Dossier Turned In!! Paperwork finished!!

I am very proud to announce to you that we are officially done with the paper chase part of this adoption, we have fed exed our dossier. (dos- e- a for my non adoption friends) As soon as Holt approves it we will be officially waiting. Waiting for that phone call and email to see the beautiful face fo the child God has prepared us for also known as a referral. We really have no idea how long that might be. They are saying 7-9 months but some of the people who just received their referral in about 4-5 months. So your guess is as good as mine. I am praying for patience during this wait and to just enjoy family because I have been told that the wait between seeing the picture and going to court to hold them is very difficult and that the wait once we have seen them and had to leave them is even more difficult. So this is suppose to be the easy wait!!

Ok so I have had many questions about what is a dossier so I am going to list all of the things we have done so far. I know it is overwhelming but I would do it a 1000 times over if necessary!

First we had to do our home study. Here is what that involved.

- application

directions to our home

medical tests for Bryan and I (HIV, HEB B, TB and drugs)

medical exams for Cole and Averie

autobiographys (that was interesting)

family pictures, pictures of our house, and play area with swing set

monthly budget

marriage certificate and birth certificates

photos of passports

4 references who had to fill out questionare about us (4 pages)

CPA letter about finances since we are self employed

last year income tax papers

copy of drivers licenses and social security cards

floor plan of our home

fire arms safety sheet

child proof our house (needed to be done with Cole anyway)

fire extinguisher

practice fire drills

8 hours of questioning Bryan and I on EVERYTHING

30 min. of questioning Averie (our Social worker was in for a treat, if you know Averie you

understand)

Proof of will, life insurance, and health insurance

forms about our marriage (we each had to do one) and each others parenting abilities

Once we received our approved home study we were able to mail our papers for immigration. That involved our homestudy, birth certificates and marriage certificates. We then received fingerprint appointments and had that done in Dallas. We needed that approval to add to our dossier.

Our dossier included:

family summary form

a notarized letter from us to the Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs in Eth. telling

why we wanted to adopt

2 passport sized photos of each of us

our home study report that had to be certified in Austin at the Sec of States office

a power of attorney allowing a man in Ethiopia to act on our behalf (a little scary) certified also

Certified Birth Certificates and Marriage Certificates

Color copies of our passport notarized

2 more letters of recommedation notarized

Police clearance from our local law enforcement notarized

Medical Certificates on Bryan and I notarized

CPA letter notarized

Copy of income taxes notarized

Personal condition forms (4 yrs. of income taxes) notarized

Letter from our bank that we are in good standing notarized

Post Placement agreement notarized

copy of my immigration approval

Now you know why I am so relieved for this part to be over. Thanks for your prayers and support but keep it coming. We are going to need all we can get over this time. Please also pray for our Ethiopian angel and their birth family.