WE ARE DTE!!!!!!! 2/19/10

After 8 months of paperwork and waiting our papers are finally on the way to Ethiopia!!! We are DTE(Dossier to Ethiopia)!!!! What this means is our huge amounts of paperwork is now in line with everyone elses!!! We are now on "The LIST" We will now wait our turn for our Agency to give us our referral! It is complicated to explain how long we will wait. We are requesting siblings a boy 0-6 mths and a girl 18mth-5 yrs. So we will go in line with those requesting siblings which could be a longer wait. The current wait times are 3-6 mths for a boy and 7-9 mths for a girl. If at our turn siblings are not available we would be willing to accept a single referral for a boy and then we would hopefully choose an unrelated girl from the WCL(waiting child list..a list of older children) We are approved for 2 children 0-6 yrs. Now it feels real!!!!!! We know our children are coming... it is just a matter of when!!!!

Next on the list...After thanking GOD!!

1) Raise the funds we will need for the rest of the process
2) Get all the vacinations we need
3) Get the kids rooms ready to fit 2 more kids!
4) Pray for the hearts of some of our family members to be opened to our decision and our future children

Winter weather...

Well our last winter blast has put us on hold again...our paperwork arrived at our Adoption agency on last Friday..in D.C!! Needless to say our Dossier set on a desk somewhere unattended for almost a week. We were supposed to be DTE today but looks like we are waiting another week! At this point what is another delay! With the luck we have had getting all our paperwork done..OF COURSE a blizzard would hit DC the day of paperwork arrived! This time I actually laughed..totally not in my control! So hopefully next week!

DTE soon!!!

So that precious piece of paper Finally came in the mail yesterday!!! I quickly made copies and headed off to Fedex it overnight to our adoption agency! While there I made my husband pose for a quick picture...this is a huge milestone..8 1/2 months of paperwork...tears..praying...praying some more.. to mail it was the best feeling ever! As I was driving home from mailing it I was pondering when my DTE date would be and started laughing when I realized how funny God can be at times..Each time I got pregnant whether by chance or by trying I ALWAYS got pregnant in February so I guess he saw fit for another February pregnancy:)

So my Family coordinator emailed me today:

Dear Anthony & Paige,

Your dossier was successfully received today. Thank you for sending it so quickly. It will be taken next week (weather permitting) to be further authenticated at the State Department and Ethiopian Embassy. After we receive it back from the Embassy, we send them out within 1 to two weeks.

If there are no delays at all, your dossier will be sent to Ethiopia next Friday.

Have a blessed weekend with the paper-chasing weight off of your shoulders!

So What Does DTE mean?(Dossier to Ethiopia)
This is the date that they go by when considering your place in line for a refferal. How they determine this is by your request..
We requested a boy 0-6 mths and a girl 18mth-5yrs old(siblings) if siblings are not available when it is our turn the we would have a choice to accept just a baby boy then we would try to adopt a girl from the WCL(waiting child list) This is a list of older children that are available for adoption.

How long will we wait??
Well right now the current wait time is 3-6 mths for a boy and 8-11 mths for a girl but because we are requesting siblings we are really unsure of how long..we are praying with the rate at which children are being adopted lately that it will not be too long but that is up to the Lord. As frustrated as I get I know he has our children already picked out and we just have to wait to meet them!
So thank you all for your prayers and support and keep checking in for updates!

Waiting Patiently....

Well we are at 6 weeks waiting for our approvel for our I71H form. I have calls in to USCIS and emails hopefully I will hear something soon or it will come in the mail! So many families are waiting for paperwork in order to be able to travel to pick up thier children..this waiting pales in comparison. To see there faces and know they are waiting for you is heart wrenching. If they can wait through that I can certaianly wait through this. I have to say all the waiting is the hardest part of this journey..waiting on others and government offices. I know in the end our children will be here and this will be long forgotten but we still pray for patience and focus our eyes towards our children.
 We were wonderfully blessed by a large donation by friends, words can't explain how greatful we are!! All money we raise goes right into our account to help bring home our children!
Praying to have an exciting announcement soon:)