Activity and Overview of Process

The last week has been filled with lots of activity as we have each gone to the doctor for a physical, obtained proof that we have no outstanding warrants or arrests in Oklahoma City, and had our passport photos taken times 4 (8 photos each!). We are so excited to be on this journey! I, for one, can't wait to be a mom.

Our next step in this process is a completed home study, which is done by a social worker here and later approved by our agency. We only have 3 or 4 more items to complete our home study application, and this part of the process should be under way. We expect to have our home study complete in late February, early March.

After the home study, we send a form to get pre-approval for an orphan visa. I hear this takes about 10 weeks...Then we put all of our newly gathered information (orphan approval and home study approval) with all of our other information in a giant file about us referred to as the dossier. Our dossier is currently about 80% complete, but the most important element (the home study) is, of course, still missing. The dossier will be the set of documents sent to Ethiopia!!!

Before I go, there are probably a few questions worth answering on this forum that we have not done a great job of addressing otherwise. Here are a few "FAQs":

How old will your baby be?
We told them we would take a child under age 2 but expect to get an infant between 4 and 10 months old.

Will it be a boy or a girl?
We figured we wouldn't get to choose this if we were birthing a child, so we "chose not to choose" and told the adoption we would take either. They typically have more boys than girls in care, so this means we are likely to get a boy. However, Ryan's mom Judy had a dream that we brought home a baby girl, so there is hope for either!

Will it be healthy?
We have asked for a healthy baby. Of course, what we consider routine and simple medical treatment here is not readily available there. We expect our baby to have no diagnosed chronic or debilitating disease (including HIV). However, it is not abnormal for children to come home with treatable respiratory illnesses, upset tummies, sometimes even parasites. All of these are treatable in the U.S.

How much does that cost?
Can anyone really estimate when they find out they are pregnant how much the bill will be? Much like any other process, there are always changes and unexpecteds with adoption. If you knew your child was going to spend his first two days in a hospital and it was going to cost more than expected, would you have chosen not to have the child? After your C-section, did anyone ask, "Did that cost a lot?" In the same way, uncertainty and individual variation makes this question impossible to answer. However, one thing we do know, it will definately be worth whatever it costs.

Can you not have children?
Good question. We don't know. We felt we would pursue adoption first. We think birth children are also in our future, but who knows except God?

Rebecca ;)

Book Recommendation

We have two sets of friends who are each connected to a couple named Josh and Amy Bottomly, who just wrote a book that is now available through their website. We haven't read it yet, but it is supposed to be excellent. It is the story of their relationship, marriage, struggle with infertility and decision to adopt their son from Ethiopia. Here’s the website info if you are interested in ordering. Proceeds from book sales are going to fund their next adoption of a little girl from Ethiopia later this year.

www.fromashestoafrica.com

Rebecca :)

Thank yous

We received a little blessing in the mail today - a card from a friend who will (for now) go unnamed. The card is yellow with tiny pink and blue baby items floating around words of excitement and congratulations. This, I believe, is our very first baby card, and something we will treasure for years to come. It reminds us that when the paperwork is over and the blood tests have been run, there will be a child waiting on the other side to forever join our family.
THANK YOU.

Along this journey, we have friends who have combed with us through what appeared to be insurmountable paperwork and said, "Just start knocking things out - you could do this tomorrow!" THANK YOU.

At the bank, where I had to get a statement of our accounts and activity for the past year, I was helped by a young lady who was herself adopted. With total dedication to the task of adding 12 months of deposits while talking to me as I stood on the other side of the counter, she said, "This is kinda cool helping someone else adopt. You'll have to show us your baby when you bring it home." THANK YOU.

To those of you who pointed out multi-racial families to us in restaurants and told us we were doing the right thing and made a point to say at Christmas there might be one more next year...THANK YOU.

Rebecca :)

Blogs for the Not-so-Blog-Savvy

In honor of the New Years letters being mailed yesterday, and thus the official unveiling of the blog, I though this might be a good time give a brief explanation of how a blog works for those of you who are first-timers.

1. The most current post will appear at the top of the page. Previous posts will be listed in reverse order from the top down.

2. If you wish to see earlier posts (posts that do not display on the first page of the blog), you will find links to the earlier post, organized by month, on the bottom left hand column. Simply click and you will be taken to earlier entries.

3. For you reference, Rebecca and I have signed the bottom of each of our posts.

We look forward to you following this journey with us and appreciate all of your support.

Ryan