WAHOO!!!!!!
Our dossier made it to D.C. with no problems and was signed by the US Dept of State AND the Ethiopian Embassy in no less than 3 days! I think this has to be a record for getting a government regulated process completed ;)
AAI emailed us this afternoon to let us know that they had received our dossier, everything looked great, and it will be on it's way to Ethiopia tonight :) This puts us at #68 on their waiting list! Sixty-eighth place seems daunting, and Matt agreed he wished we were closer to the top. However, I just keep reminding myself that this is not a race and I'm not in a rush to have another child running around the house right this moment. Life with just D is great right now :)
We are officially on the wait list for "either gender, 1 or twins, age 0-6 months". I don't see this changing at the moment but we might decide that a child a bit older would be okay too. Per our agency guidelines, they will still need to be at least 9 months younger than Declan. So a birthdate no earlier than April 23, 2013. Things like that get my mind reeling. I could actually have a son or daughter in another part of the world right this moment. But maybe not, maybe they aren't even born yet. What is their birthday? Is it a he or she? Do we actually have twins? (This isn't likely.) What is their name? Where were they born? Why were they placed for adoption? What is their orphanage like? So many questions.
Well, anyway, needless to say we are excited and are thankful to be done with the paper-chasing portion. Twenty-three documents (all bundled together) are going to be making a transatlantic flight tonight :) I was hoping this would've been done by the beginning of June, but I'll take July 11th.
Ok, the question people will be asking... what now?? WAITING.... WAITING.... and more WAITING. When we receive information about our child it is called a referral. We can either accept or decline based on the information we are provided. So waiting for the referral is what we started doing today, and hope to receive one within a year or so. I'm not too optimistic about it moving any quicker than that; it might very well take longer. I should have an amazing amount of patience after this is all over!
We'll keep you posted over the next several months how we're progressing up the list :)
Prepare yourself to learn about Ethiopia too. I'll be posting tidbits about the country, customs, and culture as I learn. This waiting time is going to be Matt and I's learning time. We want to be well informed about our child's heritage, and are excited to get started.
A few things I know:
-known for coffee exports
-considered the cradle of the world
-bordered by Somalia, Dijibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, and Kenya
-Addis Ababa is the capital
-population roughly 85 million
-officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Our dossier made it to D.C. with no problems and was signed by the US Dept of State AND the Ethiopian Embassy in no less than 3 days! I think this has to be a record for getting a government regulated process completed ;)
AAI emailed us this afternoon to let us know that they had received our dossier, everything looked great, and it will be on it's way to Ethiopia tonight :) This puts us at #68 on their waiting list! Sixty-eighth place seems daunting, and Matt agreed he wished we were closer to the top. However, I just keep reminding myself that this is not a race and I'm not in a rush to have another child running around the house right this moment. Life with just D is great right now :)
We are officially on the wait list for "either gender, 1 or twins, age 0-6 months". I don't see this changing at the moment but we might decide that a child a bit older would be okay too. Per our agency guidelines, they will still need to be at least 9 months younger than Declan. So a birthdate no earlier than April 23, 2013. Things like that get my mind reeling. I could actually have a son or daughter in another part of the world right this moment. But maybe not, maybe they aren't even born yet. What is their birthday? Is it a he or she? Do we actually have twins? (This isn't likely.) What is their name? Where were they born? Why were they placed for adoption? What is their orphanage like? So many questions.
Well, anyway, needless to say we are excited and are thankful to be done with the paper-chasing portion. Twenty-three documents (all bundled together) are going to be making a transatlantic flight tonight :) I was hoping this would've been done by the beginning of June, but I'll take July 11th.
Ok, the question people will be asking... what now?? WAITING.... WAITING.... and more WAITING. When we receive information about our child it is called a referral. We can either accept or decline based on the information we are provided. So waiting for the referral is what we started doing today, and hope to receive one within a year or so. I'm not too optimistic about it moving any quicker than that; it might very well take longer. I should have an amazing amount of patience after this is all over!
We'll keep you posted over the next several months how we're progressing up the list :)
Prepare yourself to learn about Ethiopia too. I'll be posting tidbits about the country, customs, and culture as I learn. This waiting time is going to be Matt and I's learning time. We want to be well informed about our child's heritage, and are excited to get started.
A few things I know:
-known for coffee exports
-considered the cradle of the world
-bordered by Somalia, Dijibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, and Kenya
-Addis Ababa is the capital
-population roughly 85 million
-officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
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| Map is a bit outdated. Sudan has since split. |
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