They Like Us!

I know, it might be hard for some to believe, but on Friday Micah received a phone call from Wyoming Children's Society.  They informed us that they had received our application and we were accepted!  They are sending us the information needed to complete the background checks and fingerprinting.  We were anxious to hear from Holt, so Micah called them and was informed that they had received our application, but were still in the process of reviewing the information. We were told that we would hear from them within a week regarding our acceptance.  

Today as Micah was home sick he received a phone call from Holt informing us that we had been accepted and that within the week someone from the Ethiopia program would contact us. I, of course had a long list of questions, but Micah of course was sick, and hadn't asked too many questions so our information was limited.  I was anxious to hear from them and considered super gluing the phone to my hip so I wouldn't miss there phone call.  That night as I checked e-mail one last time, I noticed an e-mail from an unfamiliar person.  When I opened the e-mail I was excited to see that it was from someone working with the Ethiopia program! Wow! That was fast and definitely answered a lot of my questions. 

We are very excited to be moving forward and can't wait to get our background checks completed so we can begin our homestudy!

Here We Go!

After multiple attempts and several hang ups, we were finally able to send out our applications for Wyoming Children's Society and Holt. It was an overwhelming and daunting task, but we made it! We couldn't believe the amount of information that had to be collected and written down to begin this process. The pile of paperwork was quite large and we often double and triple checked everything to make sure that we had it all.

For Wyoming Children's Society, the agency that we will be working with to complete our homestudy, we had to complete and gather:
*The application, which included our personal and financial information, the information for our five references, our agreement to their policies and finances, and our explanation of why we want to adopt.
*A current medical exam and TB test, then signed and sealed by our physician.
*A copy of our marriage license.
*A copy of our last years taxes.
*Photos of our family and our home.
*Our autobiographies which needed to discuss: our childhood, our educational history, our courtship and marriage history, our employment, our interests, and again why we want to adopt (This was probably the most overwhelming part).

For Holt International, the agency that we will be working with to complete the remainder of the paperwork to adopt from Ethiopia, we had to complete and gather:
*The application, which again included our personal and financial information, and our explanation of why we want to adopt.
*The agreement to their policies, signed and notarized.
*A copy of our last three years of taxes.
*Photos of our family and home.

Micah photocopied all of the information and then sent it out in the mail, and we couldn't have been more excited! We breathed a little deeper and felt a little lighter. We had a conversation about how we are really ready for this to happen and excited to be moving a little further along in the process. There is definitely anticipation as we wait for a response from both agencies. Once our applications are approved we will then complete our background check and fingerprinting. After that we will have to wait for our references to complete their letters of recommendation before we start the homestudy process.

We are very excited to begin this process and know that despite the moments of being overwhelmed, it will all be worth it.

Moving Through It

Some of the paperwork that will be sent to both agencies-maybe we should consider planting a tree after this process is over!

We are in the process of finishing up everything needed to turn in our applications to both Wyoming Children's Society and Holt.  It at times feels like such a daunting task and I can get overwhelmed.  

I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of time and energy needed to complete each item.

I get overwhelmed when I think about each day that passes by when it isn't finished and how this might prolong our adoption journey. 

I get overwhelmed when I think of having to be so vulnerable and hope that people deem us as worthy parents.  

My mind beings to race with thoughts of "what if....." and my heart begins to race with fear that something won't work out, and that we will be left empty handed. 

But I have to trust, as hard as that can be at times. I have to take a deep breath and remember that we are doing this because we feel without a doubt that this is where we should be right now in our life.  Despite how overwhelming it can be, we will move through this, and it will all be worth it. 

yearnings

I am browsing other blogs regarding their adoption journeys to Ethiopia and my heart is filled with a yearning. 

I am yearning for our family to grow.

I am yearning for this process to move more quickly.

I am yearning for more and more people to grow passionate about those who need homes.

I am yearning for the hearts of these children to be filled.

I am yearning for a child to love and pour my life into.

So while we wait and while we yearn, we continue to hope.

Choosing an Agency

We have been struggling with this decision for the last two months. As we started researching and looking into various agencies, we were amazed with the amount that we could select from. We never thought that it would be such a difficult process.
We narrowed our search down to four agencies and from there discussed what our priorities that should be found within the agency. We both felt strongly that there should be some form of in country support provided for the orphans. This may look like medical care or educational opportunities, or maybe even something entirely different. We just want to know that things are in place for the orphans that are there temporarily and for those that stay much longer than anticipated.
We quickly removed one agency from our list after reading about various problems they were having with regulations and following through in a professional manner. We then removed another agency from our list when we discovered how the amount of money to process the adoption is significantly larger than other agencies.
So here we are narrowed down to two agencies and we had the hardest time deciding. We created a long list of questions we had for the agency. We had then called and interviewed someone at both agencies. We also read blogs, joined web-groups, and checked out financial records. Finally, we took an evening and sat down to shift through all of the information we had gathered. As we were looking at all of the paper work, it became very obvious that one agency would provide a lot of what we were looking for. We still had a few follow up questions, which we called and had answered the next day, but once all was said and done we made our decision. We will be working with Holt International for the Ethiopia part and Wyoming Children's Society for our homestudy. We are happy to finally have made our decision and begin to move forward!