This is our first glimpse of our (older) daughter at HH in Ethiopia. (2/18/08)
Adoption Timeline
Right Now: We are a forever famiy of four! Jan. 2009 Decide we will start the process to adopt again when we get our tax refund back. Feb. 2009 9th-- Officially decide to start our second adoption & begin making contact w/ agency/SW & order birth certificates. 13th-- Medical letters make it to the agency. We'll wait over the weekend until Monday afternoon to learn what the decision is on our application. 17th-- Approved to adopt again. Infant girl; agency will consider an older child after more research. 18th-- Receive adoption contracts (YAY) and copies of our birth certificates in the mail. (1 Yr. R Day Anniv.) 24th-- Orientation call w/agency, contract & other paperwork notarized, 1st payment check written. Mar. 2009 2nd-- Dossier/homestudy binders arrive. Complete application for child/family services in our state to be able to start homestudy process. 4th-- Doctor's form for R filled out. 1st attempt at getting clearance letter from the local police department. 5th-- Dossier call w/ CM. (Love her!) 6th-- Go to police station again-- they'll write the letter! Also get bank letter for homestudy completed. 10th-- Letter from the police station is now in dossier binder! A & I get TB tests. Med. letter for homestudy for A is completed after check up. 12th-- We get several docs, including POA, notarized. 13th--CIS fingerprint request (& payment) mailed to local branch; Med. letters for both homestudy & dossier are finished. 14th-- A's employment letter arrives. We might have to redo it. Emailed our CM to find out. 17th-- Employment letter ok. Get financial letter notarized, but have to redo it b/c notary messed up the date. Can't have that on a dossier! 24th-- Lots of notarizing and preparing for the homestudy visit. 25th-- Homestudy visit completed. We'll be on the waiting list soon! YAY!!!!! Fire inspection will be Apr. 6, 11am. 28th-- We receive our fingerprint appointment in the mail-- April 8 at 8am! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! 31st-- We finish the "Eyes Wide Open" training manual. Apr. 2009 2nd-- We finish the online training classes. Woo-hoo! Also get last 2 dossier documents notarized. WE ARE FINISHED! 5th-- SW submits our homestudy draft to agency for proofing/review. 6th-- Fire inspection (we passed!). 8th-- CIS Fingerprint appointment. All went well. :) 10th-- We get our POA state certified... Ok, now we're really finished w/ all the documents for both the homestudy & dossier. 13th-- SW tells us our HS is the next to be reviewed by agency. (Hurry up! :) ) 14th-- Adoption training manual is approved by agency. 16th-- We find out that our HS was actually approved on the 13th, pending the child abuse check from our State. 17th-- Email from SW tells us child abuse checks won't be completed until the week of Apr. 27th. Email CM to see if we can send in our dossier early even though it is against agency policy. (She'll probably say no, but I figure it is worth a try!!) 20th-- After 1st telling us no, we are allowed to mail dossier in for review. Of course we won't be on the waiting list until our homestudy is complete sometime next week. 21st-- Dossier and fees are mailed. Will be at agency by noon tomorrow. WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO! 22nd-- Dossier is in CM's hands! 23rd-- Dossier is approved by CM. Now we have to wait on those checks to finalize HS & get on waiting list. 29th-- Child abuse checks are finished!! HS is finalized, notarized, & on its way to agency's home office. Thank goodness!!! Wait list soon! May 2009 4th-- We are on the list at #33. 5th-- Waitlist #30. Yes, we moved 3 spots in less than 24 hours. 21st-- Receive our FDL from USCIS. Now we have been granted permission from the US gov't. to adopt internationally. 26th-- Dossier is finished with the US & ET embassy authentication process. Next step: To ET for translation and submission to MOWA (when we get a referral, of course.) June 2009 9th-- June number in-- #29. July 2009 10th-- July number in-- #18. What??? 11 spaces in a month! Woo-hoo! August 2009 6th-- August number in-- #16. September 2009 4th-- September number in--#11. October 2009 7th-- October number in--#6. Single digits! YAY! 19th-- REFERRAL DAY! 22nd-- Call with international adoption doctor. Good to go! SW signs paperwork for us. 23rd-- We get everything notarized and sent to our CM. Will be there by noon tomorrow! 24th-- Our acceptance of referral paperwork arrives at our agency. 26th-- Our CM has our referral paperwork. Now on to the ET side of this adoption! 31st-- We receive returned notarized referral acceptance paperwork... As well as our travel info! (Soon, please!) November 2009 5th-- Next Steps phone call with our CM. 18th-- Our CM calls to tell us our court date is Dec. 2! December 2009 2nd (night of Dec. 1st)-- We have our court date. 2nd-- We passed court! 4th-- Our CM calls to tell us our tentative travel date of Dec. 25. We contact a couple travel agents to find the best airline prices and flights. 7th-- Our travel dates are confirmed, and we book our tickets. 17th-- We receive our paper tickets in the mail. 20th-- Nana and Pappy bring E's curtains and bedding that Nana made. It is completely beautiful! 25th-- We leave for Ethiopia. 27th-- Gotcha Day! 28th-- Embassy Appointment. 31st-- Leave to come home. January 2010 1st-- We arrive home. Our family day. What a great way to celebrate the new year!
13 comments:
ok, they are so beautiful it hurts me :) love me some Ethiopian girls :) kj
They look so cute in their matching outfits! I love it!
such beautiful little girls!
Oh M, they are so gorgeous!! You are right. No words necessary. I love, love, love them. E has GROWN!!
What cuties!! Love TCP shirts...I just bought matching for my daughters...for 2.99 to boot!!! Thanks for sharing pictures! Way to cute!
They are darling!! I love your girls!
Sarah
They look so beautiful! Love love love! :)
Just beautiful!!!
AMAZING!
Such happy sisters!
So adorable! And your stories of people's comments have been cracking me up!
Seriously beautiful! No words needed!
xoxo
Oh guys - gorgeous!!!!!!!!!! E has gotten SO much bigger! ADORABLE!!!! Sounds like you're going to be home longer too - praise God!
love,
melissa
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