a long needed update..

Sorry that I have been so lazy at updating our blog. My excuse is that we moved and had a baby=) But to update everyone on our adoption process:
We are simply waiting. We have been told that the current wait is around 5 months which means we could expect a referral around the first of the year. We are hopeful, yet realize that things could change at any time.
We are also going to update our home study on Tuesday, Oct. 4, which will add our new place and our new son!
Please continue to pray for our family as we wait for yet another addition and please continue to pray for the funds to finish the process out!
We are thankful for you guys!!!

WOW!!

It is official!! All of our stuff is in Ethiopia and we are waiting for our paperwork to be approved in country then the placement process begins. We have been told this process could take 4-5 months yet we are unsure. We know that the country is in its rainy season which could delay things some. We also want to let you guys know a few details of this process. It seems like we are asked often about the sex and age range. We originally were adopting from Rwanda and felt peace about pursing a girl. When Rwanda closed and we switched to Ethiopia we no longer felt peace pursing a girl so we decided to purse either sex. That means we could get a boy or a girl. Also the age range that we desire is 0-24 months. This means that upon the time of referral the child could be anywhere between birth and 2 years old. We are excited about this time in our lives and are thankful for the many prayers, encouragement and financial contributions you guys have made over the past 16 months!! We ask that you continue to pray for our Ethiopian baby, or as Jackson calls him/her, Best Buddy Clark. Also pray that the Lord would provide each step of the way!

OUR FINGERPRINTS CAME BACK!!!

Friday, July 22nd, we received our USCIS approval!! We are 100% done with our paperwork!! Now for the waiting game!!=)

our big mail off!

Tuesday of this week we were able to send off our last bit of paper work to our agency. We are only waiting on our fingerprints at this point! We are super excited and super nervous that we have FINALLY made it to this point! It has taken us over a year to get all this paper work together! I am not sure that it should take this long but with the switch of countries, a move and a baby on the way things seemed to get put on delay! We ask that you join us in prayer as we wait to be placed with our child and continue to save/raise the last bit of money needed to finish this process!

fingerprints...check!

This past Friday we went to New Orleans and got our fingerprints(I-600) completed. We only have to wait for them to be returned. Our next step is to submit all of our paper work to our agency. Our agency will then review the paperwork and send it to Ethiopia. The current wait for a referral once Ethiopia gets all our paperwork is 4-5 months.
I am amazed constantly at how the Lord causes me to rest, rejoice, and be thankful for what He is doing in and through this adoption process. We have had several more set backs with some paperwork being done wrong and needing to be redone and notarized. It causes us to rest in the provision of the Lord knowing that His plan is perfect! We also get to rejoice in the Lord because we have learned His heart for the orphan and His heart for our family. We rejoice that He is preparing all of us! We rejoice that the Lord is in control and we don't have to fret!! For all these things we are thankful!! We are also thankful for you as you pray for us! We know that the Lord is the only one that can provide all that is needed for this adoption.

WHY?

So this past week we received our I-600 paperwork returned!! I was so upset! It was returned because we had not signed one part of the the paperwork. It made me upset because I felt like I was so careful to make sure everything was perfect! It is frustrating because April made one year that we have been in this process and little things like this keep happening! Not only did the I-600 get returned but our medical forms are wrong and another piece of paperwork has to be redone! It seems like these little things that seem so easy to fix yet not easy keep coming up! We are trying to remain calm and know that the Lord's timing is perfect and these small set backs are just part of the bigger picture that will lead us to our child! But we just ask that you continue to pray for us as we wait and continue to trust the Lord and his plan for our family and future children!

HOME STUDY...

Since the last post things with Ethiopia have picked back up. We are supper excited that we aren't put on yet another delay. We learned on Friday that our Home Study is complete, in the mail, and on its way to us. This means that we will be able to send in our last mailer to our agency and send in for our I-600. We are just steps away from sending all of our stuff to Ethiopia. Then the waiting game begins... Thanks to all of you who have been huge supports!! We couldn't have made it this far without you!!