Cool news...

We received a letter from AAI while we were gone over Christmas.

Basically, it said the wait time for a referral of an infant is now shorter than we had been previously told.

Referrals are now being made to those whose dossiers were sent to ET at the end of July.

So if this affects us at all, that could possibly mean that we could expect a referral toward April or May. Or not. Who knows.

So our prayer is that we receive a referral and our court date before August, when the courts shut down for rainy season. For 3 months.

So that's all we know for now.

Just one step at a time.

But we sure are ready to see our girl's face!

Just thinking...

We spent Friday afternoon/evening putting up and decorating our Christmas tree.

We do this each year and end the day watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by the glow of the tree lights, while munching on cookies and drinking hot chocolate.

The girls love helping with the tree and each year look forward to hanging their ornaments that we have been collecting since they were born. (When they are all married and have their own trees, mine will be so empty!)

I usually hand out the ornaments and Billie assists with the hanging, to avoid the "cluster" effect.

As I watched my girls do something that is so normal to them, my thoughts drifted to the daughter that I've not had the privilege to meet yet.

What will she think of this tradition that we have? Will she approach it by jumping in with both feet, or will she hang back to see what happens?

Will she even be old enough to realize what we are doing? Or will she be so young that she just merges into this part of our family like she will merge into so many other aspects of our family life? Just as a newborn biological child just "picks up" these things that we do as a family.

Then I started thinking about the fact that we could have her home by next Christmas.

Wow.

That's an exhilarating and terrifying thought all at the same time.

What a blessing for Billie and I to have one more daughter to love and teach about the greatest Love of all.

What a blessing for our girls to have one more sister to share a room with...laugh with...play with...fight with...and love.

What a blessing for our family to have one more daughter with which to share the true meaning of Christmas.

This season, I am so thankful for this journey that the Lord has brought us on. It hasn't been without its bumps in the road.

But because of those bumps we will be even more grateful when we reach our destination.

Fingerprints...check!

Yesterday was the long awaited fingerprint appointment. We drove to Atlanta on Monday night and stayed at a hotel in order to avoid having to make the drive from Hawkinsville (2 1/2 hours) for our 8am date with the Dept. of Homeland Security.

We were a tad late, having underestimated the back roads traffic...it's been so long since we've lived in a busy city!

We had to leave everything in the car. No purse, camera, cell phone, etc...I'm surprised that they let us bring the girls in!

I was assisted by a rather nonchalant gentleman...I didn't feel the need to explain to him just how important his job was at that very moment!

Billie and I were both finished about 20 minutes after we walked in the door. I felt that there should be more waiting since we had driven so far...but they wouldn't have accommodated me anyway.

So that's that. Pretty unexciting if you think about it, but a rather necessary part of this whole journey. So that makes it exciting for US!

Also found out today that our dossier was sent to ET last Friday, which just happened to be Billie's 31st birthday! It arrived on Monday. I'm not sure how AAI works as far as our log in date is concerned.

I'll let you know just as soon as I know!

For now...we're on our way!

Alright!

We have a fingerprint appointment! Just got back from Atlanta today and we get to go back next Tuesday. Our appointment is for 8am, so we will probably crash with some friends on Monday night, so that the 2 hour drive isn't quite so brutal.

Just one more step down...a few more to go!

Good times...

Today I received an envelope from the Dept. of Homeland Security. Seems our I600A made it to the right place. Finally.

Hopefully in 2-4 weeks we'll have a fingerprint appointment.

The paper says that this should be finished in the next 90 days. We'll see.

You know how government stuff goes!

Anyway...a bit of relief that everything made it to where it's supposed to be.

Now on to more waiting!

Too cool!

I was just surfing online the other day when I came across this:

Now I know that this little girl's first name is probably Ella and the middle name is Grace. So it's not exactly Ellagrace's name...but I thought that it was cool anyway!

And here we are, thinking we were being original! I guess we're still a little bit on the original side, since her first name will be the two names joined together.

Anyway...I finally got our I600A sent off again. Hopefully my friend in the brown uniform can get it to the right place.

Fingers are crossed!

A sigh of relief...

Today I received my I600A application, birth certificates and check back in the mail.

I guess it takes a while for the USPS to return something to a person.

At least I have it now.

I'm half tempted to drive it to Atlanta myself just to make sure it gets where it needs to be. We're still contemplating that one.

I will probably give it another shot. This time I will use the lovely brown truck again.

Second time is a charm I hope!

Stinkin USCIS office...

I can't believe they don't have a phone number!

We were given the wrong address to file our I600A. I tracked it to Atlanta and it showed up as received. Turns out, it was received at the wrong address, but was handed back over to the postman to be returned to the sender. That would be me. I'm the sender.

That was last Friday. It's now Thursday and I still don't have my returned package yet. So needless to say, I called the bank yesterday and cancelled my $830 check. If someone stole my package, at least they can't cash the check now.

So one of two things has happened. Either (1) the envelope is on its way to my house OR (2) the nice postman delivered it to the correct address.

If it's the second option, when the USCIS office goes to cash the check, they won't be able to do so. Then I'll have to mail another check. Oy Vey...

If only there was a phone number so that I could call and actually talk to a human. That would be nice. After all, our tax dollars are paying these people. I should at least be able to get ahold of them.

In other news...our dossier was sent to the state department on Tuesday. That's the same day AAI received our paperwork in the mail. That's what I call a quick turnaround.

Our dossier will not be taking its trip to Ethiopia for another 2 weeks or so. That's okay though. I was just hoping for it to be on its way by the end of the month.

As long as things are progressing...

The USCIS office on the other hand...not so much.

**Update**

Found out yesterday that our dossier could possibly be on its way to Ethiopia in the next week! This is much, much sooner than anticipated. And for that, we are all very excited!

As for now, our dossier is in transit to Washington state (see post below.) Should be there by Tuesday. I'm trying not to track it every few hours!

A little obsessive, do you think?!? :-)

Nah...

Also, we changed our requested age. We have now requested a girl age birth-5 years.

A sweet lady at AAI informed me that we could possibly wait longer for an older child. That goes completely against what I have always thought. She said that the average wait for a girl age 18mo and up will be longer than for an infant. (An infant is a child under 12 months of age.)

I was told that the average wait for the request of a girl age infant-5 yrs is about 7-8 months. Could be longer, could be shorter.

So since we are not opposed to a baby (actually, the more I think about it, the more excited I get about having another crawler around the house!), we had our homestudy changed to the new age request.

We've had quite a reality check the last couple of days. This is really happening!

When I told Billie that our dossier could be headed to Ethiopia so soon, the first thing he said was, "we really need money".

Yup.

We lack about $14,000 or so to complete this. $6,500 for the Ethiopia program fee and the rest for travel and Ellagrace's visa. We're not worrying though. Yeah, it's a little nervewracking...especially if we recieve our referral as fast as Emily and Jay did...but what will we gain by worrying?

Not a dern thing. Not a minute, not an hour, not a day...and definitely NOT $14,000!

My job this coming week is to fill out and mail grant applications. If you know anyone that would be willing to donate frequent flyer miles, please let me know. I'm not sure how all of that works, but I'm more than willing to find out!

Thank you for your prayers and support. We treasure it all!

Dossier complete!

Our dossier is complete. Finally. All of the running around and notarizing and phone calls are done!

By 3:00 today, our dossier will be on a lovely brown truck being driven by a lovely man in a lovely brown uniform. On its way to the airport for its big trip across the country.

Whew.

I can equate this early part of the adoption process to the first 8 months of pregnancy.

All of the excitement thinking about this new life. A lot of work getting organized and prepared.

Clothing purchased...bedroom ready...name chosen...

I have a feeling that this next part is going to be like that last 4 weeks of pregnancy.

All of the anticipation. And then you still have to get through that last month.

It's long.

Very long.

Like the "begging the doctor to deliver you early because you can't handle being preggers one more day" kind of long.

That's what I'm anticipating.

You see, we are so excited about this new member of our family. We absolutely can't wait to feast our eyes on her face.

The waiting from here on out is going to be the hardest part.

But that's okay.

Because once the due date is here...all of the waiting...is worth it.

Here are a couple of photos from the last 2 days:

Dossier (laid out on our 6 person table)

Our family at the UPS drop off. (It was very difficult to hand this envelope over. Billie asked me if I would rather drive to Washington state and hand it over myself! I told him that that's not a bad idea...he just rolled his eyes. Seriously though, I almost made the man pry it out of my hands. I wanted him to understand the importance of what was in his hands!)

And it's off...

Our I600A is on its way to the Atlanta Citizen and Immigration Services office. Hopefully it will be there tomorrow.

What's next?

We wait for our fingerprinting appointment.

We get the appointment.

We wait.

We drive 2 hours to Atlanta to get fingerprinted.

We drive home.

We wait some more.

Eventually we will receive our 171H...this will allow us to bring Ellagrace back into the country as a United States citizen.

And that, my friends, will be a glorious day!

We covet your prayers and support.

Thank you!

A huge sigh of relief...

Today in the mail...I received...yes, you guessed it! Our homestudy report is finally in our hands! I am so relieved. I cannot even begin to explain the relief.

I'm so thankful that this part of our process is over.

Next step...mail our I600A form to Atlanta and await our fingerprinting appointment.

I'll have our dossier in the mail to AAI in the next few days.

Then we're about halfway there. We just need to pray that we get our fingerprinting appointment quickly. It could take us anywhere from no time up to a few months for that part of the process. I would love to have this part finished before Christmas.

After USCIS stuff, the wait for a referral begins.

This is really happening!

YIPPPPEEEE!

If you can't tell, I'm just a little excited! Why, you ask? Well, 30 minutes ago, I emailed the OK to our homestudy agency for our report draft. And that, my friends, is such a load off.

What's next, you may ask? Hopefully next week we will have 3 copies of the report in our hands. One report for AAI, one for the USCIS paperwork, and one copy for us. Our dossier is just about completed (with the exception of final notarizing, and a few more passport-sized photos) then we can mail off our end of the process.

Our I600A application will be mailed off to USCIS next week, as soon as we have our homestudy in our eager little hands.

Then the wait begins.

So that's all I know for now. I'll let you know what I know when I know it!

The end is in sight!

Well...the end of the homestudy process anyway! This part has taken longer than we expected. Like 3 months longer. I received an email this afternoon from our new caseworker. Bless her heart...she has been so bogged down with extra homestudies that she shouldn't have had to mess with...but praise the Lord, she's about done with ours! So after several phone calls to the DFCS office (those people are near to impossible) and a couple of visits (to DFCS) for our last paper, the light is getting brighter!

Hi Shana,

I have the DFCS clearance! Technically this is supposed to come from the DFCS office fax (rather than the family) so I will need the original one by mail. Please put that in the mail today, ok?
I am not about to ask you to have them fax it to us again under the circumstances.

I am off the hook for jury duty today. My plan is to finish your homestudy tonite – but I may have a few questions so if you can, please check your email periodically. I will email you if I have any questions. So, look for a few emails from me and/or a draft copy to review.

As soon as the draft is approved by you, I will print several copies and get them in the mail to you. Please let me know if they need to be notarized. Assuming Im on jury duty tomorrow, that may be hard for me to take care of immediately, so just let me know.

Thanks!
S****

I never thought I would be so glad to see anything finished. Of course, this just means that we're on to the next step of waiting! But that's okay...one down, a few more to go!

We're coming sweet girl!

Getting it together...

We are slowly but surely getting our home study together after the upheaval of our caseworker not being on the "case" anymore, if you will.

Just have to mail a few things to One World, then we can start wrapping this up. I'm so ready to be done with this part. It has definitely taken longer than we had originally anticipated.

I have to admit to a bit of concern over the next step. Once we turn our dossier in to AAI and send them a check for the first part of the international fee, the money that we have saved up will be gone. We are saving monthly for this endeavour, but what we are saving is simply not enough money as fast as we will need it.

So I said all that to say that once the dossier is turned in, our "security net" of having funds available is no longer in existence. We will be in a free-fall of God's grace and provision. And that reality is completely exiting and completely terrifying all in the same breath.

We've said from the beginning that this was a step of faith for us and our family. Never will that statement be more true than in the very near future.

We covet your prayers that all of our needs for this time will be met by the one that owns the cattle on a thousand hills. For all of this is His anyway!

One of the downs of the adoption process...

I received a rather unexpected email this morning from the director of our homestudy agency.

Hi Billie and Shana,

Effective immediately, K*** is no longer working with our agency. Im sorry that this has happened during your homestudy process, but I think in the end it will be in your best interest anyway. We will do what we can to expedite the remainder of this for you.

Once I have your paperwork from K***, we will wrap up your homestudy as quickly as possible.

I will let you know when I see the financial information if I have any concerns, but again, our goal is to help you get approved. Please don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions or concerns.

S****

This is just one of "downs" of the process. I'm trying to accept this with grace and dignity. But what I want to do is rant and rave! God isn't taken by surprise by any of this...He has this all under control. So as soon as I know what's going on, I'll update again.

Just pray that this gets taken care of as soon as possible!

Small Poll...

Okay...I know that I'm a little OCD. I can admit it. Billie and I were talking about our 4th daughter's name. How should we spell it?

1. EllaGrace (capital 'g')
2. Ellagrace (lowercase 'g')

Here's why I'm trying to decide:

1. All of the girls have 9 letters in their names.
2. All of their first names are broken down into 2 syllables then 1 syllable (Jen-nah Kay, Lor-ah beth, Au-drey Ann)
3. JennahKay and AudreyAnn have an additional capital letter and Lorahbeth doesn't (it didn't look right to me to have the 'b' capitalized in her name)

So here's what I'm thinking:

1. If I capitalize the 'g' then Lorahbeth will be the only one without an additional capitalized letter in her name.
2. If I leave the 'g' lowercase then every other girl will have the second part of their first names capitalized (JennahKay, Lorahbeth, AudreyAnn, Ellagrace) and that would really keep my OCD happy!

I know that I'm WAY overthinking this. I know that in the scheme of eternity, it really doesn't matter...but right now, it really matters to me.

I really started something when we gave Lorahbeth a double first name! Then when we found out that AudreyAnn was a girl, I couldn't very well give her a "normal" first name (then she would have been left out)!

So if all 3 viewers of this blog will kindly leave a comment about how you think our 4th daughter's name should be spelled, I would appreciate it.

And to add to my OCD...since we probably won't know the exact date of her birth, we may get to choose. This may be daunting to some...not me! She will have an August birthday. Then we'll have the last 6 months of the year covered! AudreyAnn really threw me off when she came on July 31st. I think that was God's way of reminding me that I'm not in charge of everything!

Here are our family's birthdays:

July - AudreyAnn
August - Daughter #4
September - Lorahbeth
October - Shana
November - Billie
December - JennahKay

So anyway...I know that this was a slightly pointless post, but it was fun all the same...and now you have a little glimpse into my mind (crazy though it is)!

Not much to report...

Not much to report now. Just waiting on our homestudy report to be finalized. In the meantime, I've been running around gathering up stuff for our dossier. The stuff that is highlighted is what we have gathered already.

We will be ready to send in our dossier to AAI at the end of August. Just waiting for the funds to be there for the first part of the international fee.

The next step after the homestudy report is finished is to apply for our I600A, then be fingerprinted, then wait for our 171H...we need the 171H in order to bring EllaGrace into the country.

I found this website the other day that sells adoption t-shirts. I found some really cute ones.

1. Our Family
2. I'm Expecting
3. My Sister
4. The Stork
5. I'm in Love (My personal fave!)

Please continue to be in prayer for us as we patiently wait and trust in God's timing for us and our child. It's hard to keep from being frustrated because things aren't moving as fast as I want them too. I just have to remember that God has ordained a very specific little brown eyed girl for our family, and He is moving in such a way that will allow us to receive her at the appointed time.

We truly covet your prayers!

Homestudy #3...

DONE!! I really can't believe that our homestudy process is over already. We still have a few more things to get: letter from Billie's employer, my medical form, Billie's medical form, and our TB tests.

My medical form is in the process of being completed...hopefully by the end of the week. Billie's form is proving to be a bit more difficult. You see, he doesn't ever get sick, so he's not an established patient anywhere. Which means that he can't get in to see a doctor until sometime in July...which is a month too long. We have a friend at church that's a ER doctor, so he's going to see if he can pull a few strings with her so that we can get this show on the road.

So that's all we lack until our homestudy is "officially" done. Our caseworker is on the ball and will probably have our report done lickety-split.

We were fingerprinted yesterday...electronically...which was pretty dern cool.

Stay tuned...

Homestudy #2...

DONE! Kim came this morning and did our individual interviews. We gave her some more of our paperwork and we've got some more to work on today.

We have to get our background check fingerprints done today as well. Warner Robins, here we come!

Our first homestudy!

We had our first homestudy yesterday! Our caseworker's name is Kim and she is the sweetest thing. She took a tour of the house and gave us a rundown of what the next 2 visits will be like. We were given a couple more things to sign before her next visit, which is tomorrow. She said that she'll probably have our report written up by this weekend. Unbelievable, seeing as though these things can take from 6-8m weeks to finish.

I have to order copies of the girls' birth certificates, which I didn't know until yesterday that I needed to have. But after those are here and we get our reference letters in and get our background check done, we'll be good to go.

Like I've said before, this is a huge leap of faith for us. I'm starting to stress about the money part of this. We are waiting for our dossier packet to arrive from AAI, so after that's finished and turned in, we owe 1/2 of the big chunk, then when we get our referral, we owe the other 1/2...then there's still travel to take care of. I know that God is bigger than all of this, and I'm trying my hardest not to stress...but those $$$ signs are HUGE. But my Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills! And THAT my friends, is very exciting to know!

Update more later...

You've gotta love Priority Mail!

I dropped our first bit of paperwork to send to AAI, which is located in WA, at 4:30 afternoon on Friday. It's already in Federal Way, WA, which is only 2 hrs from it's destination, in Port Angeles. So that means that AAI should have our stuff in their hands by tomorrow afternoon. We'll see! I promise that I'm not going to track everything like this on the blog, but I just love being able to track important info!

I'm sure to be a total nut-case one our dossier is completed and UPS has a hold of it!

We're running to get her...

Billie and the girls were playing with sidewalk chalk a couple of weeks ago. They asked me to come outside and lay down in the driveway so that they could trace me. I looked down and saw that my driveway looked like a crime scene. Then it was all explained to me. This is our family running to Ethiopia to get our daughter.

These are the steps that we have to take to get EllaGrace. First, and most important, we have to pray.

Then we have to get on an airplane...

...and cross the ocean...

Then we'll be in Africa! If you're wondering why we're missing a child in this photo, it's because she was having a "moment" on the front porch!

I can't wait to show her these pictures so that she will know just how excited we were about her. We also got our application sent off! Here goes nothing (and everything)!

And I also made my first purchase for our new little girl! I couldn't resist this Cabage Patch doll!

God is so cool!

Last Thursday and Friday, Billie was at a missions conference. He met a lady there that is from Ethiopia but now lives in the states. He introduced himself to her and told her that we are getting ready to start the adoption process in Ethiopia. He said that she was so excited!

Her sister-in-law, who also lives in the states adopted from Ethiopia not too long ago. They still have family and friends there that they are in constant contact with. Anyway, her SIL did what would be considered a private adoption here in the states. Just with an attorney in Ethiopia.

Long story short, the lady that Billie met is waiting for her husband to come home from being at the sister's house this past week. He will be bringing the info back for us so that we can look into this option of a "private" adoption.

This lady (sorry, I can't remember her name!) told Billie today that she and her husband have a heart for finding homes for Ethiopian orphans and that they have been specifically praying for an opportunity to help a family find and adopt a child. Looks like we're that family!

This is so cool because it's an option that I would never have thought possible. But seeing as though this family is Ethiopian, they have all kinds of contacts and they're wanting to help us find our daughter.

Just when you think things are going to go the "normal" route, watch out!! God may just pull a fast one on you and make things even cooler than they would've been otherwise!

Perhaps this is God's way of taking away some of the financial burden. There will still be plenty of paperwork and I'm counting on still about a year's worth of wait from start to finish, but we're ready and willing to see where this road will take us.

I'll update as things progress. We're going to walk through this door, as it is confirmation to us that we're doing what we've been called to do.

Be in prayer that God will grant us grace on this journey. (He will literally be granting us EllaGrace!)

This is how you know...

I've seen this on several adoption blogs and wanted to add it to my own! Enjoy!


YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ADOPTIVE PARENT IF ...

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.

3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.

4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.

5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who've experienced the blessing of adoption.

6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents.

7. You've been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)

8. You'd no idea how you'd afford to adopt, but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing He'd provide. (& He does!)

9. You've taken an airplane half-way around the world with a child you just met.

10. You believe God's heart's for adoption.

11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart & family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.

12. You know what the word "Dossier" means & you can actually pronounce it correctly!

Get ready, EllaGrace...here we come!

We're ready to start our "paper pregnancy"! Through the course of the past few months, our hearts have been moved to consider another country. I guess I should say that Billie's heart has made the jump, as mine was already there!

We have found a wonderful agency and will be applying in the beginning of June. This is a full 2 years before we thought we would be taking this step! The Lord has indeed worked this out for us. Billie and I are in total agreement that this is the time for our family.

The program we have chosen is Ethiopia. This country has been on my heart since the very beginning and Billie told me the other night that this was his first choice too!

So if you're wondering "why Ethiopia?"...it's a simple response that I read on another blog...we're going to Ethiopia because our daughter is there.

Today the girls and I were talking about African and Asian elephants and we were looking at the globe and pointing out the different countries and continents. I pointed out Ethiopia to the girls and asked them what they thought about their little sister coming from Africa. They were all smiles and asked when we would be going to get her! Since they have a very limited concept of time I didn't go into the long process that we are about to start. I just told them that I would let them know when the time came.

Thank you Lord for leading us in this direction! We are trusting Him for the funds to make this possible. We know that we are called to care for the orphans and we're believing that He will make that possible for us!

We will truly need your prayers in the coming months, for they are sure to be difficult on the patience level! (And I'm not the most patient person to begin with...especially when it's something that I really have my hear set on!)

Hang on, EllaGrace...we're coming as fast as we can! We love you!