Oops!

Okay so somehow we missed the fact that there was a second page to our I600a form. We got a call last week letting us know, so I finished that and got it sent off yesterday. I'm so glad that we are already on the waiting list so this doesn't really matter as far as timing goes. I think we will be getting the FDL back soon once they process our second page. Other than that we are just waiting to hear from AGCI next week about our updated wait list numbers. Oh, and we are planning on having a garage sale/fundraiser soon so prayers that it brings in a lot would be appreciated.

One month and One year

One month:

Today we have been on the waiting list for exactly one month. It was kind of neat too because we got our bi-weekly update from AGCI and heard that they had a bunch of referrals in the last two weeks! This comes as a great relief because they had close to two months of no referrals. While there weren't any problems and they were just getting paperwork in order it was hard for those at the top of the wait list to see no referrals. I don't know where this puts us on the wait list because I don't know how many of those families were on the boy list too, but when I get our next monthly call I'll let you know. Jared and I are guessing it will be around 18-20.

One year:

It has been exactly one year since Jared and I started talking about adopting from Ethiopia. We officially decided in early June of '07, but I started journaling and praying the last two weeks of May. It is hard to believe that it has been that long already, but also neat to know that this has been a big part of us for a while now. So I felt like these two big milestones were worth a blog post. Yeah!

Another Cool Web page

My blog buddy Christin posted about this website called Free Rice and it is an easy way to donate food for people in poverty by learning English vocab. It costs you nothing and you get to learn a little. Check it out at www.freerice.com or click on it under my links.

Guess What My Husband Found!

So two months ago I wrote in my blog that I had lost some fabric that I bought for our little guy's room. Well this weekend we were cleaning and found it on top of our large freezer out in the gaurage. I would have never found this because I'm way too short to see up there, but my tall husband found it for me. I was so happy! I've included a picture. I think later this afternoon I'll go to home depot and look at some paint samples to match. I know we still have a very long time until we need his room to be done, but the planning part is fun.

Thank you bloggers!

Okay so after I wrote my post last night I read about another referral which would make us #21. I didn't bother changing the post, but then two great blog friends commented on the post and told me that they thought I was really #21. It feels great to know I have people watching out for me:) Thanks Christin and Amy! I decided I might go ahead and change my charms anyway, it will be more fun that way.

Dossier to Ethiopia

We got word today that our dossier came back from D.C. and will be heading off to Ethiopia tomorrow. It is pretty cool knowing that we are actually getting closer to our son. Yes, the wait will still be quite long, but we will have papers in the same country as our little guy soon...yay! We have no official news about our number on the wait list changing, but I've heard there have been some referrals which means we will most likely be moved up soon. My educated guess is that we are at least down one spot to 22. I'll be more sure next week when we get an email update from our agency. Until then I think I'll keep my charms at 23, just to be sure. Thanks for checking in!

Another Great Post

I read an AMAZING blog post today and want to share it will you all. For those of you who know me well, this probably sounds a lot like me, and for those of you who don't this is a good way to get a peak at my true deep self. Although I did not write this I feel like it came strait out of my own heart. A while ago I even wrote song lyrics that say pretty much the same thing. I guess it is just neat to see that the heart of God is unchanging and can shine the same message/passion out through those who have their hearts set on Him. What a call to action!

One small step

Our dossier is being sent off for authentication today. This means that all the paperwork we labored over for five months is approved by our agency and gets to travel to Washington D.C. to the Ethiopian embassy. Once that is done it will travel to Ethiopia! Please pray that it has a safe journey. I know that sounds funny, but think of it this way...it would be like writting for 5 months on a 50 page senior paper for your most crucial college class and having to send it away to three different places before you know it is safe and being graded. Then you still have to wait a loooong time before you know the grade you got. So,I hope that helps you picture our need for prayer about our papers :)

More good news to report about our group of Montana families with ET kids (It is called MFEC for short). We now have 9 members and have heard of four more. I sent out our group info to several local adoption agencies yesterday and I hope they pass it on to their ET families. I am putting together a picnic for all of us to meet in June. It is so exciting to see that we are not as alone as we once thought we might be. Please pray that God would continue to grow our group and our relationships as well. Being involved in this group will be a good way to help pass the time as we wait for a referral.

Great God Story

I love stories like this one from Sharon and Mike, it just confirms how great God's provision is for us!

long time no blog...

So a lot has happened since I have blogged last. We left for our Colorado vacation last Thursday and got home yesterday only to turn around and drive 4 more hours for our USCIS finger printing apointment. We have essentially been traveling since Monday, and now I am very happy to be home and back to my blog :) So now that finger printing is done we just wait for our FDL and then keep waiting for our referral. I asked the lady at USCIS how long the turn around has been for the FDL and she said it may be as short as a week! I was really surprised by that, so I guess we'll see. Even though I don't have to wait for the FDL to be on the wait list it will still be nice to have done. In honor of getting our wait list numbers I made necklace charms that I can change out as our number declines. I thought this would be a fun reminder and give me something to look forward to each month when I get "the call."



While we were in Denver this past week we visited a great little Ethiopian restaurant. I LOVED the food!! I told "J" I'm in trouble because the closest ET food is 7 hours away. I didn't get to try tej (sp?) the honey wine because they were out :( I decided this would just have to be something I can look forward to when we travel. I hope to learn to cook some of this food from some fellow adoptive families here in town. All in all it has been a crazy week, but I'm glad to be home and get back to normal. Hope to hear from you all soon.