Changes with the adoption timeline....

Wow, it has been a long time for an update. So here is the update.....we completed the homestudy and everything went well. We got our passports in the mail. I had many issues with mine and had to send back extra paperwork including records from my hospital where I was born and news articles about my mom's death and such. However, it finally was accepted!!!

So the big news is this.....we are taking a pause in the adoption and starting back up in Jan/Feb 2012. We decided this for 2 reasons....One, because we feel it would be less stressful to just wait until we are at our final duty station to get more into the adoption process as it is harder with the moving this year. And, second, we are expecting again! My husband has been home for 3 months now and I'm about 11 weeks pregnant! We weren't planning this because of the adoption but we are excited and blessed anyhow! The baby is due December 29th so we will wait until after the baby is born to pick back up. We can pick back up quickly after the baby is born b/c we aren't requesting a baby so the age gap won't be a big deal. So our new timeline for bringing home our sweet Ethiopian daughter should be sometime in 2013. It seems so long to wait, but God is in control and will work it all out! In the meantime, we will continue to try to raise funds for the adoption with our first big thing being a garage sale next weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Social Worker Visit

I have been so busy lately with the hubby finally home after his long deployment that I haven't been blogging. So here is an update: This past week we had our first visit with our social worker to work on our homestudy. She didn't need to look around the house at all since we are moving, as that will be done later in our final place. She was very nice and the visit went well. She complimented us on how well behaved and patient the kids were :) She will be back this week and a few more times to finish it all up.

A small hiccup has been getting my passport. Apparently my birth certificate was filed late and they won't accept it in order to get my passport. I now have to contact my hospital of birth and old elementary schools to track down records of my birth. Considering that this is all in PA and I am far from there, this should be interesting. I guess my birth certificate was never filed my my mom and dad originally. My aunt and uncle (whom I call my parents, since they raised me) filed it as I was entering school. It is frustrating but hopefully I can get it all worked out soon.

That is about it. As for fundraising goes, we are not sure how to go about that since we are moving and will be living temporarily in VA for a few months and move again. Hoping to come up with an idea on that one to help out financially.

Our first fundraiser outcome

I held a Mary Kay party to help my friend jumpstart her business and also to earn money for our adoption. I didn't want any products as a hostess so she is just giving me what I would've earned in product...as cash :) I'm happy to report that we made about $40 in profit to go towards bringing Selah home! I'm hoping to do more fundraising to raise these funds considering that this is not a cheap route. We've already dumped about $3,000 into the adoption, and that has been the past 2 weeks! It can be a little worrisome not knowing where all the money will come from as it is due, but I take comfort in believing that God will provide as this is His calling for us....we are His servants, obeying Him to do His will. And what a precious calling it is to love one of the least of these children as our own!!

Fingerprints and Passport filed!

So I got my fingerprints and passport filed for our homestudy. Frank will have to get his done immediately when he returns from Afghanistan. Apparently these two forms take the longest to process. I'm still hoping that it will come back quickly for Frank as he will return the beginning of March and we are moving the middle of June. We need to have our homestudy completed by then! I'm sure it will fall into place, but it can be nerve racking nevertheless.

Just Love Coffee--fundraiser!

We have now set up a "store front" to sell coffee as a fundraiser for our adoption through Just Love Coffee. Let me tell you a little about Just Love Coffee Roasters. The owner, Rob Webb is in the family business of roasting coffee. When he and his wife adopted from Ethiopia, he developed a vision for using his expertise to help others. Since all of their coffee is fair trade, the poor farmers all over the world are helped by his business. A portion of all of their proceeds goes to help orphans in Ethiopia. And they offer fundraising opportunities for adopting families, like us. So if people make purchases from our “store” on their website, we get a large portion of the proceeds–mailed directly to us monthly. Talk about a wonderful company!! We think it’s so fitting, too, to raise funds this way for our Ethiopian adoption since Ethiopia is the birthplace for coffee and a huge part of their culture.

Please take a moment to check out our "store" website and consider supporting our family and this amazing company. Pretty awesome to drink great coffee (or give it as a gift for the non-coffee drinkers out there!) and help bring an orphan home at the same time! http://www.justlovecoffee.com/carrfamilyadoption

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork!

We have officially started the process with sending in a check for a big amount of money for the homestudy and now working on paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork involved along with gathering certain documents, getting passports and fingerprints, etc. I will be spending tomorrow working on adoption paperwork. We are somewhat rushed to complete things faster here so we can finish the homestudy before we move. Everything should work out in the end, I believe it will. I also have to send another check very soon for $435 for adoption education. Both Frank and I have to take certain hours of classes regarding adoption in general, international adoption, adopting older kids, adopting transracial, and adopting special needs. We will have 2 days of classes in April in Denver and it happens to fall during Frank's block leave so that works out great! I just now have to figure out childcare for my other sweet kiddos and we'll be all set! We will be announcing some fundraising ideas soon that we plan to try to use to help raise the fees. Check back!

Sent in Application

So earlier this week I officially sent in our application and beginning paperwork to our agency along with a copy of it in an email. We already hit our first "bump". There were 5 pieces of paper that we needed to get notarized, however, not a single notary would accept my Power of Attorney to notarize me signing for my husband. So I had my signature notarized and my husband had his signature notarized by someone in Afghanistan and emailed it to our agency. The Ethiopian director is currently on vacation so I won't hear from her until Feb 7th as to what is the next step. I trust that it will all work out in the end with the move and everything coming up this summer. Next round will most likely involved tracking down certified copies of tons of stuff. I'll keep you updated!

Do we take the kids?

So my husband and I were discussing whether we should attempt to take the older 3 kids to Ethiopia with us for the 2nd trip. I know we have time to decide but we also know that means another couple of thousand extra (mainly airfare as lodging shouldn't change). I plan to talk with our agency and see what tips or ideas they have. I know it is a long trip, about 20 hrs long but I desire the kids to see how poor others are and how richly blessed we are. I want them to see that even though these people are living in poverty, that our God richly loves them the same as us. I want them to be thankful for things we take for granted such as clean running water. I want them to see the birthplace of their sister. I want to see God cultivate missions in their hearts and a desire to love the least of these by visiting a country that is in so dire need of God. The people of Ethiopia need to know that God loves them and is not punishing them. I want my kids to have a desire to help others that have less than them. I do believe that going to Africa, my children will see these things and it will become real and personal to them. I hope we can make it work for my children to experience all of this.

Decided on an Agency

So this week we narrowed down our adoption agency to Love Beyond Borders based out of Denver, CO. I received an email with numerous paperwork things that we have to start going through to get started. I plan to work on some of it this weekend and then officially mail in our application shortly. I know it will be a long process and maybe even a little tedious. However, I know it will be well worth it in the end! I can't wait until the end when I get to hug, hold, and tell my daughter how much I love her!