Ouch!

This week Lucas and I got vaccinated to high heaven.

Typhoid
Hep A
Hep B
Meningitis
Yellow Fever
Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis
Flu

=7 shots each, one of us passing out, and $920

=OUCH!

(I'll let you guess who passed out)

13 days until we leave!!

Not much of an update...

But our dossier is on its way to Africa!

Dossier Submitted!

Well, it's official. We have submitted our dossier, and a whole lot of money (!!!). This is what we've been working on for the past 3 months. We took a little longer than anticipated, with Luke's 3 knee surgeries and all, but we're finally done!

Our dossier consists of paperwork that tells everything about us (from family photos, a study of our home and relationship, medical records, blah blah blah) each notarized, then given the state seal, all in triplicate. Lucas and I both had a HUGE sense of relief when we completed the final organizing and stapling of papers:

So now what? Our precious precious stack of papers will make it to Washington DC sometime early next week, and then forwarded on to Ethiopia. Sometime during this period, we'll officially be put on the wait list for a little boy and a little girl! (related or unrelated, both under 24 months)

And now, the real waiting begins.

Dossier

Last week we got our Dossier packet to begin a mountain of paperwork. I'm going to be honest and say that the list of everything we need to do is really bumming me out. Every single item we need must be written, sent away for or we need to schedule an appointment during office hours (translate to taking time off work)... then notarized... then taken to the Secretary of State for their final seal. Some can be done together, but most can't. I'm thinking it will take a few months. SO close, yet so far away.

We're going for it! (still)

We got some good news this week. Sounds like MOWA (The Ministry of Womens Affairs) in Ethiopia is back to processing up to 20 cases a day- which is great news for us on our wait time. This news comes at a good time, since now is the time we have to put down some serious money and we were starting to get hesitant about going forward. We decided to go for it, trusting that this is how it's meant to work out, and that we have a little person waiting for us who is predestined to be in our family.

Now that our home study has been finalized, we're able to apply for adoption loans and scholarships. Cross your fingers that we'll be able to find the money that it takes to complete this process. Lucas's knee surgery has put a slight crunch on the money we had set aside for adoption... and we've yet to see the entire bill or how much our insurance will cover.  But again, we're trusting that this is the way it's all supposed to go in the grand scheme of life, and we aren't bothered in the slightest!

This week we submitted our home study, birth and marriage certificates to US Immigration Services. Once this is approved, it will allow us bring our baby home as a US Citizen.

Eyes on the Prize

We finished our 3rd and final pre-adoption home study last Thursday. Everything seems to be moving along nicely, and our social worker says we'll be great parents! We are pretty excited to have this part out of the way. Next steps:

• Physicals
• Taxes (so we can submit our most recent financials)
• 16-hour training at the agency
• another 8 hours of online courses
• submit dossier to DC
• WAIT
• find funding for the biggest expense of submitting dossier to ET, plus travel there (x2)
• WAIT
• submit dossier to Ethiopia
• WAIT
• receive a referral of a baby!
• WAIT
• Travel to ET for court and meet baby!
• WAIT (I assume this one is the hardest)
• Travel back to ET to bring baby home!
• Post-adoption assessments

So as you can see we have a ways to go. But, we're happy and excited and keeping our eyes on the prize. Baby prize.

I'm headed to DC this Friday through Tuesday for the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference. I'm looking forward to it, but it's always hard to leave for 5 days. DC is a great city, although I have to admit that I've passed up monument and history tours to shop at H&M... whoops.

2nd Home Study and good food

We had our 2nd home study on Tuesday, and everything went smoothly. This time, our social worker separated us and interviewed each of us for about an hour an a half. The questions this round were mostly related to our childhood and family lives. We realized through talking with her and actually putting into words what a wonderful support system of family and friends we have. So thanks to you all for being there for us and reading these updates!

On Friday, one of our friends had a birthday party at a local Ethiopian restaurant on Colfax (where there is an Ethiopian community and about 12 different authentic restaurants). We had lots of fun and dancing. We decided to get food at a place down the street called Habesha and the food was great! This was Lucas and my 3rd time having ET food, and this was by far the best. I can't wait to go with those of you who haven't tried it yet (OR I can make it for you after I've taken my cooking class- Thanks Rick and Claudia!!).

A little about the food. We started with delicious sambusas (ET version of a stuffed wonton or empanada) filled with lentils or spicy beef. And then our entree- I realize this picture looks a lot like colorful slop, but it is so much more! This is a vegetable platter for 5 people. Every color is a different spiced dish. ET food uses a lot of lentils, onions, greens, and spices similar to Indian food. Everyone shares and eats with their hands using a spongy sourdough "pancake" called injera to pick up the different stews. Quite filling! I also had some traditional honey wine, which is a very sweet white wine served cold. Lucas and friends tried some ET beer that they liked. It was a good night.

Round 2

We'll have our second home study this Tuesday afternoon, and then our third and final pre-adoption meeting with our social worker the following Thursday. So far, it's been a fairly comfortable process. But we still have a mountain of paperwork ahead of us for our dossier (dah-see-ay) to be sent to Ethiopia. We'll also start our adoption training classes on March 11th. We are excited for that, since we'll get to meet others who are going through the same process.

On a completely unrelated note... Lucas and I purchased 1/8th of a Bison carcass from the winning bulls at the Western Stock Show a few weeks ago. Our freezer is filled with grass-fed, Colorado ground Bison, steaks, roasts, etc. We definitely have more than we can handle, about 85lbs, so if you would be interested in getting some ($5/lb) just let us know! Bison is leaner and healthier than beef, but still has great flavor. Tatonka!

Update on home study

So we had day one of our home study this morning, met our assigned social worker. It went well! She is not scary, and I think our first interview went smoothly. It was about two hours, she spoke with us together, toured our house, and spoke with us each alone for a minute. I think so far we passed heh! We need to get a fire extinguisher..OH and Andrea finally told her boss today, which she was stressed about, so that's good! Welp, thanks for your support, we will keep the updates coming!

First Home Study

So, our first home study is next Tuesday, Feb 1st (oh, and Happy Birthday brother Justin!). I'm a little nervous- but for those of you that know me, you know I don't tend to get too worked up about anything. Even I can hardly tell if anything bothers me. So how do I know I'm nervous? Because my eyelids pop open daily at about 3:15am with a whir of "what ifs" and "oh yeah, we better cover up that tag on the side of the house" and "when will I clean our bedroom?" and "how will I get the cats to not poop in the litter box while we're being interviewed? (they pick the most convenient times)". Luckily, I have a pretty good husband who can help me do all this, and when I realize that at about 4am I fall back asleep.

At this first visit, I'm not too sure what to expect, other than we'll be interviewed together for about 2 hours in our home by a social worker.

So keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Also- just thinking today that our baby might not even be conceived yet... or maybe, riiiiight.....now.

One Step Closer...

This week we got fingerprinted, background checked, signed our lives away, and put down some major moolah. Here we go...