Skip to main content

March Update

We've had a lot of questions lately on how the process is going, so I thought today would be a good day to bring everyone up to date...

We are in the middle of our home study right now. This includes all together 3-4 visits with our agency worker, one of them being in our home. During this time we answer a LOT of questions about our lives: past, present, and future. The home visit, although people think they sound scary, in all actuality sounds like it will be quite painless. She more or less will be here just so she can describe the layout of our house in her report. She will not be opening drawers or closets... thus, she won't see all the last minute "cleaning" we do!

During this process we are still doing a TON of paperwork and education. Just when we think we know the paperwork that is ahead, we are told about another stack of them to be filled out. I'm feeling a little behind right now! Jon tells me not to worry, but alas, I worry. If only we could forget about work for a week and get all the paperwork done! I had really hoped to be wrapping things up by April, but for as busy as life is right now, that just isn't going to be feasible.

So when will all of this paperwork be done you ask?  Well, our absolute deadline is July 3rd. After that, we can still submit our paperwork but we will then owe a lot more money because dated paperwork begins to expire. My hope is the home study is done by the end of April, and then all of our dossier paperwork is done by the end of May/beginning of June.

Once our dossier paperwork is turned in, we are officially on the waiting list where we wait to get our referral. The referral will be when they send the pictures of our precious children and all the information that they know about these kids. The referral can happen anywhere from a month - two years once we are on the waiting list. My guesstimate is that it will be somewhere between 6 months - a year.

Mind you, once we have the referral, more waiting begins, as there are 3 court dates that have to be arranged, two of which we go to Ethiopia to attend. BUT, on that 3rd court date.... Our kids will be in our loving arms, coming home!!!!!!!!

As my mother put it so well a couple weeks ago... looks like there are a lot of loose ends that will eventually all tie up somehow... she couldn't have put it more right! A lot of loose ends, but each end that is tied will be a celebration as we will be just that much closer to bringing our children home! 

Alright...now off to do some of that paperwork!
Have a great weekend all!
In Christ,
Mara

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Second day in Manila

Family picture from yesterday at the park. Caleb has a flying butterfly. Our second day in Manila was fantastic! We got out of the city and saw a ton of the countryside, multiple areas outside of the city, and a beautiful "lake" that houses a volcano.  We've been starting our mornings with this view. Starting out on our journey today we saw some gigantic billboards. These two were selling Jollibee and the other was selling TUNA... tuna!?!? Our first trip to Jollbee! This is the Philippines favorite fast food restaurant, it is similar to our McDonald's. Their primary food though is chicken, much like KFC. Where do pineapples come from!?! Did you say a tree?? Then you, like myself and Jon, are wrong!!!! These are Pineapple Fields! Pineapples are grown from the ground! When this is ready to pick, the pineapple will be sitting straight up on top of the soil.  Road side stop to see the pineapple fields also allowed us to see t...

Love & attachment

As I hug and kiss my son goodnight (for at least the third time, 2 hours past his bedtime!) I can't help but think about my other children. How I long to hold them in my arms, kiss them goodnight, show them how much they are loved, let them know that I will always be their mother. Yesterday Jon and I attended our first education meeting. This was put on by our local agency conducting our homestudy. The focus of this meeting was to talk about what to expect once our children are home. We learned a lot about "triggers" for our children - when life could be more difficult, we also learned more about attachment issues, and we learned/discussed what it will be like for our children to live in a "white privileged" family & neighborhood. Since this education, my mind has been swarming with many different thoughts. Many I'd like to try to convey into my writing, although this may take a few blogs. Tonight, as I work on getting my son to go to bed - and Stay ...

Siblings not by choice

Siblings.  Not by blood, not by choice, not by the perfect of circumstances. Siblings. Placed together by the hands of God. Placed together through love. May not get along through many circumstances, but love each other with a love most will never understand.