Referral:)

After 8 long months we have received our referral!!! I can not disclose to much information until he is legally ours but I can tell you he is 10 months old and absolutely beautiful! God has chosen the perfect little boy for us!

Friday, January 22, 2010 at 10:40am I received the call! I was playing in the playroom with Carter waiting for Madison to get off the pre-k bus when the phone rang! It came up on the caller id as unknown caller so I wasn't going to answer, thinking it was a telemarketer but I answered! It was Patricia, our case worker at CWA. I was so excited that I started pacing the floor! She directed me to the computer so I went running upstairs, woke Steve up (he was sleeping because he had to work nights), and had to wait for the computer because we hadn't yet turned it on for the day. She told me all about him and he sounded just perfect so she emailed me the pictures. When I saw his beautiful face for the first time I was filled with emotion! I was looking at the little boy that God had chosen to be our son! I wasn't even listening to anything the case worker was saying, I was lost in his picture! Steve and I had tears of joy and quickly accepted our referral.

One week later his second medical was complete, we met with our pediatrician and gave the "ok" to send his documents to court. Now we are waiting for our court date. I pray that everything moves quickly and that we have a successful court hearing. Until we bring him home to his forever family we pray that God will be with him.

pictures

Kayla, Madison and friends Danielle and Delaney in Sackets Harbor. We went to the battle field for a picnic. Beautiful day!

Madison looks soooo cute in her ballet costume for her dance recital

Madison graduates from Teddy Bear corner preschool

Carter wearing daddy's trooper hat

Madison and Kayla

Been a While

Sorry I haven't written in a while. We're so busy with the kids and it's impossible for me to get on the computer when Carter is awake. This month is crazy! We had Madison's moving up day at Teddy Bear Corner preschool and her dance recital, which was absolutely adorable! Kayla had her recorder recital and all the end of the year stuff. We had my god daughter Olivia's 1st birthday party, our anniversary, two weddings, a wedding shower, and a trip up to camp in Old Forge and an Old McDonald's Farm trip planned with the playgroup. I don't think we can fit much more into this month! On top of it all Carter's molar is coming in and he has an ear infection so he's been up all night and miserable. My poor baby:(

Our dossier is in Ethiopia and being translated. We're just waiting for our referral. Our case worker said they have a lot of cases to be seen in court in the next couple months before the courts recess in August and September. Once those children go home to their forever families it will make room in the orphanage for more children. We're praying for a referral soon.

Waiting

Sorry I haven't had a minute to write! We are so busy! Nothing to exciting happening with the adoption right now. My FBI fingerprints were rejected for a second time so I have to get another police clearance from our local police department and sign a sworn statement at the USCIS office. My sweaty hands! AHH! Anyway, our dossier was authenticated in Washington, DC and will arrive at CWA on Monday. Hopefully they will get it sent that day to Ethiopia.
I met Christa and Benji's new son Lucas Digafu. He is so beautiful and sweet! I brought him a little people house and family to play with. Thought it was appropriate. He seemed to like it. I am so happy for them! Seeing them made me even more excited to receive my new son. Hopefully our boys can play together someday.
Tonight I had a knock at my door. It was an African American college student selling children's books. I explained that we can't afford to buy any at this time because we are adopting. He asked where we are adopting from and I told him Ethiopia and he said, "really that's where I'm from, Addis Ababa." He moved to the U.S. with his mom when he was two after his father had died. He said he has a large family there and visited when he was ten. He plans on returning after he finishes college. He told me how much he loves America and the better life he and his mother have found here. WOW! Now that was God sending this boy to my door! Lately I have been up at night and so stressed out about the cost of the adoption. I hate to even think about the money! We feel called to adopt and to give a child a loving family. You can't put a price on that. I know I have to continue praying and trusting that God will provide. Talking with this Ethiopian boy on my doorstep tonight just confirmed to me that what we are doing is right.

Authentication

We went to have our Power of Attorney and Cover Letter notarized and certified at the county clerks office today. I then sent them out overnight by Fed-Ex to the Secretary of State office in Albany for authentication. Hopefully I will get them back by the end of the week. I spoke with Michael Arrowood our case worker at Christian World Adoption today and asked about how long it would take to receive a referral. He said the wait right now for a little boy is about three months from the time your dossier is sent to Ethiopia. That takes us into August. The courts in Ethiopia recess for the months of August and September. It coinsides with there rainy season. So....we probably won't get a court date until October or November. Travel is usually 5-6 weeks after you pass court. Unless a miracle happens and we receive a referral as soon as we go on the waiting list then we would hopefully get a court date before the courts recess. I know that would make this whole adoption quite fast since we just started the process in February! Well, if you know me I'm not very patient when it comes to waiting! I like things done yesterday! A miracle would be great!!

Our Beautiful Children!!

Just wanted to post a picture of our three beautiful children for all to see! Kayla is 8 years old and in third grade. Kayla enjoys drawing, painting, 4H, and soccer. She is sweet, loving, nurturing, and has a great sense of humor. Madison is 3 years old and attends preschool twice a week. Madison loves dance, playing games, story hour at the local library, and reading. She is silly, sweet, energetic, and loving. Carter is 10 months old and is a very active and curious little boy. He is so sweet and loves to cuddle with his mommy. They are excited about getting a new little brother!
Our dossier and final payment is on it's way to CWA for approval! Once we get the "OK" (please God let it be perfect!) it's off to the Secretary of State office in Albany for authentication then onto Washington D.C. for authentication. Then......TO Ethiopia!!

Moving forward

Our home study is complete! YAY! It will now be sent to CIS and CWA for approval. Once approved we will send our completed dossier on to Washington D.C. for authentication. Then on to Ethiopia!!! I am so excited to get it out of my hands! It has taken me countless days to put this dossier together! I will be so relieved once it is on it's way to Ethiopia. At that point it is completely out of my control and we just wait for it to be translated and then to be given our court date!! Most of the time you don't pass court the first time and will be given another court date within a couple weeks. We're still looking forward to the day when we receive a referral of a beautiful little boy waiting to come home to his forever family! I just received an email a couple of days ago from a friend who is also adopting from Ethiopia and they just passed court last Thursday (but didn't find out until Monday) and will be on their way to get their son on Wednesday! WOW! I am overjoyed for them! I couldn't even sleep that night I was just so excited for them and of course fantasizing about the day we get the news that we passed court and the beautiful little boy, whoever he may be is officially ours! It only took them about 8 months. I can only hope and pray that ours goes as quick! Please pray that things move quickly and smoothly and none of our paperwork is wrong or gets lost!
I remember reading on Christa's blog that it's so frustrating waiting on all this paperwork to be sent here and there and thinking "doesn't anyone realize that we have a beautiful little boy just sitting in Ethiopia waiting for all this paperwork to be finished??" That's exactly how I'm feeling! It's amazing to me that there is so much "paperwork" and they make it so expensive and difficult to adopt when the statistics show that there are over 50 million orphan children worldwide. Please pray for all orphaned children and for more people to open their hearts and consider adopting one of Gods children.