Our Ethiopian Blessings: Kisses from Katie

Monday, December 7, 2009

Kisses from Katie

Everyday we have moments where we feel overwhelmed....Parenting is a daily challenge. Katie is a testimony to Gods grace, through him all things are possible. Katie is a 21yr old who lives in Uganda with her 14 adopted children. She is so inspiring, read her blog http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ Do you know any 21yr olds who are as amazing as her?!

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Why Ethiopia?

We are sure many are not only questioning why more children but why Ethiopia. This is a journey that we have not come upon lightly but through much thought and prayer. Adoption had been on our hearts for years before we (or the Lord) decided the time was right. After attending a AWAA adoption seminar we felt led to go to Ethiopia. There are many other countries but we felt strongly this is where our children are! Yes children..we are praying for siblings!

Here are some other reasons Why Ethiopia:

1 in 10 children die before thier 1st birthday

1 in 6 children die before their 5th birthday

60% of children are stunted by malnutrition

The doctor to child ratio is 1 to 24,000

Half of the children will never attend school

Life expectancy is 45 yrs of age

There are roughly 4.8 million orphans

12/18/10 $7300 flights,visas in-country and xtras
10/22/10 $5600 Trip #1 2 flights, in country and xtras
9/17/20 $560 Homestudy Update
7/16/10 Mailed Acceptence letter!!!!!
7/16/10 $9,385.00 final agency fees
7/15/10 REFERRAL!!
4/5/10 $82.00 typhoid vaccination
2/4/10 $7,700 Dossier submission
11/14/09 $830.00 USCIS fee
10/10/09 $7.99 Anths extra passport photos
8/27/09 $7.99 my extra passport photos
8/26/09 $93.00 amazon for required reading books
8/25/09 $94.00 2nd homestudy visit fee
8/25/09 $20.00 2 doc.to be state certified
8/25/09 $6.00 County certification fee
7/27/09 2nd passport received
7/22/09 2 birth cert. $20.00
7/17/09 Homestudy,post placement fee $3744.00
6/30/09 Photo fee $15.00
6/30/09 Passport processing fee $25.00
6/30/09 Passport fee (anthony)$75.00
6/29/09 Passport received
6/22/09 Hague Training $175.00
6/18/09 Overnight envelope
6/18/09 1st payment $1500.00
6/10/09 Money order fee $1.00
6/10/09 Passport processing fee $25.00
6/10/09 Photo fee $15.00
6/10/09 Passport fee(mine) $75.00
5/29/09 2nd day mail envelope
5/29/09 Application fee $250.00

The Many Steps To Our Adoption

Our Adoption Process will take us any where from 12-18mths from start to finish, These are all the steps we have to follow to meet our children:

*Apply with America World Adoption Agency *Receive approval of application

*Send in signed paperwork, including agency agreement and releases (6/17/09)

*Complete home study (includes a series of home visits and interviews with a social worker to discuss our backgrounds, marriage, financial situation, reason for adopting, etc.)

*File with U.S. CIS (Citizen Immigration Services) for our child’s visa to enter the United States.

*Get fingerprinted by the FBI

*Assemble our dossier (an extensive set of documents required by the Ethiopian government for our adoption). The following items must be included in our dossier:

*America World sends our dossier to Ethiopia for translation into Amharic

*Dossier presented to the Ministry of Women and Childrens affairs(MOWA)in Ethiopia for approvel includes:

Application letter

Certified copies of our birth certificates

Certified copies or our marriage certificate

Medical letters from our doctors following physical examinations

Proof of medical and life insurance

Personal financial information (tax documents, etc.)

Employment verification letters

Three letters of reference

Police reports

Power of attorney

US passports

Photos of our family and our home

171-H approval (after our application is approved by USCIS)

Have all dossier documents notarized, certified, and authenticated

*Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWA) in Ethiopia for approval

**REFERRAL DAY – MOWA sends a child’s picture and medical report to us

We have the opportunity to accept or reject (which we don’t anticipate doing!) our referral

After accepting our referral, the court process takes place in Ethiopia to grant us official guardianship of our child

Approximately 8-10 weeks after accepting our referral, we will travel to Ethiopia to attend court for our children.

We will then travel home without our childrfen and wait approx. another 4-8 weeks to travel again.

On this trip we will:

Obtain a visa for our children and complete a few other paperwork items

Fly home with our children!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Kisses from Katie

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