I just returned from the post office, where I mailed off the last set of documents needed to process our adoption.  This included the formal referrals and acceptance documents, as well as the final payment to the agency.

While we have recognized that this process has been in God’s hands from the beginning, it’s now a bit different in that we have nothing to do except prepare for travel.  Our attorney in Ethiopia will get a court date as soon as possible; once we pass court, he’ll get an appointment for us at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  We need to show up and answer any questions they might have of us.  Then we come home with our boys!!!

On Friday, we got our first round of vaccinations for travel to Ethiopia.  We got three shots; we’ll get three more next Friday, and one a couple weeks after that.  After a couple nights sleeping on our right sides, we’re looking forward to being able to sleep on the left side if we want to tonight!

Praise God that in less than one week, our dossier:

• Left Puyallup for Washington, DC
• Was authenticated by the US Department of State
• Was processed by the Embassy of Ethiopia
• Traveled by FedEx to the Children’s House Internataional (CHI) office in Ferndale, Washington
• Got bundled with other dossiers (and notarized copies of ours)
• Left for Ethiopia via FedEx

We would like to thank Laura Morrison (the Assistant Stork) in Washington, DC.  Her courier service made this possible.  I cannot overstate our appreciation (think about it!  the US government and the Ethiopian embassy processed the 20 or so documents in our dossier in just a couple days).  The process in DC went so quickly that we weren’t really ready on this end.  We had to scramble to get the notarized copies to Ferndale in order to allow CHI to bundle it all together and get it sent off this week.  And while we were scrambling, the Adoption Ministry and CHI scrambled with us to complete this miracle.  We had failed to sign and notarize one copy – Gayle at the Adoption Ministry office took care of that quickly.  Then CHI held their weekly package to Ethiopia for a day so that our packet would be expedited.  Another big thank you to each of them!

All in all, it’s been a great week.  From here, timing is in the hands of the Ethiopians – as directed by the sovereign God of the Universe.  We trust His timing and pray that he will cause people to move quickly.  We’re told to expect that our court date will probably be at least four months away.  Of course, we would like the boys home as soon as possible.

Continue to pray for:

• God’s hand in the timing of our court date
• Protection and encouragement for the boys (waiting is hard on them too!)
• Randy’s future employment

With our documents

Our completed Dossier was mailed off to DC today!!  We have spent countless hours working on the documents since January and double/triple checking everything.  The dossier, a collection of some twenty documents, is on its way to the State Department and the Ethiopian Embassy.  Once authenticated there, it returns to our agency.  They look it over one last time and then send it on to Ethiopia for translation and submission to the courts.

This is a huge emotional step for us.  Until this point we’ve been trying to do all we can do and to trust God for the results.  After this, there is really nothing for us to do as we wait completely on God’s timing.  We know His way is best, and we are confident that He is in control.  But we can’t deny that we are somewhat impatient human beings and want these boys home as soon as possible.

We received word that our boys were very happy and excited to learn that we are adopting them.  They received the books, blankets and clothing that we sent.  We were told that they had tears of joy, which is such a relief and encouragement to us!  We also received three new pictures of them and wish we could post them here, but the rules prohibit that.  Stop by the house; we’ll be happy to show you the pictures – they’re very beautiful young children and we can’t wait to get them home.

On Friday, Randy spoke with Homeland Security.  They informed us that we are approved!!! Next, we will receive all the paperwork from them, finalize our dossier, and send it off to the State Department and the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, DC.  After that, it goes to Ethiopia for processing.  This is a major milestone and we thank God for all He’s done to bring us this far.  We trust Him for the next steps, financial resources, timing in Ethiopian courts, etc.  Please pray for all these next steps and join us in our thanks.

Just a note, we had to legally change Sary-Jo’s first name (to Sary-Jo, oddly enough) in order to get clearance from Homeland Security.  Her birth certificate lists her as Sarah Josefina, but no other document in existence uses that name for her.  Now she’s legally Sary-Jo so all her documents are in agreement.

After prayerful consideration, we are continuing with the adoption as planned.  We were concerned that the agency might not allow us to proceeed with my job loss.  However, they are very supportive and we appreciate it.  We believe God is asking us to trust Him in a new way and see where He leads.  We know many other people losing their job – none are losing their kids as a result.  We consider the boys as members of our family – not future members of the family.  We still need to bring them home.

Please continue to pray for Randy in his search for a new job.  WRECO is very supportive of him finishing a current project.  Unfortunately, the economy – and especially the housing market – has fallen so far that drastic actions are in order.