one step down...two to go

Yeah!! Our dossier was approved this time and I just sent it to the state department for authentication. We should receive it back by Saturday or Monday and then we will send it to Washington, DC. We will pay a courier to take it first to the state department and then to the Ethiopian Embassy. Then it will go back to CWA and they will send it to their people in Ethiopia. I have never been so concerned about a document before. I feel like we have poured our hearts and souls into these papers and I want them protected. I really think the dossier may be to Ethiopia within two weeks. I'll keep you posted.....We keep wondering if she has been born yet. This is just such a walk in faith.

patience.....

I did send the first copies of our dossier to our agency a few weeks ago and guess what....we had done some things incorrectly and were missing one document that I thought the agency provided, but our home study provider got it for us. About the time that I found that out, the girls and I were getting ready to leave for New York with my mom for a few days. After you do so much work, it is heart breaking to find out you have to do some of it over, but I decided to just step away from it for a few days. Yesterday, I sent the new copies for approval so we are hoping that this time everything is done correctly. If so, then the next step is to have each document authenticated in Raleigh, then our dossier will go to Washington for approval and then finally to Ethiopia. We had hoped to have everything there by the first of April but now we will hope by the end of April. We did recently find out that now the wait for a girl referral is about 4 months...when we started the wait was about 6 months. Honestly, we just don't know when it will happen. Ethiopian courts also close in August and September. My concern is that we will get out referral and see her face and then it will be September and we'll just have to wait for courts to reopen to move forward. If that happens, we just have to trust that it's all part of the plan. We did have a wonderful time in NYC and the boys had fun at some of the NCAA games. Thank you to my mom for giving us a wonderful trip that we will never forget!! We hope to hear good news on Monday that all of our paperwork looks good....if not, just keep praying for our patience.

in the mail!

Today, I sent our dossier (the large amount of paperwork that eventually goes to the Ethiopian government) to Christian World for approval. Once they approve it, the package will be taken by courier to Washington and authenticated by our government. The next stop will be Ethiopia!! We are hoping that our complete dossier arrives in Ethiopia by the end of this month. And then the waiting will truly begin. Right now the average wait for a girl is six months, but we know that God doesn't follow schedules. We just hope that our paperwork is complete and that those papers and pictures will respresent who we are and how much we want to love the baby God has chosen for us. With all the paperwork, of course, we are also sending large amounts of money. It's amazing how we have such a peace about the large amounts of money that we are having to send. I guess when you know you are doing something you are suppose to do, you just don't question what it takes to get there. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts. We are still thinking about taking Macall with us and need to make a decision soon so she can start getting her shots. Let me encourage you to take a few minutes to look at the blog that I follow called "the journey". You will be completely inspired by this 20 year old beautiful girl who has devoted her life to orphans. It's amazing!!