Back from D.C.

We're baaaack! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Somehow in the midst of our busy trip we missed the conference call :o( Luckily one of the other wonderful adopting families took notes! Per the agency, the wait for a boy is 8-10 months right now. They aren't sure if that wait is going to get longer or shorter. There are a lot of things changing around in Ethiopia right now (in our agency and with the government) so we'll just have to see how it all plays out.

Of the families that we know about on the unofficial Ethiopian board for our agency, we are approx. 74nd on the list. There are a number of families that aren't registered with the unofficial board, so there's no way to know for sure where we are in line. But I am assuming between 90-100. So, if our agency is able to keep averaging 10 referrals a month...then their time line looks to be about correct.

Based on everything we're hearing, we think it is very possible that we won't have a referral until close to the end of next year. That means we wouldn't be home with our little bundle until late Winter/early Spring of 2010. This seems like a LONG way away, but we can't even start preparing for our little one until after April 15th, so it gives us plenty of time to get the new nursery ready...and to save more! Woohoo!

Oh, and our dossier was picked up by an angency representative in Ethiopia on 12/24! It made it there safe, YAY!

Merry Christmas! Melkin Yelidet Beaal!

Well, Maddie and I will be leaving for Busia's house on Sunday, so I thought I would go ahead and wish our 1 or 2 loyal followers a Very Merry Christmas! I will make sure I post updates from the conference call (it's 12/22) either from D.C. or when we get back.

Also, our Dossier arrived in Addis today! It hasn't made it to our Agency's hands just yet, but it's at least in the right country and city now!

Where in the world is...Our Dossier?!

I have been so busy at work I haven't been able to scrutinize the journey of our dossier...which is a good thing! However, it did leave for Paris this morning and spent a few hours (I JUST checked)! I won't tell Ben as he has an unhealthy opinion of the French. I see it a lot in Army brats, so I'll blame it on that ;o) It is funny to me that our dossier has traveled more than I have in my entire life, all in one day!

We have a conference call next Monday with our agency, so I might have some information then. Nothing specific to us, but it's a time when they answer any questions that we have about the program and the current wait times, etc. A lot of people say that 5-7 months is optimistic, and 7-9 or 9-12 months may be a better guess. The truth is, no one knows. We'll know how long the wait will be when we receive our call saying they have our child!

Our agency has a number of families leaving over the next few weeks to go pick up their children, so keep them all in your prayers! What a wonderful Christmas present!

WE ARE DTE!!!!

Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! - Psalm 66:1-2

I JUST received this email:

Ethiopia Waiting Families,
Your Dossier was sent to Ethiopia via FedEx yesterday afternoon! If you would like to track your dossier’s trip to Ethiopia, the package’s tracking number is 791988549858. Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work!

As you track your dossier, please keep a couple of things in mind. First of all, do not be worried if the package makes stops in European or other countries for long periods of time. This is normal, and I've seen this happen often. Also, when the FedEx office in Ethiopia receives packages for our in-country staff representative, they call her to pick up the package rather than deliver it to her office. Often times the FedEx report will say “wrong address”, we are not sure why this happens, because the package has yet to be shipped to a wrong address when it says this, so please do not be alarmed by this, it is something that we have spoken to FedEx about multiple times. Because the FedEx office is not in close proximity to our staff member's office, it often takes her a few days to pick up the package. If you see notes that the package has arrived in Ethiopia but not been picked up, this is why.

Let the waiting begin! If you go to older posts you can see that our wait to referral is currently around 9 months. I will make sure I update as that timeline changes!

Good news, Bad news, Good news...

The good news (other than hopefully being done with the paper work) is that we've already paid about 47% of our estimated adoption fees!! Praise the Lord!

The bad news, we nearly exhausted our cash savings in the process!

The good news again, we have 9+ months to save up the last 53% (which is also kind-of bad news because that means it's 9+ months until our newest family member comes home, but we need to look on the bright side here)! I don't know about any of you, but we will gladly take on 9+ more months of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner if it means bringing home our baby!

Dossier update...

I heard from our agency today and we are set to be DTE this Friday (12/12). Our paperwork has been reviewed and approved and the agency feels confident that there shouldn't be any problems with the authentication w/ the US State Department and the Ethiopian Embassy. Please pray that everyone who currently has their dossiers in DC will go through authentication without any problems! I know there are a bunch of us!

Still waiting and Agency update

Well, we should have been DTE last Friday, but that wasn't in the cards. I don't know much more right now other than we're not DTE yet and we might be this Friday. Just waiting to hear something.

However, there was an update on our Agency's blog about November referrals, so thought I would share. The wait time for both an infant boy or girl is currently 9+ months. With luck this number will decrease as the referrals get caught up after the court closure, but there's no way to know. The wait could always get longer. Either way, we're in for a long wait! Luckily Busy Season will get me through the first part of the wait!

It's almost official!

We made the final decision to start the adoption process May 21, 2008. A little over 6 months later, here we are, almost done with the majority of the work...not necessarily the hardest part, though. I have a feeling that will be the waiting!...Waiting for the referral, waiting to pass court and waiting to travel!

We sent our dossier to AWAA November 21st and it is expected to be DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) this Friday, December 5th! We are praying that nothing goes wrong with the authentication and everything runs smoothly. Then we can officially begin tackling the wait!

I will be updating the blog at least monthly with any information I receive. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of information that waiting families have until they receive their referral. But I will still do my best to update here so that everyone can check on the status! Our current wait time to referral is 7-9 months. That changes monthly, so I will make sure I post the updated expected wait when I know it.

For those who don't know the details, we are requesting a child of either gender (which generally means boy) between the ages of 0-12 months. Our home study approves us for a child up to the age of 18 months.

That's all for now! Hopefully I can post again soon with some good news!!!