another update!

A few posts ago, I updated where we were in the dossier preparation.   Here is what we had left, and now what we have crossed out (yes, I added one...):

• Get some documents notarized (we are doing that this afternoon!)
• Get our power of attorney county and state certified
• Application letter (telling Ethiopia why we want to adopt)
• 2 more online classes for adoptive parent training
• take pictures of our house
• once it is reviewed....make 3 copies!  That is IT!
• Get last letter of recommendation notarized

So...I am getting the power of attorney county certified today and sending it off to get state certified.  Maybe I will clean the house and take pictures tonight!

Our home study is being revised just a little right now, but is basically approved by our adoption agency.  That will also go into our dossier.

It really has been so much easier than I thought!  Thank you, Lord!  It just took walking through it for it all to make sense.  There are just certain things that were intimidating, I think.  I can remember when I was in high school going to a college, looking at how huge it was, and thinking, "How do they even know what to do or where to go.  This is huge! The professors expect so much out of you, you have to figure out how a meal plan works, what each professor wants, where to buy books without a car, etc, etc, etc."  I felt like that with this paperwork. When I first started, I didn't know really what a dossier was...I had heard it tossed around, and knew that is was a bunch of paperwork.  But, I didn't know the difference between that and the home study, and when you do what.  I didn't have a clue as to what I should do first, what took more time to get back, what to send where, etc. Walking through this process has been an honor.  I have loved learning more about adoption and not feeling on the "outskirts" trying to look in.  It has been an honor to "chase" after our child and trust God for His sovereign timing in our family.  What a HUGE blessing!  I praise the Lord for His hand in all of this, and giving us this amazing journey!  This is only the very beginning of it unfolding!