Thursday, April 23, 2009

Dossier Accepted!


Our dossier, the information to be sent to Ethiopia, has been reviewed by our agency and approved. This means that as soon as we are able to pay our next set of fees, we are on the list to get a referral!! And it also means a big break from the paperwork.
What happens once we get on the list??
Children are referred to AGCI, our adoption agency, by the government orphanages based on need in Ethiopia. Once a family is able to complete their home study and international paperwork, they are able to get on the wait list to receive a referral of one of these children. As of now, there are 8 families waiting for an infant boy and 28 families waiting on an infant girl. The average wait time for a referral of an infant boy has been 1-3 months while the wait time for an infant girl is 8-9 months. So, it looks like we will be adopting a little boy, which we are very excited about.
The times can vary quickly based on the needs in Ethiopia so we are not counting on any timelines but it is looking like we may have a referral in the next three months and then will be waiting 4-5 months for a court date to be able to finalize the adoption in Ethiopia.
As of today, we have been given $3,500 toward the cost of the adoption with $12,500 to go. Thank you so much for your support!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Final Home Study Received!!

We got copies of our final home study in the mail today!!  All of our paperwork items have been checked off our list.  What a relief.....

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting......


We haven't posted for a couple weeks and unfortunately we don't have much to report.  We are still waiting for a final copy of our home study to send off with our immigration paperwork and our dossier.  Everything has been copied, signed, notarized, kissed and is just waiting this final piece.  We were promised a copy today but it is now almost three so it isn't looking good.  It has been nice to have a bit of a break from all of the business of the paperwork.  We have heard that adopting is made up of a lot of waiting so I guess we are just getting our first taste of it.

On a financial note, we have been given $1,225 toward our adoption.  Thank you so much for helping in this way!!