Two steps done!

Well, our adoption process is moving forward little by little!

We completed our adoption and I was able to go pick up all our copies so I have them available to send in with our dossier and other such important packs of paper!

Also, on Friday we mailed in our I-600A application to the US immigration office. This is basically us requesting the US government to approve us to bring an orphan into the country. We will then receive an appointment to get fingerprinted (AGAIN! AH!) and then hopefully a few weeks later we'll get our I-171H approval in the mail! I hope by then to have everything in the dossier ready to go so when it arrives we'll be able to send in the dossier and get waiting!

I'm totally nervous about this. I know in my mind that God will provide all the necessary pieces to bring a precious child into our family, but I'm nervous. And I'm excited. And anxious. And happy. All at the same time.

Interviews: Check!

Well, Our home study interviews are complete! They went really well and it was a really nice experience. Our social worker is typing them up as I'm typing this post and hopefully we'll have a draft to us and to Bethany by the end of the day tomorrow!

After we all get to review it and make sure it's ok and accurately reflects us as a family and Bethany reviews it to make sure it's what is needed for Ethiopia then it'll be finalized and we'll receive all the copies we need to send off to USCIS to get immigration approval and to add to our dossier and to send off to apply for some adoption grants! I'm so happy to be so close to having this part of the journey completed. It's a big step and makes this feel a lot more real.

I continue to be shocked at how much Satan tries to prevent orphan care. He knows how important children are to the kingdom of God and it seems he fights so hard to put children in harms way. I have felt so much lately that children are SO important to Jesus. Not just "orphans" but all children. God wants us to be good parents to our children. He wants children to be in families, and for those families to be full of his LOVE.

So many things have been happening in the process of Ethiopian adoptions that you can definitely feel the work of evil trying to work to harm children, but the good news is that God is bigger. God has the power to help mend families and keep birth families together. God has the power to help orphans find families. God has the power to raise up prospective adoptive families and encourage them to adopt. To support them as they feel Satan attack them emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially. God is bigger. God is bigger than a government, a process, an agency, or any thing or any one else who may get in the way of the care of orphans and families.

And I'm glad.

First Home Study Visit

So, our home visit is over! Our social worker and the other worker she is training came to the house yesterday afternoon and toured our home, interviewed us with some follow up questions concerning our autobiographical papers we filled out, and filled out a safety check on our home. It looks like everything is pretty much in order and there are only a few hurdles left in the way of finishing this forever long home study!

First, we are two training hours short. So this weekend we'll have to do some online classes and get the rest of our hours taken care of.

Second, we have to go in to the Catholic Charities office for our individual interviews. This will happen next Wednesday. Once those interviews are finished and everything is typed up they'll send us a draft and Bethany (our placing agency) a draft and we'll approve the draft. After that they'll take us before their staff for approval and hopefully the process will be finished at that staff meeting on February 16th!

In general, the visit went well. I was so nervous and nothing I said seemed to be right. I ask that you also pray for our individual interviews next week that we'd be able to say what we mean and that we'd be able to have great interviews!

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support through this adoption process.