GREAT NEWS!!!!

Just wanted to give everyone a brief update. I spoke with our social worker on Saturday.....Bethany Christian Services officially mailed all of our paperwork off to Ethiopia on Friday of this past week. Things are really started to move. Once the paperwork is received in Ethiopia they have to translate it and whatever else they do there but once they receive it - we are officially on the waiting list!!!!! This day has seemed so far away but it is here and hard to believe. It still doesn't seem real - but there is progress being made. Praise the Lord!

6 YEARS

Today Josh and I celebrate 6 years of marriage. Who would have ever thought that a baby-lover like me would be waiting this long to start a family. Obviously, the timing thing was not by choice. Just when you think you got your life figured out God gently gives us a reminder that our timing is not our own but His. I received a nice reminder of this from a friend last week - it said - God has already chosen your family. You are not late or behind, instead you are EXACTLY where you should be. Trust His timing, it's perfect! We all need those reminds from time to time. Josh has asked me a few times how I think our life will change when we get our child and I told him I don't think about it because normally everything you think is going to happen rarely ever happens. All we can do is wait and pray because we know when the time is right it will happen!

Timeline

Just wanted to give you a time frame so you understand the process a little more. Josh and I began the process approximately 1 year ago! Our final documents were received in the Indy office on August 13, 2009! The Bethany office has sent our documents to the headquarters in Michigan which are currently (hopefully) being approved. Once they approve our documents they send them out to Ethiopia and then we begin our wait for a referral. The estimated time for a referral is 12 - 18 months :(! The reason for the length of time is because they have to translate all of our documents and also since we have request an infant (0 - 2 years) it usually takes a little longer. For those of you that have never been through this process before I would just like to inform you that even though it doesn't seen that way the wait is the EASY part! Now I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is nothing hanging over my shoulders anymore! I am going to try and keep a pretty accurate update on here as things become available to me. In the meanwhile I am going to start posting some videos other people have put up of their adoption experience to Ethiopia because I think that these videos have really helped me get a sense of what lies ahead.

This video I found through someone's blog and I think it is a great video!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtsYlsQHV4Q

it is from http://boydfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/

The Waiting Game

Today we wait and we pray. We know each and everyday that the Lord has something good in store for us, but we must patiently wait for His good and perfect timing!