Adoption Update, Life on the Farm & Volleyball

The last month we've been busily putting together our adoption dossier (all the documents that must be sent to the Ethiopian government for approval for our adoption.) I've become very adept at filling out forms with ALL of our personal information on them...salary, net worth (are we supposed to have a black number for that one???), monthly expenses, personality strengths and weaknesses, etc. While I've been filling out this paperwork, special friends have been filling out references ad nauseum. Not only do we have to have references x 3 for our dossier, but we also have to have references x 3 for our home study and references x 3 for each of the grants and adoption loans for which we are applying. Special thanks to Lisa Barna, Mike & Iris Wallace, Lisa Cernuto, Malcolm & Krista Williams, and especially Wade Malloy, our pastor, who wrote a reference for EVERY agency - that's 5 references, to date, ugh!

While I am filling out paperwork, the girls are busy keeping the farm running. Below is a picture of one very cold morning last week. Although we have freeze-proof water pumps, one of them froze anyway. This necessitated multiple trips from the house to the horse pastures, a wagon in-tow, with buckets of warm water. For such big animals, horses can be rather fragile. Our oldest mare (age 26) won't drink water if it is too cold. I know, I know, some of you are saying...just let her get thirsty and she'll drink. Unfortunately, if she doesn't drink enough she develops colic (a severe horse stomachache) which can require a vet visit and in extreme cases, surgery. Needless to say we don't let it get to this point; thus, the girls with their wagon and buckets of warm water. I have to admit, I was quite content to sit by the fire and fill out adoption paperwork while the girls braved the cold.





One of the reasons we love living on a farm is because of the responsibility it instills in our girls. Horses must get fed whether you feel like it or not. However, we'll be adding laying hens and meat hens to the farm this spring, and the girls have unequivocally informed me that the hens will be my "job." They are not enamored with the feathered friends!!

On another note, Michaela is playing club volleyball for the 1st time. Last weekend was the first tournament. She had an impressive string of serves and did a great job setting.






After enjoying the volleyball tourny, it was back to our adoption dossier. It is now complete except for 1 form that the state must mail to us. Upon receiving that form, I'll drive the dossier to Raleigh to have it authenticated by the NC Secretary of State. Then the packet will be overnighted to a courier in Washington DC who will hand-carry the precious cargo to both the US State Dept. and the Ethiopian State Dept. for authentication. After these 3 steps, the dossier will be submitted to Ethiopia for translation and approval. Once our dossier is on the way to Ethiopia, we will be officially placed on the waiting list for our agency. We have requested one or two girls under the age of 4 with or without special needs. But we are praying for God's leading as the agency matches us with our daughter(s). The average wait for referral is 6 months or less. After we're matched with a child, the agency will order a 2nd medical report on the child and our documents will go to court in Ethiopia to make the child(ren) our official daughters. We will travel five weeks after a successful court date. In my best human estimation, our daughters will be home for Christmas. What a great Christmas present that will be!

Pray with us that God will provide the finances needed to submit the dossier to Ethiopia, and that He will begin preparing the hearts of our daughters in Ethiopia to join their forever family.


"One adoption won't change the world but it will change the world for that
child."
(I saw this quote on someone's e-mail tag...not sure who to give the credit to but I love the quote!)