September News

Summer has come and gone… and we have been busy with our adoption. The amount of paperwork required to adopt can be mind boggling, but we are excited, because we have made a lot of progress in the last few months. Here’s a little peak of what we have been up to:

·         We completed seven online education classes and one online work book of parent education.

·         We had physicals and the doctor signed off that we were free of TB and mentally stable (in case you were worried).

·         We have had background checks completed at the local, state and national level.

·         We have had original copies of all our important documents ordered so we can send them to Ethiopia; birth certificates, marriage license, ect.

·         We completed our home study!! This is an exciting one to mark off the list. The home study itself includes copies of birth certificates, financial papers, letters of recommendations and home visits and interviews with our home study assessor.

Where do we go from here? We are now waiting for our adoption agency to officially accept our home study as is or make suggestions for needed changes. Once our home study has been accepted, we can put the finishing touches on our dossier (The dossier is the packet of paper work that goes to Ethiopia.) and begin waiting.

The paper work stage that we are in now is the only part of the adoption that we have any ‘control’ of. Once our dossier is submitted to Ethiopia, everything is out of our hands. We will be waiting for the US government, the Ethiopian government and the adoption ‘system’ in country. But ultimately we will be waiting for the Lord’s timing. Please pray that the rest of our paper work chase will continue to go well, but even now please pray that we would be patient as we wait upon the Lord. Romans 12:12 reminds us we are to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Waiting can be the hardest part for adoptive parents. But it is the hardest for the children who are waiting for families. Please pray for the orphans in Ethiopia as they too wait.