They're OURS!!!! Oh how I've been dying to type those words! We got "the call" at 7am this morning! Matt jumped out of bed to get the phone & didn't even wake me UP! My sweet Gabriel came to his dad's rescue at 7:45am and whispered in my ear that we'd passed court. Oh how I LOVE that he knew I'd be HAPPY to be woken up for that news!
Sooooooo.....here they are! Bo & Zena Ross!!!
Thank you SO MUCH for all your prayers!!! They have been soooo needed!!!!
Please continue to pray for a quick embassy date and a smooth transition once we get home.
t's been a short long hard month.....we've had no news at all on our case. As the days drag on with nothing to keep us going we fill them up with swim team, camping, gardening, animals, and everything else that goes with running a family of seven. The emptiness and longing gets pushed farther into a corner,drowned put by the fullness of each day.
And then I watch a video like this one....
All the hopes, all the dreams, all the wishing, all the planning, all the love is instantly brought back to the surface and I am a crying mess.
AND I am reminded instantly that All the waiting is worth it! All the longing is worth it! All the sleepless nights and tears shed, worth it. Every penny and minute spent waiting, worth it!
God already knows the date and time we will be forever united! He knows absolutely what is best for them....and it will be exactly what is best for us! As I watch my sweet friend Jamie love on her son from Guatemala, I am again reminded that God loves orphans...even more than I do! It took them 42 months to complete their adoption!!!!! 3 1/2 years of waiting and praying and hoping and longing. Yet I look into her eyes and into the eyes of her 9 year old son and I know that it is worth it!
God has filled my life with amazing things to keep me busy....namely 5 incredible little people that ncall me Mom. He has given me some amazing levels of peace about our situation. He knows how much I long to hold them because He put that longing there!
The waiting is so very hard, harder than i ever imagined. Yet I rest assured that it will all be worth it!
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do. Helen Keller
My Blog List
Support Orphans in Uganda with SUPER cute stuff!
REQUIRED READING! Amazima is run by a 19 year old girl - her story is MORE than worth reading!
Why Ethiopia???
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday • One in ten children die before their first birthday • 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old • 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition • The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years • 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world) • 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone •There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia and the country is twice the size of Texas • Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa • Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals) • Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school • Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002 • Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
Round 2!!!
Nov 3, 2010 - Decide to adopt through CCI
Nov 9 - Contact Home Study Agency
Nov 16 - Decide to adopt B & B
Nov 18 - 1st meeting for Home Study - $1700
Nov 22 - send in application to CCI with $250 application fee
Dec 11 - we've been approved to adopt through CCI!
Dec 13 - sent in contract & $5800 - $5200 agency fee, $100 home study review fee, $500 humanitarian aid fee
Jan 24, 2011 - realized we need NEW birth certificates and marriage certificates - $122.50 to have them overnighted!!!
Jan 26 - spent $16.15 to express mail Dossier cover sheet & Power of Attorney to Olympia for AUTHENTICATION with $30 for processing
Jan 27 - received new birth & marriage certificates!!!
Jan 29 - received notarized copy of home study
Jan 31 - spent $16.15 to express mail I600a application to USCIS with $890 to process our application to bring an orphan into the US
Feb 2 - spent $16.15 to overnight our DOSSIER to The Assistant Stork in VA who will courier it through the State Dept & The Ethiopian Embassy - sent checks for $80 to Stork, $16 to State Dept, and $$189.60 to Embassy
Feb 2 - priority mailed 2 copies of our Dossier to CCI with a check for the first half of our country fee - $8500
Mar 1 - our case is submitted to the Ethiopian court
Mar 18 - FINGERPRINTED for our USCIS clearance
Mar 24 - received court date of May 20th!!!!
Mar 30 - 171h arrived!
Apr 12 - plane tickets purchased! $1372 each - what a BARGAIN!
May 14 - receive news our court date has been canceled....we travel anyway
May 26 - able to give our consent to the ET courts
Jun 1 - travel home
Jul 25 - passed court in ET - they're OURS!!!
Jul 26 - paid the 2nd half of the in-country fee - $8,500
Aug 11 - submitted to Embassy
Sept 12 - Embassy requests interview with birthmom
Oct 11 - Reschedule interview to Oct 25 due to car trouble
Oct 25 - We're CLEARED!
Oct 26 - Given Embassy interview date of Nov 2nd
Oct 27 - Tickets purchased, 1 adult & 2 children - $2800
Oct 31 - leave for ETHIOPIA!
Nov 4 - check out of hotel - $280
Nov 5 - return HOME!
Total so far: $31,878 and worth EVERY penny!
Our Adoption Timeline!
Nov 10, 08 - Sent application to America World & $250 application fee Dec 10, 08 - Sent first program payment fee of $1350 to AWAA. Dec 22, 08 - Accepted into the Ethiopia Program at AWAA. Jan 7, 09 - Requested birth certificates & marriage certificate....sent $60 (? can't remember exact amt!) to State of Wa & Or for these documents. Jan 15, 09 - paid $95 for the online Hague Compliance training Jan 21, 09 - Matt & Jill physicals and fingerprinting...$20 for fingerprints....sent fingerprints with $30 to FBI for background check. Jan 21, 09 - TB test for everyone :) yeah! $16 each. Feb 18, 09 - sent $1800 for homestudy & $1050 for post adoption reports. Feb 19, 09 - first meeting with the social worker doing the homestudy Feb 23, 09 - Jill's 1:1 interview with social worker for homestudy Mar 1, 09 - Matt's 1:1 interview with social worker & home inspection for homestudy Mar 2, 09 - sent $30 to California for the background check for the homestudy April 16, 09 - final meeting with social worker for completion of homestudy April 22, 09 - over-nighted I600A paperwork to social worker who included notarized copy of HOMESTUDY (it's DONE!!!) and over-nighted I600A & Homestudy to USCIS - with $870 Apr 30,09 - had all paperwork notarized - for FREE thanks SUSIE! Over-nighted certification paperwork to Olympia with $30. May 1, 09 - received notification from USCIS that they'd rcvd our paperwork and would be sending us our fingerprinting appt in the next few days!!!! May 3 - paid $70 for our home study social workers travel expenses. May 4 - we have our fingerprinting appointment!!! It's set for May 27th....but I'm hoping to see if we can get in earlier - of course! May 5 - no chance to get an earlier fingerprinting appt :( May 7 - WOW! Our paperwork came back from Olympia already!!! Now we're just waiting on the I-171! May 27 - Fingerprints DONE!!! June 2 - Matt's fingerprints didn't go thru, he has to go back and have them redone :( June 4 - Matt's fingerprints are redone - pray they go thru this time!!! June 18 - spent $20 and 3o minutes making 3 copies of the Dossier June 20 - received our I-171H June 22 - overnighted Dossier to AWAA with $7500...of which $1000 will be refunded when we do our 3, 6, and 12 month post-placement visits June 26 - DTE!!! July 2 - Dossier arrives in Addis Ababa, ET July 26 - 1 month DTE Aug 24 - Amend request to include HIV+ child Aug 26 - 2 months DTE Sep 16 - Sent $450 to AWAA to update Home study to include HIV+ Sep 26 - 3 months DTE Oct 6 - Referral Call Oct 8- Sent in referral acceptance & $5435 Nov 11 - received first pics of Ellie since her referral!!! She is sooooo BEAUTIFUL! Nov 12- received court date of Dec 3 Nov 25 - received first "official" update on Ellie from AWAA - she's smiling & healthy & drop dead GORGEOUS!!! Dec 3 - WE PASS COURT!!!! Dec 21- Concrete travel dates - Jan 15-23 Dec 22 - bought plane tickets - $3244 for Matt & Jill Jan 13 - paid in country travel fees $3877 for 5 of us Jan 15 - left Spokane for Addis Ababa, ET Jan 18 - Metcha Day Jan 19 - Gotcha Day Jan 20 - Embassy Day. $400 for her visa. Jan 23 - HOME! Grand Total so far: $26,581
Colfax, Washington
Wife to Matt for 16 adventure filled years. Mom to 4 fantastic boys & one fabulous little girl! Owner of an amazing business that allows me lots of girl time & a chance to decide when that girl time is :) Lover of all things sparkly, fun, loud, and shouter from the mountain tops of the JOY OF ADOPTION!
