We are five, almost SIX ... the result of one dreamy high school love and many years of growing with each other in faith and family ... blessed amidst rare joy and balanced by sorrow. We remain our best in this beautiful blur that is our life.
In February 2010 we stepped out in faith to live out Jesus's call to defend the cause of the fatherless. Adoption is something we have talked about for years and have now decided to live.
Our road to our son has been a beautiful juxtaposition of simply straight and crooked. We embrace it all as we know it will be mere months before we feel the weight of him against us in a long-awaited hug and his breath on our necks as we squish him close.
February 2010: Chose our adoption agency. Much prayer and talk went into this decision. We could not imagine a better guide on our journey.
March 5: Applied with our agency and received preliminary approval.
March 2010: Completed SAFE questionnaires for CW. Mailed CDHS/Trails form to state for child abuse clearance. Received CBI/FBI fingerprint cards. Submitted and received employment letter for Kev; signed and notarized. Completed financial statement. Lab work completed. Made appointment with notary. Medicals for all of our household (including our furry friends' vaccines). Verification of medical insurance received (impressed by our ins carrier). Fingerprints for CBI/FBI complete and mailed. Local criminal clearance requested and received, signed, and notarized. POA sent to state capitol for certification. Bank letter received, signed, and notarized. All documents notarized.
April 2010: Received certified POA from state. All three reference letters in hand (thank you!). First home study visit survived. Passports received. Marriage licence and certified birth certificates in hand.
May 2010: Paperchase of dossier complete, minus home study. Moved out-of-state to pursue bigger and better dreams. Adoption on hold.
September 2010: Settled in our new home.
September 5: Saw his sweet face (six months after applying with our agency).
September 10: Accepted the referral of our 4-year-old Ethiopian son (two months after he arrived at his orphanage).
September 13: Chose our local home study agency. Begin preparing the dossier docs that need to be redone after our move ... criminal clearance, employment letter, bank letter, adopted child coverage, POA, and affidavit ... seems daunting but it's pretty wonderful.
September 30: Mailing policy docs and first agency fee (again).
October 2010: Home study begins (again) ...
November 2010: All agency fees paid.
December 2010: Dossier complete, minus approved home study. Woo hoo! No more paper chasing (for now).
January 2011: Home study APPROVED. Praise Jesus!
February 4, 2011: I-600A application submitted to USCIS. Awaiting biometrics.
Februrary 8, 2011: COMPLETE dossier submitted to agency. Still awaiting Gambella approval. sigh.
February 15, 2011: Dossier to DC for authentication.
February 22, 2011: Prayed and walked in for biometrics. They took us (not completely excited about it, but hooray anyway) and the trip to Portland was well worth it.
March 2, 2011: Dossier to Ethiopia for translation and MOWA approval.
Awaiting a court date.
March 21, 2011: APPROVED I-171H. We are blessed.
March 22, 2011: Hand delivered notarized I-171H to Augusta for state certification. Overnighted approved and certified doc to our agency, along with all final fees.
March 23, 2011: Broken hearts. Found out we were not submitted to court. Missing docs. On our knees that the missing pieces come together.
March 30, 2011: Vaccines, vaccines, vaccines. HepA, HepB, Polio, Meningitis, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Varicella, Tetanus, Pertussis, plus scripts for Malaria and Cipro. $2300 well spent to safely be with our boy.
March 31, 2011: Officially submitted to court. All missing signatures and documents are in order. We are blessed.
Praying that we have a court date by the end of April and will travel in May or June. Deeply hoping to bring him home by July.
We busy our hearts with applying for grants and pouring over his pictures and videos ... we are also beginning to think about where we'll visit and volunteer while we are in country and we are making donations lists.
June 5, 2011: Left for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 8,000+ miles to our Zebi.
June 6, 2011: Arrived in Ethiopia at 8a and met Zeb and his birth father at noon. Incredible and humbling and beautiful. best.ever.
June 8, 2011: Court date. No MoWA letter. We did not pass in country. Very sad day.
June 10, 2011: Said our hard goodbyes to Zeb. Left for home at 11pm that n night. We will miss Ethiopia like crazy.
June 27, 2011: Adoption Decree received. One document down, two to go ...
June 29, 2011: Birth Certificate received. Our names listed as his parents is surreal. We are blessed InDeEd! Just waiting on his Ethiopian passport ... soon soon soon.
July 12, 2011: Request by Embassy for further documents and explanations.
July 13, 2011: Embassy provided with necessary information. Waiting for clearance. Waiting .... waiting ... waiting.
July 20, 2011: Crushed with news that our file was lacking a crucial document. Off to Gambella to retrieve it. sigh. This was a tough one.
July 22, 2011: Gloriously notified that our case is now complete and ready to be re-submitted to Embassy on Monday. Hooray for a happy weekend.
July 27, 2011: Waiting for confirmation of our appointment date from the Embassy. Hope to be buying our plane tickets ToMmOrRoW!
August 21, 2011: Boarding a jet plane for Addis Ababa ...
August 24, 2011: 9am Embassy appointment ... Hurray!!! We are mere weeks away. Incredible.
In February 2010 we stepped out in faith to live out Jesus's call to defend the cause of the fatherless. Adoption is something we have talked about for years and have now decided to live.
Our road to our son has been a beautiful juxtaposition of simply straight and crooked. We embrace it all as we know it will be mere months before we feel the weight of him against us in a long-awaited hug and his breath on our necks as we squish him close.
♥ While he waits we are HOPING HIM HOME. ♥
February 2010: Chose our adoption agency. Much prayer and talk went into this decision. We could not imagine a better guide on our journey.
March 5: Applied with our agency and received preliminary approval.
March 2010: Completed SAFE questionnaires for CW. Mailed CDHS/Trails form to state for child abuse clearance. Received CBI/FBI fingerprint cards. Submitted and received employment letter for Kev; signed and notarized. Completed financial statement. Lab work completed. Made appointment with notary. Medicals for all of our household (including our furry friends' vaccines). Verification of medical insurance received (impressed by our ins carrier). Fingerprints for CBI/FBI complete and mailed. Local criminal clearance requested and received, signed, and notarized. POA sent to state capitol for certification. Bank letter received, signed, and notarized. All documents notarized.
April 2010: Received certified POA from state. All three reference letters in hand (thank you!). First home study visit survived. Passports received. Marriage licence and certified birth certificates in hand.
May 2010: Paperchase of dossier complete, minus home study. Moved out-of-state to pursue bigger and better dreams. Adoption on hold.
September 2010: Settled in our new home.
September 5: Saw his sweet face (six months after applying with our agency).
September 10: Accepted the referral of our 4-year-old Ethiopian son (two months after he arrived at his orphanage).
September 13: Chose our local home study agency. Begin preparing the dossier docs that need to be redone after our move ... criminal clearance, employment letter, bank letter, adopted child coverage, POA, and affidavit ... seems daunting but it's pretty wonderful.
September 30: Mailing policy docs and first agency fee (again).
October 2010: Home study begins (again) ...
November 2010: All agency fees paid.
December 2010: Dossier complete, minus approved home study. Woo hoo! No more paper chasing (for now).
January 2011: Home study APPROVED. Praise Jesus!
February 4, 2011: I-600A application submitted to USCIS. Awaiting biometrics.
Februrary 8, 2011: COMPLETE dossier submitted to agency. Still awaiting Gambella approval. sigh.
February 15, 2011: Dossier to DC for authentication.
February 22, 2011: Prayed and walked in for biometrics. They took us (not completely excited about it, but hooray anyway) and the trip to Portland was well worth it.
March 2, 2011: Dossier to Ethiopia for translation and MOWA approval.
March 9, 2011: Officially MATCHED with our little boy! OvEr-ThE-mOoN with emotion.
March 21, 2011: APPROVED I-171H. We are blessed.
March 22, 2011: Hand delivered notarized I-171H to Augusta for state certification. Overnighted approved and certified doc to our agency, along with all final fees.
March 23, 2011: Broken hearts. Found out we were not submitted to court. Missing docs. On our knees that the missing pieces come together.
March 30, 2011: Vaccines, vaccines, vaccines. HepA, HepB, Polio, Meningitis, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Varicella, Tetanus, Pertussis, plus scripts for Malaria and Cipro. $2300 well spent to safely be with our boy.
March 31, 2011: Officially submitted to court. All missing signatures and documents are in order. We are blessed.
Praying that we have a court date by the end of April and will travel in May or June. Deeply hoping to bring him home by July.
We busy our hearts with applying for grants and pouring over his pictures and videos ... we are also beginning to think about where we'll visit and volunteer while we are in country and we are making donations lists.
April 29, 2011: Received COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!
June 5, 2011: Left for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 8,000+ miles to our Zebi.
June 6, 2011: Arrived in Ethiopia at 8a and met Zeb and his birth father at noon. Incredible and humbling and beautiful. best.ever.
June 8, 2011: Court date. No MoWA letter. We did not pass in country. Very sad day.
June 10, 2011: Said our hard goodbyes to Zeb. Left for home at 11pm that n night. We will miss Ethiopia like crazy.
June 20, 2011: We are HIS. We passed court today!
June 27, 2011: Adoption Decree received. One document down, two to go ...
June 29, 2011: Birth Certificate received. Our names listed as his parents is surreal. We are blessed InDeEd! Just waiting on his Ethiopian passport ... soon soon soon.
July 6, 2011: SUBMITTED to the United States Embassy!
July 12, 2011: Request by Embassy for further documents and explanations.
July 13, 2011: Embassy provided with necessary information. Waiting for clearance. Waiting .... waiting ... waiting.
July 20, 2011: Crushed with news that our file was lacking a crucial document. Off to Gambella to retrieve it. sigh. This was a tough one.
July 22, 2011: Gloriously notified that our case is now complete and ready to be re-submitted to Embassy on Monday. Hooray for a happy weekend.
July 27, 2011: CLEARED by the United States Embassy & Happy Birthday to our sweet Zebedias. What a gift today!
July 27, 2011: Waiting for confirmation of our appointment date from the Embassy. Hope to be buying our plane tickets ToMmOrRoW!
August 21, 2011: Boarding a jet plane for Addis Ababa ...
August 24, 2011: 9am Embassy appointment ... Hurray!!! We are mere weeks away. Incredible.
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