We Have a New Blog…www.godsnyah.blogspot.com…

Come visit us at www.godsnyah.blogspot.com.  Make sure you book mark us when you get to the new site.  We will be taking this one down soon…

Waiting is Difficult

Phil. 4:6-7 is a good passage for handling the waiting period that we are in…”6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Waiting List Update

Just found out that we are now number 65 on the waiting list. This is great news when you start in the 90′s!!!! Keep praying for this Journey!

Waiting List Update

We were number 82 about two weeks ago when we checked with the agency. We figure that there have been 11 referrals since then…so we estimate that we are now number 71 (or thereabouts)! Thanks for all your prayers…the day is coming Lord willing.

Now, Waiting on a Referral!

We finally made the waiting list!  All of our paperwork that accompanies the waiting list (Dossier, Home Study, etc, etc.) is complete and in the proper hands.  We now have to be patient and pray as we wait for God to connect us with a referral.  This part of the process could last up to 13 months by the way things appear to be moving.  We think that we are around number 95 on the waiting list!  Pray that we can be patient….

Here are a few excerts from the e-mail that we have been waiting to see for some time now…this is from our adoption consultant at CHI:

Dear James & Dixie,

I just wanted to send you this quick email to let you know that your dossier has been sent back to our office from Washington D.C. You are now on the waiting list for a referral.  We will be keeping your dossier in queue here in  the St. Louis office until it is time to be expressed to Ethiopia. Congratulations on having this piece behind you!!!! You’re now a waiting family!!!

After you have accepted a referral, the dossier will be translated and authenticated, and presented to the Ministry of Womens Affairs (MOWA), which is the first entity in Ethiopia to approve you to adopt the child. 

Waiting for a referral can really be a difficult wait for most families. We suggest keeping busy and doing those things that you may not have a chance to do once your child comes home. You also will want to read as much as you can related to raising adopted children, bonding and attachment, transracial adoption, Ethiopia, etc. etc., and you may even want to  start learning some phrases in Amharic.

We are super excited to have made it to “the list”!  One step closer to our precious Purpose!

Jim and Dixie

Waiting…Praying!

We are waiting currently to hear back from CHI on how our Dossier looks.  Hopefully by Wednesday we will know.  After that call, we will schedule an appointment with the State in KC to get it authenticated/certified.  Hopefully we are able to get that appointment next Monday morning.  We will then package it up, mail it to CHI and literally wait for several months for the next steps.  Thank you all for praying for us.  Jim and Dixie

10 Hour Video Testing Completed

Another exciting update for us…as of last night, we have completed 10 hours of testing on “raising children” and related adoption considerations.  4 online tests, and lots of sitting in front of the tube!  Glad it’s over…just hope we passed the online tests!

The good news is, with this step (and the Dossier) completed…we are going to have several months to start mentally preparing for the phone call with a voice on the other end saying “you have a referral…”!  During that time, we hope to post several blog posts sharing with you our experience of this journey.  jim and dixie

Dossier and 10 Hour Training Nearing Completion

We are excited to finaly post an update for you on this blog!  We have been working diligently on a long list of official paperwork and testing to prepare us for the journey.  The large portion of paperwork is nearing an end and we are very excited about that.  I just e-mailed an electronic copy of our “Dossier” to Children’s Hope International.  What is a Dossier? 

\ˈdȯs-ˌyā, ˈdäs-; ˈdȯ-sē-ˌā, ˈdä-\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

French, bundle of documents labeled on the back, dossier, from dos back, from Latin dorsum

Date:

1880

: a file containing detailed records on a particular person or subject

 

CHI will review the dossier and recommend any needed adjustments before we drive it down to Kansas City for state certification.  Every document in the dossier either has an official state seal or has a recent notarization of our signatures.  The state will then certify all of this prior to the bundling of the document.  After certification, it travels to CHI for final review and then to Ethiopia.  Hopefully in about 3-4 weeks the dossier will be completed, certified and on it’s way!!!!  I am excited to share this update with you…it’s a big one…  jim

What Brought Us Here?

Several years ago we began feeling led by God to pursue adoption for our third child.  We began our journey knowing nothing about adoption…where to begin, who to talk to, how this would all unfold.  After prayer and several hours of research and discussion we now find ourselves almost ready to complete our Dossier…with several steps completed.  We intend to use this blog to share a bit of our journey with you.

Welcome to our Journey…

This is our first post on our new blog that will track our awesome journey to our daughter!  Please check back later as we intend to track our journey so that you can follow along with us…and pray for us as we seek God’s direction for Purpose (find out later why we are seeking “Purpose“)!!!