We're in double digits!
It's been an incredible two months on the waiting list. We had our yard sale in June and raised over $500 thanks to everyone's donations! It was a fun day, and Thomas & Keller loved having a lemonade stand and raising money and telling customers about their little sister. It was also a great opportunity to tell our neighbors about our adoption. We have only lived in this house for a year, so we don't know our neighbors well, but many of them stopped by, so we were able to get to know them a little better and tell them about Elynne.
Since the yard sale there really hasn't been anything to do for our adoption. The paperwork is done and now we're just waiting. When we got on the list in June at #122 we estimated that based on the average of 3 referrals a month, we would be waiting about 40 months to hear that there was a little girl for us. But these last two months our agency has matched over 25 children with their families, so we have moved 25 spots on the waiting list to #97. We are so thankful and encouraged by this movement, and we're praying it continues!
When we got on the waiting list and thought it may be about 40 months until a referral, we decided to wait a year until we really focused again on fundraising. But with all this movement, we thought we should still do some things to raise money in the meantime. Just in the last two weeks we have been blessed with a couple of unexpected monetary donations from friends, as well as donations of mainly shoes and baby items for us to sell on Ebay and Craig's List. These two things together have totaled over $400 toward our adoption. We are so appreciative of your generosity and support!
It's been an exciting couple of months with this movement on the list. It's becoming more and more real!
Ways to pray:
- Please pray that this abnormal movement on the waiting list is the new normal. Pray that many children continue to be matched with their families.
- Pray for the people in our agencies and the people in Ethiopia who are working so hard to match these precious children to their families and get them home.
- Please pray for our fundraising. Pray that we are able to raise and save the money needed so that we do not have to take out an adoption loan when the time comes.
- Please continue to pray for Elynne (whether she's born or not, we don't know) and her biological family and her caregivers.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
We Are DTE!!!
I haven't written since April 4th because there hasn't been much to say. Our dossier was submitted to our agency in Kentucky on that date. Since then it has been reviewed multiple times to make sure everything is there, both in Kentucky and at our placing agency in Utah. It was sent to the capital of Utah to get the seal, whatever that's for, then to DC to the US and Ethiopia embassies to be translated and authenticated. We got an email last Monday saying it was being sent from Utah to Ethiopia, and we received a tracking number. Through FedEx tracking we watched it go from Utah to Memphis to Dubai and arrive in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Technology is so cool!!!
Thursday May 23, 2013 we were DTE, or Date To Ethiopia! It's kind of a big deal. We will talk about this date for years and years to come. Ethiopia adoptive families talk about their DTE and referral dates all the time, and it's what interested parents ask about when considering a country and agency. Those two dates give prospective families an idea of how long their wait for a child might be.
Speaking of wait times, it looks like ours will be very long. We are officially on the wait list and will receive our number the first week in June. Our number will probably be around 120. That means there are 120 families ahead of us. Each family has different specifications for what they are asking for, so only some of those will be asking for a little girl under 2 like us, but still, there are many many families in front of us. Ethiopia is a good program and has gained in popularity with other countries closing or going through changes. I'm thinking our wait will be close to two years. Peter thinks God will move and something will happen and it will be one year, but God is in the lives of all these other families too, and they are praying the same prayers we're praying, so I don't know. But anything is possible with God! When I get discouraged about the wait, I remind myself that we've been talking about adopting for two years, and those years flew by. But most importantly, we have two healthy beautiful boys. For many families on that list, their only hope of having a child is adoption. I heard someone say one time that those years are going to pass whether we're on the waiting list or not. That's so true, we feel like God has called us to do this, the time will pass either way.
So what are we doing in the meantime? We're saving and raising. One good thing about a long wait is it gives us more time to save money and raise money for the adoption costs. We had about 1/3 of it set aside before we began, but that is gone now with all the agency and home study fees and the government documents. We had to charge our last agency payment unfortunately, but have almost raised enough money to pay that off. We don't have anymore money due until we receive a referral. At that time we will have a large amount due to accept the referral, and then an even larger amount needed for travel expenses. I read the other day that airfare to Ethiopia is about $2600/ticket right now, and we will be traveling two times, and taking the boys the first trip. So thankfully we have this time to do yardsales, Facebook-A-Thons, t-shirt sales, etc.
We have a yardsale planned for June 15th and have received lots of donations of stuff to sell. People have been so generous, and it is greatly appreciated! The boys are going to do a lemonade and bake sale too, which they're very excited about. Grandma Pam started a Facebook-A-Thon which is an event where she and we invite our Facebook friends to donate just $5 and invite all their Facebook friends to do the same. It's kind of like a chain letter and ongoing because friends invite friend. People can donate anytime by going to PayPal, and giving to cnstover@hotmail.com or go to the expectingelynne.com website and click on donations and give through the 100 Good Wishes site. We can't tell you how much your donations and support mean to us. We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family. Thank You!
Current Prayer Requests:
- Please pray that we will have a good turnout at the yardsale and that through the yardsale and
Facebook-A-Thon we will be able to pay off this last agency payment
- Pray that Ethiopia will remain a stable and open program while we're waiting.
- Pray for Woudneh, the man in Ethiopia who matches families together with children. Please pray that with
this long waiting list, if he needs an assistant, someone will be hired to help him and keep things moving.
- As always, please pray for Elynne and her biological family.
Thank you all for your support!!!
Thursday May 23, 2013 we were DTE, or Date To Ethiopia! It's kind of a big deal. We will talk about this date for years and years to come. Ethiopia adoptive families talk about their DTE and referral dates all the time, and it's what interested parents ask about when considering a country and agency. Those two dates give prospective families an idea of how long their wait for a child might be.
Speaking of wait times, it looks like ours will be very long. We are officially on the wait list and will receive our number the first week in June. Our number will probably be around 120. That means there are 120 families ahead of us. Each family has different specifications for what they are asking for, so only some of those will be asking for a little girl under 2 like us, but still, there are many many families in front of us. Ethiopia is a good program and has gained in popularity with other countries closing or going through changes. I'm thinking our wait will be close to two years. Peter thinks God will move and something will happen and it will be one year, but God is in the lives of all these other families too, and they are praying the same prayers we're praying, so I don't know. But anything is possible with God! When I get discouraged about the wait, I remind myself that we've been talking about adopting for two years, and those years flew by. But most importantly, we have two healthy beautiful boys. For many families on that list, their only hope of having a child is adoption. I heard someone say one time that those years are going to pass whether we're on the waiting list or not. That's so true, we feel like God has called us to do this, the time will pass either way.
So what are we doing in the meantime? We're saving and raising. One good thing about a long wait is it gives us more time to save money and raise money for the adoption costs. We had about 1/3 of it set aside before we began, but that is gone now with all the agency and home study fees and the government documents. We had to charge our last agency payment unfortunately, but have almost raised enough money to pay that off. We don't have anymore money due until we receive a referral. At that time we will have a large amount due to accept the referral, and then an even larger amount needed for travel expenses. I read the other day that airfare to Ethiopia is about $2600/ticket right now, and we will be traveling two times, and taking the boys the first trip. So thankfully we have this time to do yardsales, Facebook-A-Thons, t-shirt sales, etc.
We have a yardsale planned for June 15th and have received lots of donations of stuff to sell. People have been so generous, and it is greatly appreciated! The boys are going to do a lemonade and bake sale too, which they're very excited about. Grandma Pam started a Facebook-A-Thon which is an event where she and we invite our Facebook friends to donate just $5 and invite all their Facebook friends to do the same. It's kind of like a chain letter and ongoing because friends invite friend. People can donate anytime by going to PayPal, and giving to cnstover@hotmail.com or go to the expectingelynne.com website and click on donations and give through the 100 Good Wishes site. We can't tell you how much your donations and support mean to us. We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family. Thank You!
Current Prayer Requests:
- Please pray that we will have a good turnout at the yardsale and that through the yardsale and
Facebook-A-Thon we will be able to pay off this last agency payment
- Pray that Ethiopia will remain a stable and open program while we're waiting.
- Pray for Woudneh, the man in Ethiopia who matches families together with children. Please pray that with
this long waiting list, if he needs an assistant, someone will be hired to help him and keep things moving.
- As always, please pray for Elynne and her biological family.
Thank you all for your support!!!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Dossier is Submitted!
Well, it's done. We received Peter's passport in the mail yesterday. He quickly signed it and I headed to UPS to overnight our dossier to our agency. My folder, that has held pages and pages of paperwork for eight months, is empty. It's a very strange feeling. It's all out of our hands now. It's up to our case worker, our agencies, Ethiopia, and ultimately God. Now we wait...and wait...and wait. For probably 15-18 months to be matched with a little girl who needs a home and family. Oh, and we decorate! I've been putting off decorating Elynne's room until now, and should probably wait a little longer b/c I'm sure if I painted now, I would change my mind many times over the next two years until she's home. But I have picked out a chandelier from Pottery Barn Kids and a dark skinned handmade doll from ETSY that I will probably order soon :)
As for prayers...
- Please pray that our documents are complete and that they reach West Sands before any are over 6 months old, which is later this month.
- Our dossier will travel to Kentucky, Utah, DC, and Ethiopia. Please pray for all the hands that will touch it as it is translated, authenticated, reviewed and sent to Ethiopia.
- As always, please pray for our process and for Elynne. She's probably not born yet, so please include her biological family in your prayers.
Like I said, it's a very strange feeling to have an empty folder and nothing on my "to do" list. We'll get our waiting list number soon, which will most likely be in the 100's, but it will be our number and we'll finally be on "the list".
We can never express how thankful we are for each of you and your support and prayers.
We'll let you know when we receive our number!
As for prayers...
- Please pray that our documents are complete and that they reach West Sands before any are over 6 months old, which is later this month.
- Our dossier will travel to Kentucky, Utah, DC, and Ethiopia. Please pray for all the hands that will touch it as it is translated, authenticated, reviewed and sent to Ethiopia.
- As always, please pray for our process and for Elynne. She's probably not born yet, so please include her biological family in your prayers.
Like I said, it's a very strange feeling to have an empty folder and nothing on my "to do" list. We'll get our waiting list number soon, which will most likely be in the 100's, but it will be our number and we'll finally be on "the list".
We can never express how thankful we are for each of you and your support and prayers.
We'll let you know when we receive our number!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Beginning the Dossier
We finally received our home study a couple weeks ago, and I quickly ran over to FedEx to send it along with the I600-a application to the USCIS office in Texas so that we could get that part of the process going. It was pretty cool to write a check to the Dept. of Homeland Security :) I've heard it takes about two weeks for them to send our appointment date and time and then another two weeks until we actually go to do our fringerprints.
So our case worker at our agency sent the Dossier packet at that time. I was wondering what additional documents could possibly be needed, b/c it seemed like we had done every background check, every piece of information that told anything about us. I was wrong. Unfortunately, since our home study took over ten weeks to be written, revised, notarized and sent to us, many of our documents have to be redone b/c everything needs to have been completed and notarized within 6 months of sending to our agency. So now we're working on new birth certificates and marriage license, new medical forms, and new employment letters. We also have to get letters from the bank stating we're in good standing, and also go to the police department to get a letter from them saying we're in good standing, b/c I guess local and federal fingerprints are not enough.
It's a crazy process, and it's very easy to get frustrated with it all, but there is a little girl at the other end of all of this that needs a home and who is desperately wanted. I told Peter a couple days back, when we were talking about some crazy thing we had to do, that it was hard to stand up for the process and justify to others that all this makes sense. He said "you don't have to". That's so true. Much of it doesn't make sense, and sometimes it's hard to believe that parts of this paperwork and this process are really necessary to bring a little girl into a safe and loving home. The only thing I can say to justify it is that this is an inter-country relationship between the US and Ethiopia, much of it is necessary to keep the peace. The US wants to make sure that these children being adopted into American families are legally orphaned and/or abandoned. Ethiopia wants to insure that these children are going to safe and loving homes. Governments in other countries, especially African countries do not operate like our US government, so that adds to the time everything takes. All Peter and I can do is remember who is orchestrating this whole thing. He is in control of our process, and however long it takes is however long He needs to prepare us and Elynne to join as a family.
Prayer Requests:
- Adoption Finances - We had a large portion saved, but it is now dwindling. We have a small fee due to our agency when we submit our dossier in a few months. We pray we are able to raise that money and avoid taking out a loan or using our credit card.
- Peace about the Timing - When we started the process, the timing to have our little one home was estimated at 2 years. That has probably increased now b/c of more and more families adopting from Ethiopia. We pray our process will move quickly, but I pray I will let go of this timeline I have in my head and accept that God knows what He's doing and we will have our little Elynne in His perfect time.
So our case worker at our agency sent the Dossier packet at that time. I was wondering what additional documents could possibly be needed, b/c it seemed like we had done every background check, every piece of information that told anything about us. I was wrong. Unfortunately, since our home study took over ten weeks to be written, revised, notarized and sent to us, many of our documents have to be redone b/c everything needs to have been completed and notarized within 6 months of sending to our agency. So now we're working on new birth certificates and marriage license, new medical forms, and new employment letters. We also have to get letters from the bank stating we're in good standing, and also go to the police department to get a letter from them saying we're in good standing, b/c I guess local and federal fingerprints are not enough.
It's a crazy process, and it's very easy to get frustrated with it all, but there is a little girl at the other end of all of this that needs a home and who is desperately wanted. I told Peter a couple days back, when we were talking about some crazy thing we had to do, that it was hard to stand up for the process and justify to others that all this makes sense. He said "you don't have to". That's so true. Much of it doesn't make sense, and sometimes it's hard to believe that parts of this paperwork and this process are really necessary to bring a little girl into a safe and loving home. The only thing I can say to justify it is that this is an inter-country relationship between the US and Ethiopia, much of it is necessary to keep the peace. The US wants to make sure that these children being adopted into American families are legally orphaned and/or abandoned. Ethiopia wants to insure that these children are going to safe and loving homes. Governments in other countries, especially African countries do not operate like our US government, so that adds to the time everything takes. All Peter and I can do is remember who is orchestrating this whole thing. He is in control of our process, and however long it takes is however long He needs to prepare us and Elynne to join as a family.
Prayer Requests:
- Adoption Finances - We had a large portion saved, but it is now dwindling. We have a small fee due to our agency when we submit our dossier in a few months. We pray we are able to raise that money and avoid taking out a loan or using our credit card.
- Peace about the Timing - When we started the process, the timing to have our little one home was estimated at 2 years. That has probably increased now b/c of more and more families adopting from Ethiopia. We pray our process will move quickly, but I pray I will let go of this timeline I have in my head and accept that God knows what He's doing and we will have our little Elynne in His perfect time.
Friday, January 11, 2013
The First of the Waiting
I should really get used to this waiting stuff, but I thought it would be after our dossier is submitted, not so much during the "paperchase".
Our Home Study has been done for over a month now, but all the revisions for Virginia and Ethiopia are taking some time. Our last reference letter should be emailed today, so that will help. Once we have a notarized copy of our Home Study we can submit our I600-A application and do our FBI fingerprints in Charlotte whenever they tell us to go. I didn't realize this approval takes about 3 months to get back, I was hoping for 6 weeks. It's all step-by-step. I'll be working on the dossier during that time so it can all be submitted as soon as that's back.
Some prayer requests for now:
- speedy completion and notarization of the Home Study
- smooth process with the fingerprints
A cute story:
I was laying with Keller the other night and he was talking about Elynne. He said when she comes home he will feed her and hold her. He said she may be scared, and I told him we would love her and try to make her comfortable in her new family and new home. He said he would sing her a lullaby like the ones I sang to him. It's so fun to hear them think about where she is and what it will be like when she comes home.
Our Home Study has been done for over a month now, but all the revisions for Virginia and Ethiopia are taking some time. Our last reference letter should be emailed today, so that will help. Once we have a notarized copy of our Home Study we can submit our I600-A application and do our FBI fingerprints in Charlotte whenever they tell us to go. I didn't realize this approval takes about 3 months to get back, I was hoping for 6 weeks. It's all step-by-step. I'll be working on the dossier during that time so it can all be submitted as soon as that's back.
Some prayer requests for now:
- speedy completion and notarization of the Home Study
- smooth process with the fingerprints
A cute story:
I was laying with Keller the other night and he was talking about Elynne. He said when she comes home he will feed her and hold her. He said she may be scared, and I told him we would love her and try to make her comfortable in her new family and new home. He said he would sing her a lullaby like the ones I sang to him. It's so fun to hear them think about where she is and what it will be like when she comes home.
December 29, 2012
We finally have our website up! We wanted to get all of our required education done before working on the website. Just like we want to get our dossier submitted to Ethiopia before we begin decorating Elynne's room. There's so much to do, and most of it in a certain order. But it's really been fun so far. I think we're so excited to finally be in the process, that the paperwork and education is enjoyable because we're really doing something to bring Elynne home.
Before we began this process I looked at so many blogs about adoption. These adopting moms had such a strong faith and eloquent way of expressing things. Unfortunately that is not me, the eloquence at least. I am by no means a writer or blogger. I just want to put our story out there so that others can hopefully find it helpful and family and friends can keep up with our journey if they want. My favorite part of the blogs I looked at was the timeline. It gave me a little bit of an estimate on what to expect, and how long the process might be. I've kept track of every date so far and have listed most of them on the home page.
I'll fill you in on where we are now. We've completed our home study visits and our home study has been written by our social worker. Our agency is based a couple states away, so we had to find a more local Hague certified agency to use for our home study, even though Ethiopia is not a Hague country. The closest I could find that I liked (based on phone calls and emails with the case workers) was also in another state, but they had a social worker in town that contracted with them for home studies. They were licensed in Virginia and the social worker being local eliminated any extra money we would have to pay for travel time. We are extremely pleased with our placing agency, but one thing I might do different is choose one that is in our state. We have missed out on the get-togethers and bonding with the other families adopting through the agency because they are about 8 hours away. Once we are finished with the "paperchase", I hope we can get in touch with some local families who have adopted or are in the process of adopting.
Anyway, our home study has been sent to the home study agency for review based on Virginia requirements, and it will then be sent to our placing agency for Ethiopia requirements. In the meantime we are filling out the I600-A application that will be sent with our completed/notarized home study to the US government. They will send us a date and time when we are to be in Charlotte, NC for our fingerprints to be done (we've already done one set locally, but this is the BIG ONE). When our I600-A is accepted and we are given approval to adopt and bring a child into the US, we will submit our dossier to Ethiopia with our home study and a whole bunch of official original documents like birth certificates and marriage licenses. We're taking each step at a time, so I'm really not sure of everything that lies ahead, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Since we passed our home study and have told people we're adopting a little girl from Ethiopia who will be named Elynne, we've been asked a lot of questions about her. The truth is we know nothing about her except that she will be female and under age two. That's what we've asked for in our home study. She may or may not be born yet. It makes it kind of hard when we're praying for her with the boys at night because we don't know if she's in her mom's tummy, with her biological family, or in the orphanage. All we know is that at the time we receive our referral, probably 12-14 months from now, she will be under two years of age. It's very odd to think of your child out there somewhere, but not know where or under what circumstances. We pray for her and her biological family and the caregivers that are caring or will care for her. And we ask you to pray for her as well.
PS - I'll try to do shorter posts from now on, just playing catch up now that the site is up and running!
August 23, 2012
We have begun!
We sent our application to the adoption agency this weekend, and it looks like they have accepted us into their Ethiopia program. At least it seems that way with all the emails and documents we've received.
It's all so exciting. After 19 months of talking and praying about it, and going around the world about 4 times, we have decided on a country and agency. We're hoping to adopt a little girl between 2 and 4 years old. Her name will be Elynne, after her grandmothers. The boys have been calling her by name for probably a year now. They talk about her and say they miss her. We do miss her, but we haven't even met her. She's already a part of our family!besent our application to the adoption agency this weekend, and it looks like they have accepted us into their Ethiopia program. At least it seems that way with all the emails and documents we've rece
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The First Set-Back
Yesterday I was walking to my car, heading home from work, and I was dreaming about the day we receive our referral and the first picture of our little girl. Tears came to my eyes and I was so thankful to be beginning this journey and feeling like it really is going to happen.
Today I got an email from the woman who will hopefully be guiding us through the process. I was hoping it was her accepting our application, but it wasn't. She traveled to Uganda last month and was emailing to tell the families she's working with that something is going on in Uganda and they don't know the future of their program there. This is a big blow b/c we have been researching countries and programs for over a year. Each time we thought we had decided on a country, we would read something about changes in that country and how adoptions are being suspended by agencies b/c they are uncertain what those changes mean to the adoption process and whether or not adoptions from that country can be successful at this time. We've been so excited about Uganda. We felt like we found a good organization to guide us. We knew it was going to be a long long process, but we were excited to get going with it.
After a good little cry while driving down the road, I started thinking about things. God is in control here. We have two biological children and were working on a third when He put this on our hearts. I don't believe that God would change our path like that without a complete plan. We want more children and could have them the usual way, but we want to follow God's plan for growing our family. I'm disappointed that Uganda may be heading the same way the other countries have for us, but nothing is certain yet. God has a plan in Uganda and a plan in our family. We'll pray that the changes or decisions in Uganda are positive for the children there. If they cause delays in the adoptions from that country, we'll pray that they are temporary and adoptions will pick up again quickly. And we'll be praying that God tells us if we are supposed to continue with Uganda or change countries again. I can't imagine how people live without God. I'm so thankful to know that I'm not in control.
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