Our adoption journey so far

Steve and I began our adoption journey by attending an information meeting March 2007. After much prayer, discussion and research, we sent an initial application to our agency, Children's Home Society and Family Services (CHSFS) in January 2008. Soon after, we were invited to attend a Pre Adoption Class (PAC) at our agencies headquarters in St Paul, MN.

We attended the PAC meeting in March and continued our quest to adopt from Ethiopia by completing a home study and dossier, making us referral ready May 21, 2008. The home study and dossier included a multiply of forms that needed to be collected and notarized, including a statement from our bank, Steve's employer, local police, just to name a few. We also were fingerprinted by an immigration officer for approval through the US Homeland Security for our Visa to bring our future son home. This approval along with our dossier is now in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

The Wait:

We have requested and have been approved for a boy 12 - 36 months old. With three girls already, we thought a boy would add some fun dynamics to our family. Our agency gave us an average wait time of 6 - 9 months. However, we believe the referral could come quicker since we are adopting a slightly older child and there is more of a demand for infants.

Our agency cannot tell us where we are on a list of those waiting for a referral but I am part of a forum and on the forum's "unofficial" list (which accounts for 1/3 of those waiting), we are first in line for boy of the age we have requested. This gives me hope that we will not have to wait the 6 months but if we do wait that long, I'm trying not to get anxious because I know God has the right child picked out for us.