Yesterday we received our draft of our homestudy. This is the document that our social worker has been working on. It chronicles our life in great detail. This, once fine-tuned, gets turned over to our adoption agency and I think gets sent on to Ethiopia (along with many other papers). Now, we begin the I-600A form which is an immigration form. This begins our fingerprinting process. But is another huge step along the way.
We are probably a year away and where most expecting parents begin the shopping process for diapers and cribs, we can't do that quite yet. But, I did pick up two little stuffed animals and a soft photo album. These will be sent to our children once we accept the referral. A care package is sent to help the children transition a bit better. They ask us to send pictures of the family and home and clothes and stuffed animals. They will have these things with them in the orphanage and then be able to bring them home. They say that for babies, the smell will be an important way of transitioning them home. John already rubbed the stuffed animals on himself so they would smell like him. Don't know if those children know what they are in for! :)
We will let you know when our next step is complete!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
An Update
Well, we came through our home study with flying colors. Our social worker is in the process of writing things up for us so we can send that to our adoption agency. Once our agency approves it then it is time for the dossier documents which I think will be lots of paperwork and more government approval (fingerprints, immigration stuff). And once that set of paperwork is done and approved, it all gets sent to Ethiopia. They review our paperwork and make a match. Yea! Once we are matched with a child or with a sibling group then Ethiopia has to go through some court dates and obtain new birth certificates for the children. Then we travel. So, we are looking at a good year to make all of this happen!
Why siblings? John and I thought we would be able to adopt a sibling group. We felt like siblings are sometimes overlooked and do not get adopted because they do not split them up. So, we have said we would adopt a sibling group of no more than three children from age 0-5 years old.
So, we continue to wait for the next step and learn all we can and enjoy our sleep while we can!
Why siblings? John and I thought we would be able to adopt a sibling group. We felt like siblings are sometimes overlooked and do not get adopted because they do not split them up. So, we have said we would adopt a sibling group of no more than three children from age 0-5 years old.
So, we continue to wait for the next step and learn all we can and enjoy our sleep while we can!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Hunger in Ethiopia
To read more about Ethiopia and ways you can help make a difference, go to UNICEF! John and I have purchased Plumpy Nut! Plumpy Nut is a peanut butter substance which is providing nutrition to malnurished children!
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