Updates!

I was so blessed by my friend Michelle yesterday who wanted to know more details of our adoption and the process.  I told her that I really want to document it, and at the same time, right now it just seems like my updates would go something like this:

• Turned in this paperwork
• Completed that paperwork
• Looked up what I needed for this paperwork
• Contacted _____to fill out _____for that paperwork

...you get the idea...
But, she said she didn't care and wanted to know the details, and I know that I will want to look back and see all of the details, too.

So, this might bore some of you, but here is what I have been working on:

• Ordering the rest of our birth certificates for both our dossier and home study

**In case you are wondering what a dossier is...I get that question a lot and had no clue myself before I started all of this, here you go:  

dos·si·er  (ds-, dôs-) n.

A collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject.

[French, from Old French, bundle of papers labeled on the back, from dos, back, from Latin dorsum.]
So, basically it is a collection of paperwork that presents us as a family to the Ethiopian government.

A home study is sometimes called an "adoption study," and is a written report containing the findings of the social worker who has met on several occasions with the prospective adoptive parents, has visited their home, and who has investigated the health, medical, criminal, family and home background of the adoptive parents. The purpose of the home study is to help the court determine whether the adoptive parents are qualified to adopt a child, based on the criteria that have been established by state law.

• ordering and receiving our marriage license
• getting our tax returns for the last 3 years
• asking employer for a letter verifying the details of Brian's employment
• asking for letters of recommendation
• going to dr.'s appointments and getting the necessary paperwork (we still have Brian's left)
• getting medical information about our biological children
• getting a TBI criminal check
• getting our residential history form completed so that our social worker can do a child abuse check
• signing other paperwork for our home study agency

To work on in the NEAR future...

• getting my passport renewed
• completing adoptive parent education
• scheduling our 3 home study visits

And, there is plenty more, but that is what we are working on for now!

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For some reason, today I feel encouraged and "connected" to this sweet child.  As I do some of this paperwork, it makes me long to be able to see our child.  It makes me pray all the more for him/her.  I LOVE getting to do it (even though it can be hard to carve out time) because it makes me feel like I am fighting for this little one each step of the way, and we are getting closer and closer (even though it is still far away!) to meeting him/her!

If you think about it, pray for us in this paperwork season...that I will balance this and my kiddos at home well, not being in total "task mode."  And, pray for our little one who is still far away from us!

I will leave you with a picture of my sweet boy, who is about to be SIX!  AHHH!  Here is his "star of the week" poster that he made for his class: