Our Family

Our Family
Our Family, December 2013

Monday, December 5, 2011

First Blog Post

So, we're adopting from Ethiopia.  What's the first thing I should do?  Create a blog, apparently. 
Actually, we're currently much further down the road than "the first thing."  We're on the waiting list for a 5-10 year old.  Adoption is a lot like a pregnancy with a really long gestational period.  The next time someone tells you they're adopting.  Look into their eyes and tell them you admire their determination.  Adoption, foreign adoption (the only kind I know about) isn't an easy process.  It involves paperwork, home study visits, large, outgoing sums of money, and for us, questions from relatives about why we would ever want to do this.  After all, we're in our mid-forties.  We're a few years from being empty-nesters.  Why would we want to go back into parenting?
Other parents who have or are currently in the adoption process don't question the "why."  They totally get it, and for them I am thankful. 
For the present, I'm not going to advertise this blog.  If you've stumbled across it, welcome, but it's not really ready for public viewing, yet.  I just wanted to get started with a place to post our thoughts and our progress. 

Adoption Timeline

  • 5/14/13 - Adoption finalized in Nebraska
  • 6/15/12 - Together in Nebraska
  • 6/5/12 - Birthparent Embassy appointment
  • 5/14/12 - Submitted to Embassy
  • 4/18/12 - Passed Court in Addis Ababa
  • 2/2/12 - Referral finalized with AGCI
  • 2/1/12 - Acceptance of Referral documents shipped to AGCI
  • 1/27/12 - Verbal acceptance of referral
  • 1/25/12 - WE GET OUR REFERRAL CALL FROM AGCI!!!
  • 1/17/12 - D. comes to Hannah's Hope
  • 9/12/11 - Notice of Favorable Determination (FDL)
  • 9/8/11 - Fingerprinting Appt. at the Department of Homeland Security in Omaha
  • 7/12/11 - Homestudy documents received from Lutheran Family Services
  • 4/19/11 - Entered contract with AGCI for an Ethiopian Adoption
  • 2/9/11 - Adoption Application sent to AGCI