D.T.E.

The adoption process seems to be a process characterized by a series of beginnings, which culminate in yet another beginning - the formation of a new family. Today marks another such beginning.

Around 6:30 this evening we received an official email from our agency notifying us that our dossier (all of the paperwork we have so diligently been gathering)is in the mail to Ethiopia where it will be translated and processed. Among families adopting from Ethiopia, this is known as being "D.T.E.," dossier to Ethiopia. Essentially, this begins the official adoption process.

Each month between now and when our referral (the picture and known medical information of a child)is received we will be able to contact the agency for an update on the anniversary date of our D.T.E.. We hope to have a referral sometime after Labor Day, and to travel to Ethiopia sometime between December 2009 and Spring 2010. While this is far from a timeline, it does provide some framework in which to work.

In the beginning, when everything seems far off, this crude framework offers some sense of control and stability. Ultimately, the timeline is not our own. We will continue to anxiously anticipate seeing our child's face for the first time in a picture, and we will continue to anxiously anticipate holding our child for the first time.

We could not be more excited as we look forward into what seems like endless seconds, hours, weeks, and months from one beginning toward the next.

Ryan