When we started this website we intended to post regularly about all the exciting family/adoption news in our life. That was about three weeks ago and all we have done since is paperwork! Here are some updates on our process in adopting from Ethiopia.

The reason for the rush:

The simple answer is that we have the pictures of two adorable children on our refrigerator, in my purse, on Xavier’s desk, computer and telephone and basically always in front of us, and we want to go get them ASAP!

The other answer is that the rainy season in Ethiopia is fast approaching. This period in Ethiopia can be two to three months long and involves such heavy rain that the power is frequently out. With the power on and off much of the time the courts simply shut down. We don’t know when they will close or how long they will stay closed as it varies each year. If we can get our paperwork to Ethiopia before the courts close we have a good chance at traveling in September or October. If we don’t make it in before court closure we could wait until November or even longer. After this week the paperwork will be out of our hands and we will be praying that it moves quickly through Washington D.C and Immigration, arrives in Ethiopia to be translated and we get a court date before the courts close. We will not be in Ethiopia for the court date but that is the date that the kids could become officially part of our family! We are looking forward to that day!

Also in the last few weeks our wonderful social worker worked incredibly hard to get our home study done for us. She spent four and a half hours with us one Saturday! I don’t know how she felt but we were exhausted!! The big news is that our Home study is complete! We signed it today! Reading the fifteen pages was a little like reading a book about ourselves and a little strange. It was also kind of humorous to read another's perception of us!

Now that we are done with the paperwork we are focusing more attention on raising support. We have been overwhelmed by the kind encouragement we have received from friends and family. We are also incredibly grateful for the support that has come in through Kingdom Kids Ministry. We are truly blessed by the generosity of so many! We do not yet have a list of contributors so we cannot thank each of you personally – yet! Please know that we are extremely appreciative of your support! Now that our homestudy is complete, and the dossier is almost finished we are excited to be two really big steps closer to bringing these children home!

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