Dossier en route to Ethiopia!

Our dossier has been authenticated in DC, and left for Ethiopia yesterday! It should arrive by the end of next week, where it will wait to get to the top of the list and be translated. 

No movement on the waitlist, but at least our paperwork is one step closer to being complete!! :)

I-600A submitted, update on Ethiopia

We mailed our I-600A yesterday, which is the "Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition". This is the first step in getting a visa to bring home our child! Once the USCIS approves it, they'll send us the I-171H, the "Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advanced Processing of Orphan Petition" and tell us when we can go get our fingerprinting done (again) :).

Here's an update from our agency regarding the upcoming Ethiopian Election and its impact on adoptions. Hopefully more referrals coming soon (see #2, below)!!
Kirsta


As many of you know, Ethiopia is preparing to hold elections on May 23. Results of this election will be announced on June 21. We anticipate that this election will effect IAN families in two ways:

1.) Travel: The state department has issued a travel advisory for citizens traveling to Ethiopia between May 23 and July 1, 2010. After the last elections Ethiopia held in 2005, there was an outbreak of violence. While measures are in place to prevent this occurance, it is possible, and IAN advises families to take the following measures:
a. Avoid large crowds, public gatherings, and try to avoid being out and about after dark.
b. Do NOT travel outside of Addis Ababa during this time, especially to the southern regions.
c. Register with the US embassy in Addis before you go.
d. Monitor local media and internet while in Addis to stay aware of any dangers.
e. Consider purchasing oversees travel insurance.


IAN is in constant contact with our Ethiopian staff, and we all still feels that travel is reasonably safe if these precautions are taken, but will have an additional waiver for families to sign if they are traveling during this time.

For more information on travel advisories please visit travel.state.gov or ethiopia.usembassy.gov.

2.) Processing referrals: During this time, court officials are extremely preoccupied with election business and are not available to process paperwork that allows children from outlying regions to be transported to Addis and become available for adoption. This has been a large part of why referrals have slowed down recently, and we look forward to things picking up again after May 23, although it may take a few weeks for things to return to normal.

If you have any questions, please contact your coordinator. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

ON THE WAITING LIST!!!

What a wonderful day! This afternoon I received a call from our agency that our homestudy has been approved!!! That meant we could go on the wait lists!!

Here are the details:
We are #52 on the infant girl list (<2 years old)
We are #33 on the infant boy list (<2 years old)
We are #17 on the toddler girl list (<5 years old)

We are SO happy to be on the list. Yes, we'll have to wait some months for a referral, but now we're back on track and  making progress. Yippee!!!!! Here's to Tatum's sister or brother!

Kirsta & Michael

Thanks for all the support!

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment or sent me a note of support. It really does help knowing there are other families out there waiting...and waiting...and waiting.... I realize now that having a number IS great, but so is watching your number go down!! Here's hoping for all of us that our children find us soon!
Kirsta

One more week...

Well, our homestudy didn't get sent to the State after all last week--some final edits were needed by the agency. It was supposed to be mailed today and I somehow resisted the urge to email and ask..."So, did it get mailed??" (I actually wrote the email but deleted it) :)

 I'm sure all will work out as it is supposed to, but right now I'm a little deflated. In late March, we thought we would be on the wait list by early April, and now it's almost the middle of May, and we're still not on the list... And the list is growing longer and longer. When we first signed on with the agency, there were 20-something families on the infant girl list....now it's in the 50s. It's just hard because I remember this frustration from our first adoption...the waiting, the not knowing...it's the hardest.

But, I also know that the first time around it was all worth it. Every excruciating second, because our son is so amazing and we are the luckiest family in the world to have him. And there are now 3 times as many orphanages that our agency is working with compared to when we signed on, which will no doubt speed up referrals. It's just hard knowing your child is out there (or soon will be) and you can't be with her....

So, here's to patience. During our first adoption, a dear friend told me that maybe patience is the lesson I was supposed to be learn through it all. Of course, my brother-in-law says patience (patients) are people in hospitals! Ha!

Fingers crossed that we'll be on the wait list next week :)
Kirsta

Finally FBI!!

Our clearance from the FBI came back last week, so our social worker was able to complete our homestudy! The homestudy should be sent to the State on Tuesday, and usually approval comes in a week or so (assuming they don't have any questions).

When that happens, we'll be on the waiting list! Yahoo!!

Kirsta & Michael (trying to wait patiently)