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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bumps in the Road.

Last Friday, October 22nd was the greatest day! Why, you ask? Because we got our I-171H or our "Golden Ticket" as it's referred to in the adoption community.

We weren't expecting to get it so quickly, we were very surprised! The government's website says that the Department of Homeland Security's average processing time for an I-171H is 2.5 months (from the time fingerprints are submitted). Our friends have waited an average of 4-7 weeks. So, you can imagine why we were blown away when it only took one week (7 days) for us to get our I-171H.

We figured that we would be waiting on our I-171H to be able to send off our Dossier but in all reality we're waiting on the Illinois' Secretary of State, All Blessings International, and Kentucky's Secretary of State. We hope to get our Dossier in the mail by next Friday but if not next week definitely the week of November 8th. Please pray with us that all of our documents come in next week!

What happens after our Dossier is in the mail?

Children's Hope International will bundle our notarized documents into one document and send it to the U.S. Department of State to be authenticated. A second authentication is required from the Ethiopia Embassy in Washington D.C. We will then be notified when we are on the waiting list for a referral and our documents are on their way to Ethiopia (all of this should take 2-3 weeks).

We're getting closer by the day! Hopefully, we'll celebrate the holidays with our family and friends, knowing that we're officially on the wait list.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Win a Free Trip to Ethiopia!



Go check out Kari from My Crazy Adoption to enter a chance to win a FREE trip to Ethiopia! She is leading a mission’s trip to Ethiopia in February and is giving away at least one free trip! If you don't want to go to Ethiopia or can't, you can nominate someone who does want to go! Like us!

Here's how it works:
  • Prize: Mission Trip to Ethiopia, February 17-26, 2011
  • Prize value: $3100
  • Number of winners: 1-2
  • Number of Tee shirts to sell: 183 + 183
  • Ending date of the giveaway: 10/28/10
  • Where it can be won: My Crazy Adoption Blog
  • The prize is from: www.mycrazyadoption.com
  • To enter this giveaway, you can: purchase a tee shirt at My Crazy Adoption Store

Sunday, October 17, 2010

One Step Closer!

This was an exciting week for us. We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary on Wednesday, October 13th. We're hopeful that this anniversary will be one of the last anniversaries we spend without having "her" home and without having to book a babysitter. We had a great anniversary celebration and we're looking forward to celebrating many more wonderful years together!

Our Wedding Day
On Friday, October 15th we went to Cincinnati, OH to submit our fingerprints to USCIS. We left the house at 5:15am to make our 8:00am appointment at the J. W. Peck Federal Building, we were terrified we'd be late. Thankfully we didn't run into any problems and we arrived at the parking garage at 7:00am. The Federal Building opened at 7:30am and the Fingerprinting Office didn't open until 8:00am. We went through security and waited as people quickly formed a long line behind us.

Now that our fingerprints are submitted we're focusing on compiling everything needed for our Dossier. Once they are processed we will  receive our I71H form which will be the last thing we are waiting on to complete our Dossier and mail it to Ethiopia. Once our Dossier is on it's way to Ethiopia we will officially be on the WAIT LIST and the count down will officially begin.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Interweb

Adoption blogs have been a great resource for us. We first came across the Stump family's adoption blog (by chance) in December 2010. The timing of this could not have been more perfect, we had just found out that another infertility treatment; that our doctor "just knew was going to work this time", had failed. We were left broken hearted and in search of comfort; we found that comfort in the Stump family's announcement to adopt from Ethiopia.

This was the first time that we really started to seriously think about adoption and more importantly adopting from Ethiopia. The Stump family has been a tremendous resource and a guiding light for us during this process and we cannot thank them enough. We really don't know if they truly understand the impact they have had on us and our decision to move forward with adoption. Thank you, Stump family!

Adoption can be an overwhelming endeavor; it makes all the difference in the world to talk to people that have taken a step ahead of you. We cannot tell you how many times we've read a blog post that has truly captured the way we feel; it's a beautiful thing to know that we're not alone and that others are experiencing the same overwhelming feelings and responsibilities that come with adopting too.

One of the main reasons we started this blog was to share our adoption journey with our family and friends but we also wanted to give back to the adoption community; publicize the orphan crisis in Ethiopia; lend a hand to couples coping with infertility and researching ways to create their forever familes; and to be a resource for families looking to grow through adoption. By no means, do we know everything about adoption or Ethiopian adoption; we're learning along the way ourselves, but it makes us happy to think that there are other couples out there, realizing their calling to adopt; and we hope that in some small way they'll find comfort and reassurance in our blog and make the decision to move forward and change their lives and the life of a child forever through adoption.