Dossier Done!

Happy Thanksgiving. We are so thankful that our dossier is pretty much done. Just a few minor details that won't take long at all. We had a minor set back when we got our fingerprint appointments on Friday and they were Dec 10th at 1:00 p.m. Kreg is in Las Vegas for his job so that is definitely not going to work. We're hoping and praying that they can reschedule sometime VERY soon so that we can keep the process moving. Have a great day everyone and remember all of the things, even so small to be thankful for!

November is Adoption Awareness Month

We are in the middle of getting our dossier for Ethiopia completed. It is actually coming along quite well now. We have 30 items we need to put in this packet. We are trying to teach Kendal a new word each week that is in Amharic (Ethiopian language). I think it's more for us too! Our word last week was, "woosha" which means dog. Amharic is a very difficult language. It doesn't match up to our alphabet and it's difficult to pronounce. It will be fun learning this new language and culture though. We should hopefully hear back from immigration soon about our fingerprint date and then get our other paperwork back to send across the world! :)

Taste of Africa

We went to the "Taste of Africa" last night in Grand Rapids. It was so much fun. We really enjoyed the food, the music, but most of all, the people. Everyone was so warm and kind. We went with some friends and they seemed to enjoy themselves as well. You should have seen Kendal dance to all of the upbeat African music - so cute. Kreg works with a woman from Kenya who was there and was filling us in on the food and anything we asked her about Africa.

Also, our home study is finally completed. We will pick that up this week and send that and some other paper work to immigration. They will go through this and assign us a day to get fingerprinted. This process should take about 4 months.

Tax Credit

Please, please, please pray that the state and federal adoption tax credits go through. The current one expires in 2010.

Last Home Visit

Kreg and I had our last home visit, in our home this time, last week. It went really well and she got to meet Kendal and Remington. Now, we are just waiting for the paperwork to be done. Kreg and I have some online training to finish up as well. When we get the home study in our hands, we can send it to immigration. The process of immigration sending our paperwork back to us takes four months! Can you believe it? In the meantime, Kreg and I have a TON of paperwork to get ready for our "dossier" to send to Ethiopia along with our immigration papers. It will probably take us that long anyways. :) We are so excited to keep this process moving. I saw a little boy and girl at Meijer with their adopted family yesterday it just warmed my heart. The little girl actually waved at me and smiled. I've been thinking about them a lot and I can't wait to have our own wonderful, loving, beautiful children soon.

2nd Home Visit

Today we met with Belinda, our social worker again for our second home visit. We went over our Dossier, which is our formal application to Ethiopia. Wow, is it long! We have so many things to fill out and most everything needs a notary. It's a long process but Belinda says she will help us along the way. We also gave her personal information about ourselves today as well. We found out there is an Ethiopian coffee being sold here called, Kaffa Bunna. We are going to go try it at DeBoer Bakery tomorrow (one of the few places selling it). 100% of the proceeds of this coffee goes towards one of the three orphanages in Addis Ababa (which could be the one we go through). It supports mothers, children and staff at this orphanage. You can also buy it online at www.blueniletraders.org. We'll let you know how it tastes. Coffee is said to have originated in Ethiopia!

Home Visit Went Well

We met with our social worker for the first time yesterday. She is amazing and very supportive. The process so far has been very pleasurable and exciting. She prepared us for what is to come in the next two years. The time frame is just incredible as to how long it takes to do everything especially since we are doing international adoption. Some of the information we received yesterday helps us to understand why it takes so long. So many fees that are unimaginable but very worth it. We have a lot of "work" to do including 8 hours of online training and classes and reading as well. It will definitely prepare us (hopefully) for what is to come. Please pray for us as we try to understand and process all of the new forms we need to fill out and that the process goes smoothly. So far, so good! Our next home visit is Friday, the 21st.