Father's Day, Zoo, and Brodie's Tball

Explanation

Okay as promised I will explain to the best of my ability what "being on the waiting list" means. Within our agency there are three lists that you can choose to be on and you can really be on all three or what ever ones that you want. There's the boys, girls, and siblings lists. Whoever is first on the list of whatever child they are looking to place they try to make the best match that is possible. When you decide as a family what you are open to that includes gender, age range, and special needs. So needless to say they will go down the list until there is a great match for that child or children. Once that family is matched they are off that list and any other lists that they are on. Each month our agency AGCI gives us new numbers according to what referrals are made and how much the list has moved up. So each month we will have new numbers to share with you. They are telling us that it could be up to 18 months for us to get a referral but they are just saying this because of all the uncertainties in Ethiopia right now. No one has had to wait over 12 months so far so hopefully that doesn't change for the worse and actually goes quicker. At this point we just sit and wait, do a lot of praying and keeping busy and celebrate with the families that have receive referrals so that we move slowly up the list. It's all His perfect timing! Thank goodness!

We Finally Made It!!!!

Well, we have finally made it to the waiting list! Drumroll Please............................

If you didn't get that here it is again....a little bit better!

I'll write more soon and explain a little better on what this all means but I couldn't wait any longer and just had to post the wonderful news we heard tonight! Praise the Lord! He is so great to us!

Where we're at.

Well, just thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on where we're at in the adoption. Last week we finished up our dossier paperwork and made the required 3 copies, 2 to send in with the original and 1 for us to keep. We are now waiting for our biometrics (fingerprinting) appt. on the 22nd of this month in Detroit. This will give us our last needed document needed to complete officially complete our dossier. Our agency is now letting families turn in completed dossiers and go on the waiting list once the biometrics appt. is completed. Just recently families had to wait to get the FDL(document) back from USCIS in order to go on the wait list but since it has been taking so long and the actual wait list is long they have changed it. So needless to say once we are done with our appt. on the 22nd we will be sending in our dossier with our 2nd large check to our agency. Our caseworker reviews them on Fridays so we'll learn from there if there are any corrections to make, once we make those corrections and everything is approved we officially go on the waiting list!!! This all means that at that point everything is out of our hands.....no paperwork or anything else for us but to just wait. Huh, easier said than done! We know that everything is done in His timing and it will all lead us directly to our daughter just at the appointed time. Hopefully in the next week or two we will come to you with our number on the wait list.

Claire got into the baby powder! Doesn't she look proud!

The Zoo with great friends, The boys playing War, & Claire with her baby

Brodie's End of Preschool Program and last day at the park



I know I share a lot of videos on here but I just have to share this one. I stole it from another AGCI adoptive family that is actually in the video. It actually gave me goosebumps!

Where we are.

Well, alot of people are asking where we are in our adoption process. When I start to explain and then explain what needs to happen next I start to see a glazed look come over their eyes. I'm sure they think we're crazy to be so excited about the step we just made thinking "Man they have a loooong ways to go!" but honestly it's really not that far. I don't bore them with all the steps we had to take to actually get to where we are at this point but if they only knew they would be shouting and yelling, as well. So here it goes the run down put simply of where we are......

Recieve notarized copies of homestudy
Send in to USCIS for fingerprinting appt. then when completed receive FDL letter
Once we receive this letter we can formally send in our Dossier
When Dossier is approved and we send in our next monetary installment we officially go on the "waiting list"
Once on the "waiting list" it's completely out of our hands and we waaiiiitttttt (One may ask how long this wait is. Well, average right now is 10-12 months but God can do anything so we have no idea)

Sometimes when people ask I really wish they would follow our blog but I really can't say "Well, we document all of this, just follow our blog." For those that do follow our blog here it is and yes I will still love to talk to you in person about it all. :) Sometimes it's just easier to see it laid out then try to follow someone trying to explain it all in person.

Just last night Joel and I watched a movie called "Black Gold". It's about the coffee industry in Ethiopia and what is happening to the coffee farmer there. It was very interesting and honestly quite sobering to hear all that is happening to these poor families that are working so hard.
I believe you can even watch it online (we got ours thru Netflix). It's an awesome look into Ethiopia and it's people, too so we were very interested in it. I tell you what it really makes you think about what coffee you drink.
http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/story.php


The Story:
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.
Against the backdrop of Tadesse's journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world's coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.