The Road Ahead...

Our wonderful social worker came for another Home Study meeting yesterday!  She will be coming back on Sunday and then we are DONE WITH OUR HOME STUDY!!!  (well, other than waiting for the background checks to be cleared---no skeletons in any closets here so we should be clear!).

Here is a little update on how things are panning out and what is to come from here:

1. Wait for background checks to get cleared and finish our 20 hours of training (about one month)... during this wait we will get our garage cleaned out so we can have our garage sale!!

2. As soon as the background checks are done the home study will be officially completed and we can send it off to the US Government (USCIS--United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) with our I-600A form (basically a form that says we are cleared to bring an orphan to the US and have them legally join our family). 

3. Wait for I-600 to get passed (usually takes around 8 weeks) and apply for grants.

4. Send our dossier (complete pack of paperwork for our adoption) to AWAA for approval, then it will be translated and send to ETHIOPIA--(that date is commonly known as your DTE--Dossier to Ethiopia)!!  $7,700 is required when we send our dossier off--watch our fundraising thermometer and funds tracker to see how God is working in this process!

5. Officially on the wait list for our baby girl or sibling group! (will know a better time frame when we reach this point but as of now they are expecting  a 7-11 month wait time for a referral)

6. Receive/accept a referral and wait for a court date.  Pay referral and travel fees (approximately $17,000)

7. Trip 1: travel to Ethiopia to meet child(ren) and appear in court

8. Return home and wait for everything to process (I imagine this will be the hardest part of this entire journey!!)

9. Trip 2: travel back to Ethiopia to complete paperwork and bring our child(ren) HOME!!!

Just a little insight for those of you who are following our story and don't know exactly how the adoption process works.  I'm asked almost daily how old our little girl is and what her name is.  People (including me just a few short months ago!!) don't know how much time and energy goes into adopting a child.  It's sad that this much wait time is involved when there are MILLIONS of children waiting, wishing, and hoping.  We just lay this all before the Lord, ask for His guidance, and wait patiently....
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the LordIf you'd like to read about the Ethiopian program through America World Adoption, click here:

Love from our family to yours!