of us will return to bring our little one home. Disadvantage....traveling 23 hours in a plane four times. Advantage...seeing the beautiful Ethiopian countryside twice. Meeting our little one before the court date. Having time to spend with him twice in his home country.


Still trusting in the one who brought us to this point!
Thanks for reading!

Michelle

Thank Heavens!

Well we finally......and I mean finally have some progress to report. We were unable to send in our I600A because DCFS lost our paperwork for our foster license. We went to be re-fingerprinted and filed the paperwork all over again. Now, we have a license and the required license number on our home study. Our homestudy was sent to Dove Adoptions and yes.....approved!
Now we have to re-submit some financial paperwork to DCFS and then both our homestudy is sent to them and our I600A (petition to adopt a foreign orphan) is sent to the US government.

Once the USA checks it all out, we are fingerprinted by immigration and Homeland Security. Once we receive our "golden ticket" we can send it off to Springfield, Illinois to be authenticated. Once that happens and we receive the paperwork back from Springfield our dossier will be sent to Dove.

Thank goodness an answer to prayer! This has been a very long paperchase! Good grief! It will all be worth it when we finally see his little face! My optimistic goal is to have him home before the clock strikes 2011!

Please continue to pray for our last few dossier items to fall into place, our I600a to move along, and our little one. We are coming!