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Life has been a little crazy so this post is very late. We got the letter on the 4th of April which was 8 weeks after mailing in the application. We were thrilled. The thing is, we didn't think we wouldn't get approval cause it's pretty for sure but it was just having to wait for 8 weeks that was tough.
Now what? - you might ask
We mailed our dossier to the Secretary of States office in Denver. They are putting a state seal on everything and will be mailing it back. They say it's about a 72 hour turn over so we're expecting it in the mail any day.
Once we get it back we'll make 4 copies of everything then we'll mail it onto our agency. They will add our home study report and mail if off to Ethiopia. This is the most exciting thing thus far! Then we wait.
So, very soon we'll be done with all we can do. Praise the Lord.
"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid God might ask me the same questions". ~Anonymous
We are still waiting on the approval from USCIS. Bonnie mailed in our application a lot later then we thought she would so we're right at 4 weeks. They say it's typically 6 to 8 weeks so we continue to wait.
We have almost everything done for our dossier. I am trying to get a letter from our family doctor stating that Dave and I are healthy but they're dragging their feet. I'm also working on taking pictures of our house and "family life." Once we get it all together we have to go get everything noterized and state sealed.
We're so close. I am getting so excited to think that we will be in the next and last stage of all this. One day we'll get the call, "We have a baby for you!" YEA!
No, we're not planning the trip yet. Bummer, huh? We've been thinking and talking a lot about when it's time to go. We always just planned on leaving the boys here with someone and just Dave and I would go. But we've come to realize that it could be very tough on the boys, especially Liam who's old enough to get it, to be away from us for 2 weeks.
When we went to Seattle for 2.5 weeks Liam said numerous times that he wanted to go home and that he missed his home and his dog. I just wonder how much he'll miss us?
For a time we discussed Dave staying with the boys and me going to Ethiopia with a friend. This makes my heart sink. I can't imagine the moments I wouldn't get to share with my husband! AHH! This might end up being a reality though so I have to prepare my heart.
However, we talked today about how even though there may be days when Liam cries himself to sleep at night cause he misses us, he most likely won't remember this, he WILL be safe and with people he loves and who love him. It might just be something he has to go through. On the other hand, this too breaks my heart. To think of my babies being without mommy and daddy for so long and REALLY missing us and not understanding time and when we'll be back. THEN, when we do come back, we bring with us a new baby.
We talk to Liam A LOT about Ethiopia and how some day his mom and dad will have go there to get his baby. He gets excited and wants to meet his new sibling. He loves talking about it and praying for the baby. We pray that all the talk will start to make sense for him and that when it's time for us to leave he is happy about it and excited that we're bringing our baby home to him.
We have some people to talk to about keeping the boys while we're gone. We won't make any for sure decisions about any of this until we hear some responses. Taking 2 kids for 2 weeks is a big under taking and a lot to ask of anyone.
So, we are finally officially DONE with our home study. We can now apply for grants which I started working on today.
We sent our US Citizen Immigration Services paperwork on and that typically take 8 weeks to come back with approval. While we wait on that we start working on the dossier which is a massive stack of papers we have to get signed and most of them need to be notarized and get a state seal. These 8 weeks will pass quickly and I want to have the dossier totally done.
If all goes well the dossier should be off to Ethiopia by March. Then we wait . . .and wait. . .and wait. Only God knows how long. One day we will get a call saying there is a baby waiting for us!
We have been visiting with a lot of friends and family since we have been here in Seattle and often the subject of our adoption comes up in conversation. I feel like I have told our story so many times. But it's great to have so many people interested in our adoption and ask us questions and genuinely want to know whats going on with this part of our life. It's interesting, because there are some standard questions that everyone asks: What made you decide to adopt, why international, why Ethiopia, how much will it cost, what is the time line. Sometimes people will ask more questions which is great, but those are the basics. What I find interesting is the order that people ask questions, and the ones that make people feel most awkward.
One of the questions that I think about a lot is "Why Ethiopia." Not because I question our decision, but because it just seems so natural to me now, that I can't imagine why it wouldn't be Ethiopia. That's where my baby is! We have known that Ethiopia would be where our baby would come from for so long that I think of them and pray for them as an Ethiopian baby. God has called us to adopt from that nation and so how can we not go and bring our baby home?
I know some people don't fully understand the answers to some of the questions they ask. That's ok. Kami and I are not ignorant to the many many struggles that lay ahead of us in this adoption process and then our life as family born on different continents. It's ok if life is hard sometimes. God doesn't always call us to do the easiest thing. He calls us to do what He needs us to do. God knew it wouldn't be easy for Moses (an interracialadoptee) to go to Pharaoh, and it wasn't easy for Paul to stand before Festus, but they where faithful and obeyed God and did the hard thing. I don't want to just live a safe easy life ignoring God's call. Our life might be hard, we may face struggles we haven't even thought of yet, but thats ok. Sometimes it's the hard times that draw us into the closness with God that we desire.
Why Ethiopia? Because there is a beautiful, wonderful, amazing child there, created by God and that He ordained to be our child from the foundations of the earth. We will be coming to get you soon baby!
Seattle is very diverse and we've found a few stores that sell a lot of stuff from all over, Peru, Nepal, Kenya etc. One shop only had a couple items from Ethiopia and they were quite expensive but beautiful. Here's a couple pictures I found that look similar to what we saw today.
Processional crosses, so named because they ware held above the heads of the crowds in church processions.
Hand cross- Every ethiopian priest holds a hand Cross that he's constantly carrying with him. He is putting the Cross on the forehead of the believers and they are kissing the Cross.
The two crosses we found were $150 and $225. One was a hand cross and the other was a processional cross. They were quite amazing. We found a few places online to buy these sorts of Ethiopian crosses that are not quite as expensive as this store was. We are excited to start getting some Ethiopian art and clothing.
A couple of weeks ago we announced in church that we are adopting. A family we didn't know too well approached us after the service and invited us over for dinner. Come to find out, Scott and his brothers with their parents spent a lot of years living in Ethiopia as missionaries. If I understood correctly I think 2 or 3 of their 5 boys were born in Ethiopia. The parents don't live their any longer. When we had dinner with Scott and Janet's family Scott's parents were also there and his brother who now lives in Germany. They made us wonderful Ethiopian food!! We didn't take pictures there but I found a some pictures on the internet that resemble what we ate.
The silverware we used was called Injera. I guess the kind we had was fairly Americanized because in Ethiopia they let it set out for days from what I understand. It just has a different look to it. But here's what ours kinda looked like: A recipe I found online: Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups lukewarm water 2 tsp active dry yeast 1/4 tsp baking powder salt to taste 2 Tbsp canola oil
They made Dora Wat. In this picture it was more like the back portion rather the the front with peas. Here is a recipe I found online:
Ingredients
2-3 lbs. chicken 9 oz. tomato paste 3 sticks of butter 10 hard-boiled eggs 3 lbs. onions, finely chopped 2 large garlic cloves, minced 1 tsp. of ground black pepper 3 heaping tbsp. of berbere
It was a very unique dish but tasted amazing.
Another dish they made was Cabbage and Potato Aliche
Ingredients 1/2 medium cabbage, coarsely chopped 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 1 medium yellow onion, diced 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp five spice powder (OR, 1/4 tsp nutmeg) salt to taste 2 Tbsp canola oil
We got to ask them a lot of questions we had and it was so exciting to hear about Ethiopia and their culture. We learned that the kids are named very meaninful names. The name might have something to do with where they were born, what was going on when they were born, the season they were born in etc. We also found out that most of the boys have their heads shaved except a little tuff of hair in the front. This is for their guardian angel to snatch them up if they are in trouble or harm. Interesting! They shared a slideshow of pictures with us that was very moving. The country is beautiful and the children adorable. Some of the pictures of the country looked a bit like the monument except green. Anyway, it was a wonerful evening. We're even more excited then before.
Joy to the world Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing
Now Jonnie never got his wish on December 25 That's what he said when he left the orphanage 9 years old, but Jonnie was an old soul Gonna spend his first Christmas in a real home Showed me a picture that he drew the night before Was a picture of a man standin' outside a door I asked him who it was and he said someone I only see in dreams Comforts me when I cry myself to sleep Father of the fatherless Be with your sons and daughters this Christmas This Christmas Believe in angels? Jonnie asked me starin' at the sky I said I do and saw a sparkle in his eye Big brother for the weekend respondin' to the season Took the chance that givin's better than recievin' Two nights, a new family, some holiday cheer We laughed and sang Came on a midnight clear We gave, recieved, and as we headed to close We looked to the heavens and it started to snow Down blessings Father of the fatherless Be with your sons and daughters this Christmas (You ain't livin' til you choose to give love and joy and peace to one of His) Father let us not forget The children who are all alone this Christmas (You ain't livin' til you choose to give, you ain't livin' til You choose to give) (James 1:27) Religion that God our Father Accepts as pure and faultless is this To look after orphans and widows in their distress Merry Christmas everyone Joy to the world The Lord is come Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing Believe in angels Jonnie asked me starin' at the sky I said I do and saw a sparkle in his eye 9 years old, but Jonnie was an old soul Gonna spend is next Christmas in a real home
So our home study is done. . .except . . . we have to read a book and write a little paper on it. I ordered it online because the local libraries didn't have it. So, we're waiting for it to arrive and then we'll try to sail through it and hopefully get it done before the end of the month. Then we have a couple months of waiting on the USCIS stuff before the dossier (tons of paperwork) is sent to Ethiopia. We're getting so close to being done. Phew!
We met with our social worker last Wed. to proof read the home study. It was ALL about us. We had to make any corrections needed. The only other piece she needed was Dave's physical report. When we went in for our physicals a while back he forgot to go back in 48 hours later to have his BP test checked. He just kept forgetting but finally got it all done last week. Once she gets that she can send the HS to the state for approval.
Now there are other pieces we need for Bethany Christian Services to be able to send the HS onto US Citizen Imigration Services. So, we are cramming on our training which is the last step. Once it's off to USCIS it could take them 2 months to approve it. While we wait we will work on our dossier documents which will be sent to Ethiopia after USCIS approves us. We're getting there. . . YEAH!
We're home from two 8 hour days of adoption training. We were nervous about it cause he had to take Gabriel with us. He's fairly high maintenance compared to Liam at this age. He doesn't always nap well in other places. SO, we just didn't know how the weekend would go. Gabriel did fabulously well!! He napped in his pak'n'play in a little office during our training and never even cried before falling asleep. All the other couples loved him. He was a very good boy. We went back to the hotel and got A LOT of rest. We were all asleep by 9:45. I know, we are old fogies now. LOL We had a long week this past week with house sitting for some people and taking care of their three teenagers and 6 year old. We NEEDED the sleep.
The training was great. A lot of it wasn't very applicable to us as it was about domestic adoption and about getting a baby at birth. Things are very different when it's a domestic adoption vs. adoption international like us.
One big difference is whether or not you can meet the birth mom. With domestic you get to choose if you want it an "open adoption", "semi-open adoption" or "closed adoption". These terms refer to the level of involvement the birth mother will have in the life of the child. We learned that in a lot of ways it's a GOOD thing to allow some involvement. This minimizes your child growing up with hard questions and someday going to search for their birth mother. I think most of the other couples in this training came thinking they would want it as closed as possible but they left today feeling like openess is the best choice.
After this training I realized that it will be difficult that we may not know anything about our baby's birth parents. We may never know what they looked like, health history, their story. We may have no answers to the questions our little one might have. I know the Lord will work through those things and offer healing to our baby in other ways. He is good! He is in control!
We are SOOOO close to being able to finish our home study. We need to finish our online training (we should get it done this week), Dave needs to get back to the doctor for his BP test so his physical can be complete, we need to meet with our social worker one more time, and we need to read a book and write a short paper on it.
