In April 2010, we decided to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. Here is the timeline of our journey:
4/06/2010: Apply to Small World Adoption Agency
4/21/2010: Accepted into Small World Adoption’s Ethiopia program!!!
5/14/2010: Mail in first payment (for homestudy)
5/18/2010: Contacted by our social worker to begin homestudy. We have a big stack of documents to fill out!
6/30/2010: Social worker home visit. Went so well! Got fingerprinted, too.
7/26/2010: FINISHED HOMESTUDY. Phew.
8/25/2010: Sent in application for Both Hands fundraiser.
9/02/2010: Payed agency fee.
9/03/2010: Received dossier packet to complete.
9/20/2010: Kickoff meeting for Both Hands Fundraiser with its creator J.T. Olson. What an amazing night. This is going to be a phenomenal project.
10/12/10: CIS biometrics appointment. YAY!
10/17/10: Both Hands envelope stuffing party. Was so fun and wonderful. Our team put together over 400 support letters!
11/05/10: MAILED OFF OUR DOSSIER. Can't even tell you how wonderful this feels!!!
11/06/10: Had a wonderful Both Hands project. Perfect day.
11/15/10: Received our letter from Homeland Security letting us know that our I-600A petition has been approved.
1/24/11: In an excruciating waiting period. Our dossier is being certified. We just received word that two of our documents were notarized by people who weren't actually notaries (seriously?!), so we have to redo them. If this is our only kink, we are golden.
3/9/11: Found out the the Ministry of Women's affairs in Ethiopia has decided to slow down the adoption process by 90% in order to more carefully process the children's files. The whole Internet seems to be in a panic! We are saddened by the possibility of having to wait longer, but are happy for ANY changes that protect the children from trafficking and/or unethical procurement.
3/9/11: Found out the the Ministry of Women's affairs in Ethiopia has decided to slow down the adoption process by 90% in order to more carefully process the children's files. The whole Internet seems to be in a panic! We are saddened by the possibility of having to wait longer, but are happy for ANY changes that protect the children from trafficking and/or unethical procurement.
7/19/11: REFERRAL!!! We received a referral of a beautiful five month old girl. So much younger than we were expecting...kind of a shock. We are overcome with joy! And then a distinct sadness for this little one who has suffered so much loss in her short life already. We start praying fervently for her and preparing to be parents soon!
3/8/12: An update! After eight grueling months of waiting for a court date (which we still don't have), we were finally able to see another picture of her and get more information about this sweet, sweet precious little girl. Our program coordinator is in Ethiopia right now sorting out things on their end, and he was able to visit with our girl and send us pictures and some encouraging information. The road ahead is still potentially very long, but our hope has most definitely been renewed!
3/8/12: An update! After eight grueling months of waiting for a court date (which we still don't have), we were finally able to see another picture of her and get more information about this sweet, sweet precious little girl. Our program coordinator is in Ethiopia right now sorting out things on their end, and he was able to visit with our girl and send us pictures and some encouraging information. The road ahead is still potentially very long, but our hope has most definitely been renewed!
