Letters from the Department of Homeland Security

One of the big, final, important steps in the paperwork processing arrived today from the Department of Homeland Security -- our U.S.C.I.S fingerprinting appointment letters! Yay! Eric is scheduled for Friday, June 4th and I am scheduled for Monday, June 7th. I am not sure why they don't schedule you at the same time, but I know of a lot of others that this has happened to and they just showed up together and usually the fingerprinting people are nice enough to go ahead & fingerprint both spouses at the same time. So, hopefully, shortly after June 4th, our "Advanced Petition for Orphan Processing - I 600A" will be in the system.

With the change in Ethiopian laws now requiring an additional trip for both parents to be present at the court date, our agency has notified us that they will no longer submit requests to the courts for court dates until all USCIS paperwork is complete. This has proven in the past to be a lengthy process so we're happy that it is underway. We hate for anything to delay our trips that will bring us closer to bringing our new little one home!

Another bit of paperwork news....
Eric changed jobs today. He is still doing the same work, just for a different company. While this change won't affect our ability to adopt, it will apparently require additional paperwork in the way of a Home Study Update. I am hopeful that this will only require a letter or two from his new employer verifying salary & benefits & such, and an additional fee to our home study agency to pay for the additional report, but time will tell.

Because Eric is just starting a new job and doesn't want to take a whole lot of extra time off since we already have 2 vacations scheduled and have already warned his employer of 2 trips to Ethiopia that will also be popping up at some point, we are pretty sure that we will be attempting to squeeze in a trip to the health department the day of our fingerprinting appointment to get the vaccinations for our trips while he's off. Weee! Shots, shots, and more shots. That will be fun.....and expensive. Yellow Fever, Meningitis, Polio booster, Tetanus booster, and Typhoid -- will probably make for a very sore arm. Guess I won't be going to the gym for a few days after all those! At least I'll have a good excuse! ;-)

Officially Waiting (impatiently)!

I spoke with someone from our agency today and discovered that we are now #21 on the wait list for referral. When they received our dossier on Monday, they estimated that we were #28 or 29 so we've already moved up several spots in just a few days. Several people in the Holt Ethiopia Yahoo group got exciting news today -- referrals, travel dates, etc. I get so excited for all of them that I can barely contain myself. I can't believe that things are progressing so quickly for us. I don't know what I'm going to be like when we are the ones waiting for court, traveling, and preparing to bring our new little one home!!! "Maniac" might be a fitting description! Thankfully, Daniel shares my enthusiasm. :-)

Good news!

I received notification today that our dossier was complete and correct. It was sent to be authenticated by the US State Department and then it will be on it's way to the Embassy of Ethiopia. Yay!!

Also checked the bank account and saw that the Dept. of Homeland Security finally cashed our check to apply for the child's immigration with USCIS. Hopefully we'll get our fingerprint appt. soon.

Things are moving right along. Actually, now it is finally sinking in that this is really happening. Now I feel nervous. :-) Happy & excited, but nervous, too. Still relieved to be mostly done with all the paperwork though!

Missed it by *THAT* much

Well, it's official. We'll be making two trips to Ethiopia. The deadline was May 8th. In order to have fallen under the old law which only required one trip, our dossier would have needed to have been in Ethiopia, translated, and submitted to the Ethiopian courts by that date AND we would have needed to have had a referral for a specific child. Instead, our dossier arrived to Holt's offices in Oregon today. Oh well. We gave it our best shot and we trust that God is in control of this process.

The ET coordinator at Holt estimated that we are # 28 on the waiting list, but that was just a rough guess since she only just received our dossier today. Regardless, it's exciting to know that someday in the future --maybe in a few days, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in a few months -- we will be getting a call to tell us that we've been matched with a sweet child in need of a home.

One benefit of the two trip rule is that when that call comes, we will get to see our child sooner than if we weren't required to be at the court date. That will be a blessing even if it will also be heartbreaking to have to leave them in Ethiopia when we return home to wait a little longer afterwards while the US Embassy in ET does its' paperwork.

And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Blessed Indeed!!!!

It arrived! It finally arrived! I've never been so happy to receive a bill for $3000! Our dossier invoice arrived today along with our home study approval letter. As soon as Daniel gets on the bus, I am headed to FedEx to overnight our dossier to Holt. Months of paperwork completed and ready to leave my possession. Shooo! Couldn't have come soon enough! Early next week, we should be officially on the wait list for a referral.

Blessed!

We're still waiting for our dossier invoice so that we can send our dossier to Holt. It's been 4 days since they received our notarized home study. It feels like it's been a month. Waiting stinks - especially for a control freak like me! During this waiting time though, I have noticed a few things. First, my prayer time has increased. Second, I've been thinking about things a lot. Adoption does that I guess. Forces us to rely on God and forces us to consider many things.

Lately I've been thinking about our blessings. Each time I read another news article about Ethiopia or get an update from Holt or read emails from other Holt families about the updates they receive, I'm reminded of how blessed we are and how much we take for granted.

They are doing road construction around the capital of Addis Ababa right now. As a result, the limited electricity that they have is being diverted for use for the construction and, therefore, communication with the capital has been difficult or impossible this week. I am irritated when road construction causes a 5 minute delay in my trip somewhere. Can you imagine losing all electricity for construction?

I was looking over the list from Holt regarding needed donations at the care centers in Ethiopia. Mosquito nets, anti-fungal cream, diaper wipes. Things that we either don't need or things that are so readily available that I can run to the nearest dollar store and buy a case if need be.

Toilet paper, clean running water, antibiotics, electricity, internet, email, cell phones, Diet Coke, Power Bars, Dairy Queen, beds, air conditioning, transportation, silly gummy bracelets in a variety of shapes for my kids to trade with their friends, ice hockey, schools, pharmacies, hospitals, TVs, phones, mail delivery, grocery stores, libraries, the zoo, food, shelter, healthy family members. How blessed I am!!

My devotion for this morning was on this very subject. The author wrote:

If we take it all for granted, if we think life just shows up with this stuff already in place, if we trick ourselves into believing that everyday household items come from the grocery store rather than from a gracious God, we walk right past countless reasons for worship without even knowing it.

Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17

We are blessed to be a blessing! And, we are SO VERY blessed!!!

So, although I hate this waiting, I am blessed even in the waiting as I learn to trust in Him and as I am reminded of all that I have to be thankful for. My devotional questions for further thought asked,

• What are ten things that I have taken for granted recently?
• Have I allowed myself to have an "entitlement" mentality?
• What does God really owe me?

Good questions to think about. He owes us nothing, but he chooses to give us a lot. What will we do with all that we've been given?

Road Trip!!

I left home around 8:15 this morning and went to the Stumpfs' house to pick up Julie. She graciously offered to be my companion on the journey today. (we joked that we were Thelma & Louise) Then, with the guidance of Google Maps and Garmin, my GPS, we set out for Greensburg to pick up the signed, notarized copies of our home study and the notarized copies of our home study agencies' license.

Once we had the home studies in hand, we got back on the turnpike & started driving East to Harrisburg. At least, I think it was East...yes....definitely East! :-) (It's a good thing we had the GPS!) After a few hours and a few bathroom breaks - plus a REALLY, REALLY good cinnamon roll from Cinnabon - we reached the state capital. It was actually quite pretty despite the construction.




Unlike our male counterparts, we had no trouble asking the security guy at the door for directions to the appropriate building and found our destination fairly quickly. Within about 10 minutes, I had the all-important, state-certified documents in hand and we were on our way to find a restaurant for lunch (which proved to be the most difficult part of the whole trip! Don't people in Harrisburg eat?!)

Anyway, all went well. I was grateful for a friend to chat with along the way, the beautiful weather (until we reached Pittsburgh anyway - what's with that?!), and the ease of this final paperwork step. Next stop, FedEx!!