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!