Celebration Time!

Today is the one month mark since we were officially placed on the waiting list for a referral of a child. I just checked my email and received word that Gladney's in-country representatives have indeed picked up our dossier. We are so thankful to know that it has arrived in Ethiopia!!! We figured that it was already there, but sometimes it takes awhile for the in-country representatives to actually receive it and then get word to the agency. Gladney's in-country representatives will now take our dossier to be translated into Amharic and to be authenticated in Ethiopia. They will then hold our dossier ready to be submitted to the courts once we have received and accepted a referral. Now the real wait begins. This is the first year that I am actually glad that I'm way behind on our Christmas shopping so that I will have plenty to occupy my mind and time (but I'm not 100% sure it will work). Enough blogging--it's time to celebrate!

No News

We haven't heard anything from our agency since October 15, when they told us that we were officially placed on the waiting list. We have been told that the average wait time for a referral is 3-5 months. We know that our dossier has been sent to Ethiopia, but our caseworker has not confirmed that it has arrived or been picked up by Gladney's in-country representatives. We are staying quite busy these days, so we haven't had too much time to get impatient. As the holidays approach, however, it is hard to think about our family not all being together. Waiting truly is much harder than all of the paperwork, but we know that it is all about God's timing.

Past Due Update

Hello all! I've gotten quite behind on keeping our blog updated. At the end of September, AWAA of NC went through the relicensing process with the State. All went well, but I needed some recovery time afterwards. Following that, Ciara had two mosquito bites that turned in to cellulitis in both her lower legs, and we've just been busy. Things are getting back to normal now.

We did receive our I 171 H on September 19, 2007. AWAA of NC's site visit was on September 25, so I did not get a chance to work on anything until October. On Friday, I scanned in all of our dossier documents (a total of 29 documents, 79 pages all together), obtained four money orders (two for the US Department of State and two for the Ethiopian Embassy), and overnighted everything to our agency. Yesterday, we received the response below:

I am sending your dossier by FedEx overnight this evening to the courier in Washington, DC. He will hand carry your dossier for final authentication at the Department of State and Ethiopia Embassy. Your dossier will then be sent to Ethiopia to Gladney’s in-country representatives. They will take your dossier to be translated into Amharic and to be authenticated in Ethiopia. They will then hold your dossier ready to be submitted to the courts once you have received and accepted a referral.

You are now officially placed on waitlist to receive a referral! Currently, families have waited up to three to five months to receive a referral. Please keep in mind that this timeline is subject to change at any time. Congratulations on making it through the tedious dossier process!

I will be in touch with you as soon as a referral is ready for you. I ask for your patience during this time and completely understand that “waiting” is probably the most difficult (yet exciting!) part for most parents.

So, now the real wait does begin. I will try to be better about keeping this blog up-to-date.

Update on Our Wait for USCIS Approval

We received an update from our agency about the status of our I 171 H approval from USCIS. Below is the message that we received from our agency.

"She (USCIS) reported that she is processing applications filed May 9-11, 2007. She reported that your I-600A was filed 5-11-07, so she said that you should be hearing from CIS within the next week or so."

I'm very excited with this news!

Four Months of Waiting and Preschool Begins

Today marked four months since we submitted our I 600 A to USCIS (Immigrations). We had our fingerprints done at the end of July and our home study arrived at USCIS at the beginning of August. After four long months, we still haven't received our I 171 H. This is the only piece of paper that is keeping us from finishing up our dossier and getting our paperwork off to Ethiopia. I can't say that Sean and I are patient, as much as, we've just given up being excited each day as we check the mail thinking that it has arrived. Our 6 year wedding anniversary is Saturday--so we're hoping that maybe we will receive an anniversary gift from USCIS on Saturday. We'll update everyone when and if it arrives.

On another sad note (at least for this Mama), Ciara started Preschool today. She's in Mrs. Angela's 3 year old class and seems to really like her teacher. She was exhausted after I picked her up and took a 3+ hour nap. The picture included is of Ciara getting ready to go to preschool today.

Trainings Completed!

Good news to report! While we still don't have our I 171 H from USCIS, we did finish up our training hours that are required for this adoption this evening. We so far have accumulated a little over 14 hours of training (10 were required), but we do plan on continuing our education as we wait for our little one.

On another note, Ciara sat down on the bed beside me this morning and asked me, "Can we go get my baby sister." Oh, how I wish it were that simple. I explained to her that one day we will receive a call and will find out if it will be a baby brother or a baby sister. She interrupted me with a squeal of excitement (I guess we will be printing out her own set of those pictures when we receive them. I can't imagine all the people in Wal-Mart and other stores that she will tell the good news to and all the questions that will lead to.) I then explained that some people would have to finish up some really important paperwork and then Mommy and Daddy would fly to Ethiopia to get baby brother or sister. All the while, I was thinking that I was going to completely confuse my child's thinking about how children come into this world, that adoption is just paperwork, etc. but I didn't really know how else to explain it. I know that a three year old can't comprehend all of this, but I really wished that her Daddy hadn't already left for work this morning and could have answered this question.

We had our picture taken for the new church directory tonight. Both of us can't wait to have to get our family portrait redone and were busy calculating just when that might be. It will be so exciting to be a family of four and then who knows what! Sean keeps on talking about starting our second phase of parenting when we are in our 50s. On that note, I'll close for tonight. I need to go hit the bike if I'm going to be able to still run around and chase little ones in my 50s.

Just Waiting

I know it has been awhile since we have posted. We are simply just waiting. We are almost done compiling all of the documents for our dossier. Our home study, the agency's license and a few other documents are now finished being authenticated by the Texas Secretary of State. We are still waiting on our I 171 H from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Once we receive that, we will take it, our certified copies of originals of our passports, our limited power of attorney, and our last reference to be authenticated by the NC Secretary of State. After that, we have to scan all of the authenticated documents (and make a copy for us) and send everything to Gladney. Then, our dossier will be sent to the US State Department for authentication before finally being sent to Ethiopia. Our wait for a referral officially begins when we receive our Gladney approval (we've already received this), our USCIS approval (the I 171 H) and have submitted our dossier to Gladney.

Sean and I taught two Transracial Parenting classes this past weekend for the NC Division of Social Services Post Adoption Conference in Greensboro, NC. While there, we ran into a family that I had worked with while I was the Director of New Life Christian Adoptions. I got to see there children (one of whom was adopted through New Life). He had just turned a year old in July and is as cute as a button. He let me hold him and gave the best hugs. I was doing pretty good with this waiting until then--holding a little one again felt so good. Ciara is going through her independent phase now, so cuddle time is usually only allowed by her at bedtime and in the morning or if she gets hurt.