Still Waiting on Approval From Immigration

Well, we are still waiting on our approval from immigration. We did our fingerprints and have our dossier documents ready to go. I am soooo ready to get on the waiting list. Plus the dossier iteslf will go through a month long process before even arriving in Ethiopia. I do wonder what I will do with my time once we are officially waiting... I guess there will be a whole new set of paperwork to start on. We are trying to think of a way to raise money for the adoption expenses through a fundraiser of some sort. Plus I want to get our friends and family invloved. It is really sad thinking of all the negative reactions we have had when telling people we are adopting from Ethiopia. I have to be on guard with my whole spill of how there are so many kids starving to death, living on the streets, in orphanages, etc. It has been the people that I thought would be excited and uderstanding that have been the most critical. I know that we are doing the right thing, that God will reward us for our strong loving hearts, and hopefully people will see how great it is and beauty of it once we bring her home. Ok, I will stop with the mushy stuff now. Oh, if anyone is wondering what Jennah is all about we are planning on calling her Jennah and will keep her birth name as her middle name, unless she is closer to 2 years of age then we may just keep her birth name, or if we happen to like her birth name we will keep it.

Spirits High and Looking Forward!

I spoke to our case worker with our adoption agency today. She is great and always gets my spirits lifted. She gave me hope that our wait for a referral will not be painfully long. I am so happy that more and more people are making the decision to adopt from Ethiopia. I just hope the increase in applicants will produce an increase in referrals, orphanages working with agencies, and agencies working within Ethiopia. The quicker we can get these kids off the streets and with families the better. It is sad to think we are going there to bring home one child and leaving so many behind. If I could stowe another child in my suit case I would.

A family that lives close by recently came home from Ethiopia with their 4 year old daughter. She is such a cutie and has the biggest and most beautiful smile ever! We enjoyed reading thier blog about the trip, experiences in Ethiopia, and their wonderful daughter. I went from crying one minute and laughing the next. It is great to have others close by going through the same process for support.

It's Mother's Day - Waiting, Not so Patiently

We just completed our fingerprints this week for the CIS. Hopefully we will receive our approval from Immigration soon. That will allow us to finish our Dossier, get it to Ethiopia, and be officially waiting for our referral. I hope that by next Mother's Day I will be celebrating with all 3 of my children. I was bummed to learn that there are now 64 people ahead of us. That means the waiting list has doubled in the last couple months. I am sad that we will have to wait even longer but I am trying to remember that it is all in God's timing. I know he has it planned out for us already. Maybe he knows it will be a while before our child will be born and ready for us. Maybe he is knows when financially will be the opportune time.