A lot has transpired since my last post. Ryan and I spent many nights talking and praying about whether the Lord wanted us to continue with our pursuit of the adoption. It was scary or me to consider becoming a mom of 4! I wondered if we had everything we need for the job. The answer came to me very clearly... No! We don't have everything, but the Lord does and He is a generous provider!
So, with confidence in Him and Him alone, we are joyfully moving forward! The first thing we did was to have a 2 hour (!) phone conference with our agency to reengage ourselves in the process. Since then we have been very busy. We had to start over with our dossier because the old one expires in December. But, you know, since this is our THIRD time doing it, I'm a pro!! I have collected almost all the documents in a few weeks! We have had our home study update completed as well. So the last big milestone is the I17H (US Government approval to immigrate an orphan). Once that is complete, we are eligible to recieve a referral!!!
Have I mentioned that we are top on our lists? So when all the paperwork is complete, we will be the next family to get a referral! We are hoping to adopt a girl who is as young as possible. The thought is to maintain birth order, and Anna is only 6 months old.
The rough time line is:
- End of November: Finish our paperwork, including our I171H
- In God's Timing: Get a referral (there is no way to predict when one will come in...)
- 2 Months after we get our referral: Travel to Ethiopia to meet our baby and have a court hearing where we get the Ethiopian government approval.
- 3 Month after the first trip: Travel to Ethiopia to bring our baby home!
Total Estimated Time Until She's Home: 8 to 12 months (or again, in God's perfect time)
If anything was every worth the wait, it's HER!!
