Almost there...

Soooooo,

 

This is it! We are SO close to mailing off our Dossier. All of our background checks are back, and our home study is just waiting to be “approved”/signed off on. On Monday I’ll be mailing off our final documents to be state sealed. And that folks, is it. From there, our Dossier/BigFatFile heads to our International Coordinator in Michigan. From there, she’ll send it to Ethiopia. Once they process it, we’ll be on the wait list! OFFICIALLY! 

 

Also, we talked with our International Coordinator in Michigan last week about our Dossier. Our agency likes for all Dossier documents to be under 6 months old when submitted to allow for them to be valid for a longer period of time. They are only valid for 2 years before we have to get new ones gathered. Well, ours are about 11 months old. We were worried about that, but our IC was confident that we can just update our forms early next year instead of delaying us any further. She. Rocks.

 

She said she hopes we get a referral before that, especially since we’re open to special needs and a larger age range. Yes Miss C, we’re hoping so too! That was incredibly encouraging to hear from her. But, even if we don’t get a match before then, we’ll just work on updating our forms next February or March. No problem there.  :))

 

Well guys, this is where we’re at. I pray that the next time I update you all, our file will be on its way to Ethiopia or that we’ll already be on the waitlist! July looks like it should be the month! Eeeeekkkk!!! Just 2 months shy of our 2 year anniversary of being approved to adopt through the Ethiopia program. 

 

Please keep praying for us, and for Effie – whoever she is.  <3 

  

  

  

  

Oh the crazy month of May

So, at the end of May, KC and I experienced THE most stressful 48 hours. We got a call from our agency asking us if we had the rest of our Dossier/big fat file documents and if so, could we please send them to our agency in Little Rock. I told them that I sent them already, and they're waiting to be State Sealed (so I thought). Our social worker tells us that they only had a few pieces of paperwork and that we must not have sent the rest.  They could not find our Dossier?! ..... !!!!!!!!

At this point in time, I'm FREAKING OUT. I am a very organized person. We had an accordion file with all our documents that has been attached to my hip since day 1. I know, that I know, that I KNOW that I sent them to Little Rock. Our social worker insists that "I really feel like you didn't send them, and could you please just look at home one more time". Obviously, I'm miffed, but KC and I look through the ENTIRE house. Nada. To say we were having some anxiety issues was definitely an understatement. That was 65 pages of our lives, of paperwork, that took us FOREVER to gather. 

I call our social worker back and tell her I need to come to her office to figure out what happened and what KC and I need to do now. Before I left work early, I thought, there's NO way. I know I sent it! And it dawned on me, I document every step in our process with pictures. If you follow me on FB or Instagram, you know this to be true. Lol. So I frantically start looking on IG for a picture. And I find a picture of me putting the big manila envelope in a big blue mailbox - back on AUGUST 16th. They've had our file since late August. 

I get to her office and show her the picture and date. It turns out, they thought the packet I mailed them 3 weeks ago with 4 updated documents was our dossier. I explain everything and understanding spreads on her face. She calls the Little Rock office. They had it the WHOLE time in another file. 

So, 2 days of complete and utter stress and madness and them telling us WE forgot to send it when in reality, they forgot all about it being in another file. This has caused a few more delays than we initally thought. We thought our home study was already updated, but that is still a week or two out. Please join with us in praying that this is it. Pray that we will be on the wait list no later than July. We've come SO far but still have a ways to go. But it'll all be worth it when we see her sweet face.   <3