Adoption update & Questions answered!

It's time for another adoption update! We will update you on where we are in the process & try to answer some of the questions people frequently ask us!

On Monday, April 18th Stephen & I had our first "real" talk with our Gladney Africa case worker, Sara! It was a great conversation that cleared up a lot of the questions that we had and also gave us some good info on what it will be like moving forward. We'll try to break it down for you in this post so you know where we're headed!

On my birthday (April 20th) Stephen & I mailed two things. First, we mailed our final fee toGladney - praise the Lord! It wasn't even due until mid May but thanks to our garage sale we made all the money we needed for this payment! Felt good to mail that off! Second, we mailed the remaining paperwork to Kate at KBS. Kate is the one who will be authenticating all of our paperwork that goes to Ethiopia. So at this point the paperwork that is in OUR hands is OVER WITH!

To explain a little further......common questions we get asked!

So what do you have left to do in the paperwork process?

Since we are Gladney approved, the next step is to send another set of paperwork to Ethiopia. This set of paperwork is called a dossier. We have been working on the dossier alongside of our Gladney paperwork, since a lot of it is the same. However, there are more items in the dossier that aren't in our Gladney file and everything has to be notarized and authenticated before sending to Ethiopia. We have hired Kate, of KBS Dossiers, to help us authenticate our paperwork. We are done with what we can do so we sent it all to Kate to be authenticated on my birthday! SO NOW we are waiting for an appointment to get fingerprinted. We should be getting that letter in the mail any day, and after we get fingerprinted we'll be waiting for the approval letter. That is the last step in the dossier process.

What then?

Once we get the approval letter, we'll send it to Kate and she'll authenticate it. Once she has everything together she will get the dossier to DC, then they will get it to Ethiopia!

So when are you on the "wait list"?

We are officially on the wait list the day the dossier is sent to Ethiopia! Which we are praying will be in the next month or so!

How long is the wait?

Right now, the average time that families are waiting for an infant (under 1) is 13 months. But like anything, it's not set in stone, that is just the average of what they've seen. They aren't just giving us the next kid on the list but someone who matches what we preferenced that we wanted. So during that wait time, they are trying to refer us to the baby that is perfect for us. Once they have "matched" us it's called a referral. That's what we'll be waiting for! Our Gladney case worker will call us and tell us they have Camp's information and tell us to get by a computer and they will email us pictures and medical info.

So, what's the deal - is Camp his name?

yes, Camp is his name! When he is born in Africa he will have a name but since he will be a baby when he comes to us, we have decided to rename him. We do want to keep his African name as a middle name to preserve his African heritage. We won't know what that is however until we are referred to him! You can see a video here that explains why we named him Camp:http://vimeo.com/22956020

Back to Camp - what did you say you wanted?

We said we wanted an infant boy age 0-12 months. We also are approved & open to a sibling set. It's not something we are "banking on" but if it comes up and there is a need we feel like God would prepare us for that. So, that's also a possibility :)

Is Camp already born?

Unlike domestic adoption, we aren't matched with a birth mom then waiting for our baby to be born. Camp most likely isn't born yet. He might not have a mom when he comes to us. We won't know what his story is but his family will either have to relinquish their rights as his parents, or he will be a true orphan - no living family members. So to answer your question - he probably isn't born, maybe conceived but we won't really know! We are still possibly a year out of getting matched with him....

What happens after you are referred to him?

Then we'll get to go to Ethiopia for the court trip. We will have an appointment with the judge and hopefully pass court the first time. We'll get to meet that sweet boy and spend some time with him at the Gladney care center. We will spend roughly a week in ET and along with going to court, we'll get to do some sight seeing, cultural events, visit Gladney centers and spend some time with Camp.

Then......when does he come to Midland?

We'll come back to Texas and wait for them to set our embassy date. Hopefully this wait won't be too long! Then we're back to ET for another week and this time get to be with Camp the whole time, he'll be in our care and we'll get to spend the week with him. I hope to get some good photographs of Ethiopia for his room while we are there :) Then once we get everything done we are on a plane back home!

When do you think that will be (when Camp comes home)?

It's so hard to say because no one really knows, just God. But we are thinking/hoping/praying for late summer early fall 2012. However, it could be way after this or before! Once we get referred to him, we will still have to make the 2 trips and do some waiting in between. With the craziness of an international adoption things could change at any moment - the wait times have threatened to get way longer, but I am trying not go go there because only God knows when we'll get precious Camp!

So what do you do in between now & then?

First off we PRAY. We wait. We pray. We wait.

We said we wouldn't start working on his room until we were officially on the wait list - so hopefully this summer we'll start working on that to keep us busy. We'll still be doing fundraising - our next big payment is when we accept our referral - so we have some time to raise that pretty penny. We'll sell Camp shirts, have a noonday collection trunk show, maybe do another garage sale, and continue to spread the sweet story that God has given us!

How can we pray?

Right now, you can pray that we get our fingerprinting appointment quickly and we can send off everything to ET (Ethiopia) in the next month or so! There is still a lot of uncertainty in ET, so pray for their government and that adoption cases will be quickly passing through court.

In general, you can pray for his mom. We have no idea what her story is or will be but we pray fervently that if she doesn't know the Lord, that she will come to know Him. That is the biggest prayer! We pray that this story affects others & will move others to examine their lives and really seek and ask God if adoption is something He's calling them to. {I already have a list of about 6 families names that have told me adoption is something they are considering! Praise the Lord!} So let's be in prayer for those families and the other families who are patiently waiting to bring their children home.

We love you all very much and are so honored to be walking this walk with yall. Thank you for your love, support, prayers and encouragement! We hope this story inspires you, moves you to do something, to make a change - even it if it's just for one. God is good & faithful and will provide everything you need! Trust in Him!

PS- I added a few links on the top left of the blog to big posts about the adoption -

if you are new & want to catch up with us ;)