The Process

5/12/12 IMPORTANT EDIT:  I do NOT recommend using the agency listed in these pictures.   

Trust those bad reviews.  In this case, I lived out most of them.  I do not want this blog post to accidentally suggest to anyone that I recommend this agency.  My family does NOT.  This was a beautiful day, and God protected us on the rocky road that followed, but there is no reason for anyone else to have to walk the road we did.  

Missy

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The Process:


The most popular question is...

"When will your child come home?"

Soon. 

But it's a process.

First, there's choosing an agency.  I started with a list of 20 agencies and a preliminary set of questions, and after making all the calls, only one agency was left on my list.  We applied.

Lilly decorated the envelope for me. 

I walked to the mailbox with a kid in each arm, and placed this manilla envelope in my mailbox.  I put up the little red flag.  Then we waited for the mailman to come.  I clapped when he did. 

What now?

Well, I somehow managed to accumulate all of the information necessary to work ahead of my agency and complete most of the dossier paperwork in about 5 days time.  This should normally take a few weeks.  I was excited.

The dossier is our life presented as certified, notarized, official copies of papers and forms.  It goes to Ethiopia, where it is translated.  Pictures, fingerprints, FBI checks, passport photos, birth certificates, marriage certificates, references, doctor well-check evaluations, you name it. 

Then there was this: 

The acceptance package from our agency. 

Lilly asked if her new brother or sister was in here.

The next day, our homestudy agency called

and booked us for the following week. 

Five days to prepare for the biggest job interview of my life. 

From here, it should be just a lot of waiting.  First we will wait for a referral, which is basically an "offer" of a matched child to our family.  We get a picture and a brief medical report, and a few days max to decide. 

We say yes.

After the referral acceptance, we wait for a court date.  We will travel to Ethiopia, where we will meet our child and become thier legal parents. 

Then we return home. 

Without our child.  

They go back to the Care Center and remain in Ethiopia.

We wait again, this time for about two months. 

During those two + months between court and pickup, I will have to commit that child fully into the care of God and the care center workers.  Lots of prayer.

Then we return to Africa for a final pickup and visa appointment,

and our new Roepnack comes home with us.  

 

That's the plan. 

Like I said, it's a process.

I am filled with so much joy.

Soon.