It is ready. Our dossier has been checked, and checked again. It is tied up and ready to be packaged and mailed. I finally feel a sense of relief. I can't believe all that waiting and preparation is over. I kind of feel like I did after my wedding. I cried a little on the way home from our reception because I just had so many emotions all at once. I have had an amazing array of emotions today! I am exhausted from all the stress of the paperchase. I am relieved that it is over. I am so excited to be in the next "trimester". I am giddy with anticipation of what's next. I am just so happy.
What is next? Well I looked at a few blogs and it should take about a week or so for AWAA to send off the dossier to Ethiopia. We will get an email I guess saying our officially DTE. That is the "dossier to Ethiopia". This is the day that we are known by on the wait list.
We both would really appreciate some prayers for our dossier. We need prayers that we turned in everything and that all the papers are exactly like they are suppose to be. We need prayers that the mail delivers smoothly and that nothing gets lost. We also need prayers for us. We are about to enter an incredible waiting period. I am sure this is just the beginning of my emotional days.
And lastly. Thank you so much to everyone so far! We have had such a smooth and uncomplicated paperchase. We appreciate all the encouraging words, all the sweet messages, and especially just the simple questions of how things are going. It is wonderful to know y'all are thinking and praying for us! We have a very long way to go, but it's going to be a beautiful ride!!
Showing posts with label America World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America World. Show all posts
Monday, March 5, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
FEELing the Light!!
Today I was checking our bank account and I immediately noticed it was quite a bit lower than normal. Instantly I got excited (your normal reaction right...??)!The USCIS people have cashed our two checks for our I600A application and fingerprints!! This is big news because if you remember in this downer post, I received both checks back already because I forgot a signature!! Anyway I have all kinds of super hopeful and ambitious deadlines running through my brain. I won't share because I don't want to be publicly disappointed if we don't make *my* timeline. We all know that this WHOLE PROCESS is without a doubt in God's timing. I am feeling the light today. The light at the end of this tunnel of paperwork! Yahh!! Also, we sent off our papers to have certified and they are in town! I say "in town" because I missed the delivery, so we have to go pick them up. Do y'all get what this means??? This means after this fingerprint appointment and we get our last form back we can turn in our DOSSIER!!! I am just a little excited :) I told y'all I'm feeling the light!!! I know its normally seeing the light, but I feel it!!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
One step closer...
After this weekend, we are one step closer to a completed Dossier!! We got lots of papers notarized- FINALLY. We also got two of our three reference letters back! So whats left?
We are still waiting on getting our Home Study report back. Once we have that we will have to get fingerprinted. That stuff is all out of our control.
We need to:
Get passport sized pictures taken.
Complete our family photo pages.
Yep. That is all we have left. I know I have said like 100 times that we are finished with the paperwork. Well we were technically finished with filling out all our paperwork awhile back, but we weren't quite finished notarizing and getting them approved.
Comeeee on H.S. report :)
We are still waiting on getting our Home Study report back. Once we have that we will have to get fingerprinted. That stuff is all out of our control.
We need to:
Get passport sized pictures taken.
Complete our family photo pages.
Yep. That is all we have left. I know I have said like 100 times that we are finished with the paperwork. Well we were technically finished with filling out all our paperwork awhile back, but we weren't quite finished notarizing and getting them approved.
Comeeee on H.S. report :)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
What’s next??
Once our H.S. report is complete then we can submit the 1-600A application to USCIS.
A set of forms used to officially request permission from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to classify a child in a foreign country, who fits the definition of an "orphan," as an immediate relative of its intended adoptive parents, so that there can be an expedited processing and issuance of a visa to that child, allowing it to be brought into the United States, either after having been adopted abroad, or in order for it to be adopted in the United States.- Adoption.com
After we apply to USCIS we will get an appointment to get our fingerprints. The timeline for the fingerprint appointment is 4-12 weeks. YIKES! Pray for the 4 weeks!
Once we get the fingerprints then we get our dossier documents certified. I don’t know how long this part takes, but I have a few weeks to figure it out!!
After that we make lots of copies and mail off our dossier! Then we will officially be DTE!!! *Dossier to Ethiopia**
When DTE happens ladies and gentlemen…Our wait time officially begins. The current average wait time for a infant boy is 10-15 months. This is to get our referral for our sweet baby boy!!
After the referral is accepted, we will son in Ethiopia, Africa waiting for US to come get him!!
Then we wait another month or two for a court date. We will go to Africa for about a week and meet our baby. If we pass court he will legally become our son! Then we come home and wait. I’m sure this will be the worst part, but hopefully it will pass by quick!
Then we will get the call to return to Ethiopia and pick up our son forever!
That my friends is what our future timeline holds. God speed.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Home Study 101
We have two of our four home studys completed! Yahh!! Our next two are going to be on Sunday. (God willing- I get a little nervous announcing it Just hoping I don’t jinx it!) Our social worker is going to be coming to our house this time.
Our first H.S. was in Huntsville and she just drilled us with an 1 1/2 hours of questions. They ranged from “Why do you want to adopt?”, to “What are your strengths and weakness of your marriage” to anything else you could possibly think of couple related. I would love to see how people who are wanting to get pregnant would do on these tests. I bet there would be a lot less pregnancies! You really have to want to adopt to do this!! However, as stressful as that sounds, it really was very relaxed interview. We both left feeling like we answered everything truthful and hoping for the best!
Our second H.S. was much more laid back. It was a training session, not so much an interview. There were four other America World adoptive couples, an adoptive mom of 7 (or 9- I can’t quite remember), and an adult adoptee. The stories from the mom and adult adoptee were awesome. I am really glad they were there to give their testimonies. The rest of the training was making sure we are prepared for having a biracial adoptive family. Scary, but necessary.
The next two H.S. are individual interviews. Ryan and I will both get interviewed separately. I am assuming the questions will be geared more towards making sure we are emotionally ready to handle parenthood. All the books I have been reading talk a lot about making sure the parents are emotionally stable. Our kiddo could have some serious “issues” and if we have our own “issues” that haven’t been dealt with then we are all in trouble. Hopefully my “issues” aren’t anything out of the norm! We all have sommmmme issues right?? She also is going to check our house to make sure it is baby ready! This makes me super excited, but also kind of panicky. We still have plenty of time before the baby gets here, but we better get ready! Some things on our list to buy and install are: fire extinguisher, new batteries for fire alarms, baby proof all our drawers (yikes!), outlet covers for all of our electric sockets. Those are pretty much it which isn’t that bad, but I am not really looking forward to having baby proofed drawers and no baby! However, I will do whatever it takes!!!
Our first H.S. was in Huntsville and she just drilled us with an 1 1/2 hours of questions. They ranged from “Why do you want to adopt?”, to “What are your strengths and weakness of your marriage” to anything else you could possibly think of couple related. I would love to see how people who are wanting to get pregnant would do on these tests. I bet there would be a lot less pregnancies! You really have to want to adopt to do this!! However, as stressful as that sounds, it really was very relaxed interview. We both left feeling like we answered everything truthful and hoping for the best!
Our second H.S. was much more laid back. It was a training session, not so much an interview. There were four other America World adoptive couples, an adoptive mom of 7 (or 9- I can’t quite remember), and an adult adoptee. The stories from the mom and adult adoptee were awesome. I am really glad they were there to give their testimonies. The rest of the training was making sure we are prepared for having a biracial adoptive family. Scary, but necessary.
The next two H.S. are individual interviews. Ryan and I will both get interviewed separately. I am assuming the questions will be geared more towards making sure we are emotionally ready to handle parenthood. All the books I have been reading talk a lot about making sure the parents are emotionally stable. Our kiddo could have some serious “issues” and if we have our own “issues” that haven’t been dealt with then we are all in trouble. Hopefully my “issues” aren’t anything out of the norm! We all have sommmmme issues right?? She also is going to check our house to make sure it is baby ready! This makes me super excited, but also kind of panicky. We still have plenty of time before the baby gets here, but we better get ready! Some things on our list to buy and install are: fire extinguisher, new batteries for fire alarms, baby proof all our drawers (yikes!), outlet covers for all of our electric sockets. Those are pretty much it which isn’t that bad, but I am not really looking forward to having baby proofed drawers and no baby! However, I will do whatever it takes!!!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Headed to Hunstville...
Tonight we have our first homestudy interview!! Yahh! Some prayers would be greatly appreciated. I haven't posted about this appointment yet because I was nervous something would come up, and we wouldn't be able to go have it! Here we are though, on our way! I say this everytime, but I really can't believe we are doing this!!! :) :) :) :)
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Quick Update
Blood Work-- CHECK!
TB Test-- CHECK!
Financial Statement- CHECK!
Employment Letters- Sent off to higher people to fill out- CHECK!
Physical Appointment- Soon this week?- Probably!!!
TB Test-- CHECK!
Financial Statement- CHECK!
Employment Letters- Sent off to higher people to fill out- CHECK!
Physical Appointment- Soon this week?- Probably!!!
Blood Work ^
Ryan acting "hipster" and our final paper *we* have to fill out for our Home Study!!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Defining Paper Pregnant or the Paper Chase
When I first started stalking reading adoption blogs I quickly learned that to adopt a baby you had to compile something called the Dossier. I have seen lots of post about how it is hard to get together all the paper work. I have also even seen pictures of families turning in their dossier. I was THRILLED to get to start our dossier! Until I got the email with all the guidelines. There was probably at least a weekend full of dread at the pages, and pages, and pages, of pages explaining what to get, how to get it, and what to do after you get it. I was overwhelmed, but eventually I sat down actually read all the guidelines and started my To Do list. THENNN I got the Home Study paper work. Now this is something I hadn't really heard much about. I knew I had to have one, but I thought that was just the interviews. I didn't know the Home Study paperwork is actually the bulk of the dossier! So once again I got overwhelmed, then I got organized and NOW we are really close to having our Home Study paper work ready to submit!! We will submit this packet of paper work then we will have four interviews. Here are the documents we have to have to turn in our Home Study:
Home Study Application- about 30 pages
Home Study Questionnaires- 5 pages of single spaced questions, we had to separately fill out.
Criminal Background Check
Photo copies of our DL and SS cards
Guardianship Form
Residential History Form
Medical Exam Forms
Home Ownership Proof
Birth Certificate Copies- Less than 5 years old
Marriage License Copies- Less than 5 years old
Health Insurance Coverage Proof
Pet Vaccination Proof
1040 Tax Form
Financial Statement
Floor plan showing all dimensions and purposes of all rooms
Employment Verification Letters- each parent has to submit one
Reading Agreement- We each have to read a total of 7 books.
Three reference forms.
All that doesn't SEEM to be a whole lot, I know. However, all of those forms have lots of questions to be answered that are hard to track down. We had a hard time finding out specific details of some of those forms and that is what takes awhile. Also, Ryan is super busy with work, the cellar, and seminary, so I have been collecting all these documents. If you know us well, you probably know that Ryan takes care of ALL our important stuff. So, it has been a little hard for me to track down copies and proof and that kind of stuff!
We also have a tons of forms that just had to be signed and I didn't list. Now some of those forms also have to be notarized. Again, not a big deal, right? Well anyone who notarizes our forms have to have a license that doesn't expire until 2014. Thankfully everyone I have talked to or made an appointment with have been in this 2014 window, so yahhh!! We actually haven't had any snags yet! God is really making this pretty smooth for us and I am soooo grateful!!
All we have left for our home study is:
Employment Verification Forms- We started working on those.
Financial Statement- Hopefully we will finish this today!
Our Medical Exam- Should be this week.
And that is iiiiiiiiiiiit!!! Woohoooooo!!!!! My goal is for the end of this week to have all of those underway!
So that is the Home Study paperwork...
Once we send all this in, then we will have 4 interviews and keep working on our Dossier paperwork...That is a post for another day!!!
Home Study Application- about 30 pages
Home Study Questionnaires- 5 pages of single spaced questions, we had to separately fill out.
Criminal Background Check
Photo copies of our DL and SS cards
Guardianship Form
Residential History Form
Medical Exam Forms
Home Ownership Proof
Birth Certificate Copies- Less than 5 years old
Marriage License Copies- Less than 5 years old
Health Insurance Coverage Proof
Pet Vaccination Proof
1040 Tax Form
Financial Statement
Floor plan showing all dimensions and purposes of all rooms
Employment Verification Letters- each parent has to submit one
Reading Agreement- We each have to read a total of 7 books.
Three reference forms.
All that doesn't SEEM to be a whole lot, I know. However, all of those forms have lots of questions to be answered that are hard to track down. We had a hard time finding out specific details of some of those forms and that is what takes awhile. Also, Ryan is super busy with work, the cellar, and seminary, so I have been collecting all these documents. If you know us well, you probably know that Ryan takes care of ALL our important stuff. So, it has been a little hard for me to track down copies and proof and that kind of stuff!
We also have a tons of forms that just had to be signed and I didn't list. Now some of those forms also have to be notarized. Again, not a big deal, right? Well anyone who notarizes our forms have to have a license that doesn't expire until 2014. Thankfully everyone I have talked to or made an appointment with have been in this 2014 window, so yahhh!! We actually haven't had any snags yet! God is really making this pretty smooth for us and I am soooo grateful!!
All we have left for our home study is:
Employment Verification Forms- We started working on those.
Financial Statement- Hopefully we will finish this today!
Our Medical Exam- Should be this week.
And that is iiiiiiiiiiiit!!! Woohoooooo!!!!! My goal is for the end of this week to have all of those underway!
So that is the Home Study paperwork...
Once we send all this in, then we will have 4 interviews and keep working on our Dossier paperwork...That is a post for another day!!!
Friday, August 26, 2011
TGIF!!
I'm not sure how to creatively start this post so I am just going to jump in and give the details!! Yeahhh for having details to share!!!!
I mailed off our initial agency agreement paperwork on Monday. I was really bummed that we had to wait those few extra days because Ryan and I were really busy during the weekend. So I mailed it after school on Monday and saw on Wednesday that it had a confirmed delivery on the USPS website. I thought well I hope I will hear something before this week is over. I was secretly hoping for our Family Coordinator (FC) this week, but thought it was a long shot.
Then at around 5:45 yesterday (Thursday) I got an email saying they got our paperwork and we should get a FC within the next week or so. I was happy about it! I love that America World has been so great about constantly updating me!!
Work was crazy today and I thought surely I won't hear anything until next week. In case you missed it there was an earthquake and the America World offices were slightly effected by it. So anyway!! To make a long story short I got a phone call around 2:45 this afternoon from a long distance number! It was our FC!!!! Yahhhhh!!!!!
A perfect way to end a looooong week!!! I seriously cannot believe this is real and really happening!! I have been waiting a long time to write these words....
Now to start our DOSSIER!!!!!
I mailed off our initial agency agreement paperwork on Monday. I was really bummed that we had to wait those few extra days because Ryan and I were really busy during the weekend. So I mailed it after school on Monday and saw on Wednesday that it had a confirmed delivery on the USPS website. I thought well I hope I will hear something before this week is over. I was secretly hoping for our Family Coordinator (FC) this week, but thought it was a long shot.
Then at around 5:45 yesterday (Thursday) I got an email saying they got our paperwork and we should get a FC within the next week or so. I was happy about it! I love that America World has been so great about constantly updating me!!
Work was crazy today and I thought surely I won't hear anything until next week. In case you missed it there was an earthquake and the America World offices were slightly effected by it. So anyway!! To make a long story short I got a phone call around 2:45 this afternoon from a long distance number! It was our FC!!!! Yahhhhh!!!!!
A perfect way to end a looooong week!!! I seriously cannot believe this is real and really happening!! I have been waiting a long time to write these words....
Now to start our DOSSIER!!!!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Please sign here!
Today we mailed our paper work to get assigned our Family Coordinator.
We signed a bunch of papers saying we agree and understand that lots could happen between now and getting a baby. The next step is to get assigned our Family Coordinator. Once we get her we will get started on our dossier. The dossier is the mountain of paperwork that will be sent over to Ethiopia. This is also what we have to wait until I am 25 to submit.My personal timeline goal for this would be my birthday January 19th! Once we send that off we will be on the waitlist! Then the fun part begins!! After our dossier makes it to Ethiopia we will be officially in the second part of the adoption. Our second trimester :) Pretty much every single family I have seen has had a different time of waiting so I honestly have no idea how long we will wait. Obviously we pray it won't be too long!! The third trimester begins when we get that magical phone call that we have been matched! We will get to see a picture of our baby and accept or reject him or her. We requested a boy, but I have seen when people get a girl. Rare, but I guess you never know! If we accept, (I can't imagine not, but then again you never know) we will have to wait for a court date in Ethiopia. Once we get our court date Ryan and I will get to go meet our sweet baby! I believe it is about a week in country. That will be the first of two trips. We will come home, honestly I am not sure why this is, but I will find out! Then we go back and pick up the baby for good. Our
"gotcha" day. Ohhhhh what a great and wonderful day that will be!!
So there is a brief outline of the process we are beginning!!
Our first wedding as "expecting" parents :)
Adoptive Father and Adoptive Mother Signature!!
First of many checks!
We signed a bunch of papers saying we agree and understand that lots could happen between now and getting a baby. The next step is to get assigned our Family Coordinator. Once we get her we will get started on our dossier. The dossier is the mountain of paperwork that will be sent over to Ethiopia. This is also what we have to wait until I am 25 to submit.My personal timeline goal for this would be my birthday January 19th! Once we send that off we will be on the waitlist! Then the fun part begins!! After our dossier makes it to Ethiopia we will be officially in the second part of the adoption. Our second trimester :) Pretty much every single family I have seen has had a different time of waiting so I honestly have no idea how long we will wait. Obviously we pray it won't be too long!! The third trimester begins when we get that magical phone call that we have been matched! We will get to see a picture of our baby and accept or reject him or her. We requested a boy, but I have seen when people get a girl. Rare, but I guess you never know! If we accept, (I can't imagine not, but then again you never know) we will have to wait for a court date in Ethiopia. Once we get our court date Ryan and I will get to go meet our sweet baby! I believe it is about a week in country. That will be the first of two trips. We will come home, honestly I am not sure why this is, but I will find out! Then we go back and pick up the baby for good. Our
"gotcha" day. Ohhhhh what a great and wonderful day that will be!!
So there is a brief outline of the process we are beginning!!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Our story...
I have been waiting a really long time to write a post like this and now I am soooo excited to be able to!
Part 1:
Ryan and I have decided to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. We have both been on the same page and officially wanting to start our family this way since February. However, about that time was when I was informed that we could not even start the paperwork for our baby until one of us is almost 25. So I was really bummed and upset. I actually prayed for God to take away my desire to adopt a baby. Life continued and (TMI) we decided to give God full control and see if we got pregnant before we were 25. I got a little caught up in that and passed the time with obviously no baby. I remember even telling my friend that I don't even want to adopt right now. That was like the magic phrase because I instantly realized that God had been at work. He literally answered my prayer by letting me be occupied with trying to get pregnant. Well the summer came and I just was floating along. Then one morning about a week before I went to Venezuela I woke up with a mission. I wanted to know why I thought I had to wait until two months before I was 25 to start the adoption process. I looked through all of my adoption emails and they all said to wait until I was six months from 25. Enter me spazzing out realizing that we are in the six months window and we could possibly start the process. It was an exciting day.
Part 2:
I called Ryan and we starting re-evaluating agencies we wanted to use. Originally I wanted to use Gladney, however I realized that they were not a strong faith based agency. This process already has God all over it, so I wanted an agency that would focus on God at the center of our adoption. We did some more research and talked to some references and decided on America World Adoption Agency. This agency seemed so God focused it was just perfect! An added bonus and big plus is that we actually know a couple using this agency!! We filled out the pre-application and requested an information packet. Then we left for Venezuela. During our trip I know God was affirming this choice in our life. I had four different adoption comments made towards me that really just sealed the deal for me! We came home and found out we were allowed to apply! On Thursday night around 6 we sent in our application and fee. (I point out that we had to pay for the sole reason of showing that this is a committed decision. My engineer-minded husband would not have paid if we weren't serious about this!) The website said they would contact us within 10 business days. I was excited, but a little nervous and scared. This was real!! Honestly, I was probably more scared than excited. That allllll changed the very next day, Friday. I was about to get ready for school and I got an email. That email said that it was rare they never have follow up questions, but our application looked great and she was sending it to the officially people! She said that we should be getting some exciting news early the next week. I went bananas. I am sure this is possibly what it feels like when a women gets two pink lines.
Part 3:
We decided it was safe to say that we would be officially starting the process and we started telling our family and very closest friends. God definitely answered some of my huge prayer requests. Overall, it was a really exciting weekend. We got some unsure emotions, but that was to be expected. We know that any doubts and fears will be erased the minute we see our sweet baby!
Part 4:
This week started and I was super busy at work. Another blessing from God. We didn't hear anything until Wednesday! I was starting to worry and then I got a phone call right before they were closing their offices for the day. We were sent an email with about ten documents attached that we have to fill out and mail in. Once AWAA receives those documents we will be assigned a Family Coordinator and a Social Worker.
So that is where we are right now. It is just the beginning of our adoption journey!!!
I will answer some common questions in another blog post soon! I think this one is long enough :)
Part 1:
Ryan and I have decided to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. We have both been on the same page and officially wanting to start our family this way since February. However, about that time was when I was informed that we could not even start the paperwork for our baby until one of us is almost 25. So I was really bummed and upset. I actually prayed for God to take away my desire to adopt a baby. Life continued and (TMI) we decided to give God full control and see if we got pregnant before we were 25. I got a little caught up in that and passed the time with obviously no baby. I remember even telling my friend that I don't even want to adopt right now. That was like the magic phrase because I instantly realized that God had been at work. He literally answered my prayer by letting me be occupied with trying to get pregnant. Well the summer came and I just was floating along. Then one morning about a week before I went to Venezuela I woke up with a mission. I wanted to know why I thought I had to wait until two months before I was 25 to start the adoption process. I looked through all of my adoption emails and they all said to wait until I was six months from 25. Enter me spazzing out realizing that we are in the six months window and we could possibly start the process. It was an exciting day.
Part 2:
I called Ryan and we starting re-evaluating agencies we wanted to use. Originally I wanted to use Gladney, however I realized that they were not a strong faith based agency. This process already has God all over it, so I wanted an agency that would focus on God at the center of our adoption. We did some more research and talked to some references and decided on America World Adoption Agency. This agency seemed so God focused it was just perfect! An added bonus and big plus is that we actually know a couple using this agency!! We filled out the pre-application and requested an information packet. Then we left for Venezuela. During our trip I know God was affirming this choice in our life. I had four different adoption comments made towards me that really just sealed the deal for me! We came home and found out we were allowed to apply! On Thursday night around 6 we sent in our application and fee. (I point out that we had to pay for the sole reason of showing that this is a committed decision. My engineer-minded husband would not have paid if we weren't serious about this!) The website said they would contact us within 10 business days. I was excited, but a little nervous and scared. This was real!! Honestly, I was probably more scared than excited. That allllll changed the very next day, Friday. I was about to get ready for school and I got an email. That email said that it was rare they never have follow up questions, but our application looked great and she was sending it to the officially people! She said that we should be getting some exciting news early the next week. I went bananas. I am sure this is possibly what it feels like when a women gets two pink lines.
Part 3:
We decided it was safe to say that we would be officially starting the process and we started telling our family and very closest friends. God definitely answered some of my huge prayer requests. Overall, it was a really exciting weekend. We got some unsure emotions, but that was to be expected. We know that any doubts and fears will be erased the minute we see our sweet baby!
Part 4:
This week started and I was super busy at work. Another blessing from God. We didn't hear anything until Wednesday! I was starting to worry and then I got a phone call right before they were closing their offices for the day. We were sent an email with about ten documents attached that we have to fill out and mail in. Once AWAA receives those documents we will be assigned a Family Coordinator and a Social Worker.
So that is where we are right now. It is just the beginning of our adoption journey!!!
I will answer some common questions in another blog post soon! I think this one is long enough :)
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