Dossier en route to Ethiopia!!

To our absolute delight, our case worker from Children's House International shipped our dossier to Ethiopia today! She provided us with the FedEx tracking number so that we can follow its progress. For those who are interested, the tracking number is #7971-8975-7096. Now we just need to wait for a referral for a child or children. Our case worker gave us an estimated time table of 3-9 months. Based on what I have seen from reading families blogs working with other agencies, this is actually a pretty good wait time. Some families wait an average of 13 months. I can't believe we started this process in January 2010 and we are finally getting our dossier to Ethiopia. But I must say.... HOOORAYYYY!!!!!!

I finally totaled up our adoption expenses thus far and we hit just over $14,000 with at least $22,800 left to go (if we get a referral for two children). We are still moving forward with adoption t-shirt sales and sewing-craft sales from my Etsy site: www.myladybyrd.etsy.com. So far (thanks to friends and family) we have raised $188. I know that may not look like a lot, but it is better than zero!! That is enough to cover the medical visits for two children required for them to obtain visas. Thank you!!

All of our adoption fundraising money goes into our Zion's Bank adoption account. That means that all proceeds from t-shirt sales, etsy, and donations are deposited there so that adoption funds do not mix with our normal checking account with USAA.

Dossier Authentication: Step 3 of 4

Here I am, standing at the FedEx counter paying $68.43 for our original dossier and associated checks and money order to arrive at the Assistant Stork in Virginia by Saturday. I know that sounds crazy. Why would I pay to have it arrive at a business on a Saturday, you ask? Well, I spoke to Steve Morrison who runs the business with his wife and he informed me that if they receive it Saturday they will take it first thing Monday morning to the U.S. Department of State for authentication. He said they usually get it completed and returned the next day. Meaning, our completely authenticated dossier will be on its way to Children's House International by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

Step 4: Children's House International sends the original authenticated dossier along with two notarized copies and one regular copy off to the Embassy of Ethiopia for final authentication and translation. Then we wait. And wait. And probably wait some more.

So....we will be waiting for what is called a "referral". We have to wait for all of the families ahead of us who have the same age and sex specifications for a child to receive a referral first. For example, our specifications are for a baby girl age range newborn to 18 months of age. She can also have a sibling boy or girl up to age 3 1/2. If a child like that enters the orphanage, then we receive a referral for her/them. A lot more happens once we receive and accept a referral but I will wait to get into that part.

As we wait for a referral, we hope to proceed with fundraising so that we can afford to accept a referral for two children. (Remember with two children, it is an additional $8000 - $9000). Total costs for one child range from approximately $29,000 - $32,000. While we have gone into this adoption planned and prepared, we just don't have that much money laying around. Also, as I noted in a previous post, the costs have risen since we started in January of 2010.

Keep a watch out, I will be doing more posts on our progress as well as some interesting posts about Ethiopia and its people.

Document Authenticated Step 2 - Done!

Wahoo!!! We received the Affidavit of Dossier and Power of Attorney back in the mail today!! They have officially been authenticated by the office of the Georgia Secretary of State. It was definitely worth the cost of having them shipped FedEx next day.

NOW...for Document Authentication Step 3 of the 4 steps. I need to take all of the dossier documents (about 35), make three copies, have each page of two of the sets notarized (about 70 pages), and send them off in two different directions. One original dossier (I have two originals) will be sent to the Assistant Stork in Virgina who will take them to the U.S. Secretary of State to be Authenticated for a nominal fee of $80 plus the U.S. fee of $16. Not bad, not bad at all. Two notarized copies of the dossier and one normal copy are also mailed to our international adoption agency who holds them until they receive the authenticated dossier back from the Assistant Stork.

Step 4...The final step!! Once all of the documents are received by Children's House International, they ship it off to the Embassy of Ethiopia with our $189.60 money order to be authenticed by them. Then we play the waiting game until we receive a referral for children matching our profile. Oh what a happy day that will be! We are getting so close now it is starting to feel real again. We started this process in January 2010 and at times it has felt as if we would never see the end of the tunnel. At last, we see a glimmer of light!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

If we were to count from the time we starting researching an adoption agency, we have been working on the adoption for 16 months already and we still don't have our dossier submitted. Initially, I was so optimistic and even thought we would have our precious child by now. In hindsight, my naive optimism makes me laugh. I suppose the average internationally adopting family would be waiting for a referral or court date by now; however, we have experienced many setbacks due to our involvement in the U.S. Army. At first it was Lauren's deployment that was keeping us from being able to move forward. Then we finally got the home study approved and we moved so that Matt could complete his Army training at Ft. Benning, GA. Of course, we had to then complete a home study update and resubmit it to USCIS - the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Now we are hastily trying to finish compiling all of the required documents for the dossier which will be sent to Ethiopia. However, we are moving again in September to Ft. Stewart, GA which will be Matt's permanent duty station. At which point, we will be having a home study update conducted once again. Two steps forward, one step back.

Adoption is not for the faint of heart - nor is it meant to be done alone. As the old saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child". Matt is frequently gone for his Army training which means Lauren basically flies this mission solo. Speaking of which, it is tiring to try and phrase everything as "we", "Matt", and/or "Lauren", so I am just going to come out and say it: "I" am writing this blog to represent our whole family regardless of whether or not I remember to say "we". So, I am Lauren...just in case that last little bit was confusing. 8-)

Anyway, the point I was trying to get to is that I can't do this alone anymore. I frequently seek the help of my Heavenly Father, especially when we pray as a family, but I need help from my family and friends now. This process is so emotionally, physically, and financially exhausting and I have finally realized that I need to reach out to the people who love me for help and support. For those who don't know me really well, I can be a very stubborn and independent person and I'm not big on accepting help. I am going to be making updates to this blog frequently so that my family and friends know what is going on and perhaps can help me with words of encouragement, ideas for coping with stress, parenting techniques, housekeeping tips, etc.

In a few weeks Matt will begin Ranger School which means we won't see or hear from him for at least two months. We are trying really hard to get all of our documents gathered before that time so that we can submit our dossier before he leaves. I must say, I am learning how to be more self-reliant and proactive. I purchased a house the last time Matt was gone on a Field Training Exercise! Okay, back to the dossier. So, we don't have much left to gather. The first thing to do when Matt gets back from the field on Thursday will be to go get yet another police background check. We are also STILL waiting on the Army to deliver the long-awaited Letter of Employment Verification. After that, we will have three copies of each document below notarized:

Parent letter to Ethiopia
I-171H Approval from USCIS to bring an orphan into the country
State Police Clearances
Family Photo sheet
Letter of Employment Verification
2008, 2009, and 2010 Tax Returns
Adoptive Parent Form
Matt's Passport

That may look like a lot, but we have already gathered and notarized a lot of the required documents. The very last two we will have notarized will be:

Power of Attorney
Affidavit of Dossier

Once we have all of that done and we are ready to submit our dossier, we will also submit the third installment of $3000.