Getting the Dossier Done

We've been running around crazy since we got the news that we'd be rejoining the Ethiopia adoption program trying to get our dossier together quickly! We've been waiting a year and a half now to be officially "waiting" and I can't wait to finally actually be there!

For those of you who don't know what a dossier (doss-ee-ay) is, it's a giant stack of official papers telling the Ethiopian government all about our family and our motivation to adopt an Ethiopian child. It all has to be notarized perfectly, county certified and state sealed. Then all 30ish pages have to be copied four times and mailed to our agency. Our agency will then mail them to Washington D.C. and have them authenticated again and then they will finally be on their way to Ethiopia!

Once they arrive in Ethiopia we will be considered "DTE" (Dossier to Ethiopia) and will be officially waiting for a referral!

The only things we are still waiting on for our dossier are our employment verification letters and two reference letters from friends. Once we have those we'll finish the county certification and then hopefully on Friday we'll drive to Columbus and have everything state sealed! That means it could very well be in the mail by next Monday!

Once we are DTE we'll be waiting 6-12 or more months for a referral. A long wait, but well worth it.

In the middle of all of this paperwork gathering I decided to go to IKEA to get these adorable dolls I'd be eyeing for a few weeks wishing only I'd had a reason to buy them! I got one for Zeke and one to give to our future child when we pick him/her up in Ethiopia! I also got a book called "Seeds of Love" to read with Zeke over our wait. The book is great, it talks all about mommy and daddy going on a trip on an airplane to pick up a little sister. Such a cute book.

And that's our update! Sure I'll have lots more to say after our trip to Columbus!