Bethany here, I wanted to chime in on this exciting news too!
We are so amazed at God’s kindness in this referral. Like Joshua said- to us and our dear children. I’ll give a little more of the details. We have been referred a 6 year old little boy and his 4 year old sister. They are the most beautiful little kids, with big brown eyes, and perfect little noses. The picture we have is absolutely adorable, the little boy has his arm around his sister’s shoulders and she has reached up to hold his hand. Due to adoption laws we are unable to post any pictures until we have successfully passed court (in Ethiopia). Once this happens these precious kiddos will be ours and we can share with the world their beautiful faces.
To give you a little insight into what happens now. . . we will finish up our homestudy on July 14th at our new house. That week our homestudy report will be sent into USCIS and matched with our I-600A application. In about 8-12 weeks we should receive our I-171 which is the paper that every family longs and waits for! This is our approval from US immigration to bring two orphans here to the USA. Once we have this paper (probably October) we will put it with our other dossier documents and mail it off to the Virginia Secretary of State for certification. They’ll mail it back and we give it to our family coordinator who will have it authenticated and sent off to Ethiopia.
This is where our process will be different from most peoples. Usually when your dossier is sent off that is the time when you go on the waiting list to be matched with a child/ren. But since we already have a referral our acceptance of these children will be sent off to Ethiopia with our dossier and a request for a court date. It will take about 4-6 weeks to get a court date and sometimes families have to go to court a few times to be approved. Then about 2-4 weeks after a successful court date we fly to Ethiopia to get these two cuties!!! So as Joshua mention it is looking like December or January!!! That is only 6 months away folks!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!
We have updated the Funding Our Adoption page with our new fee schedule and where we are in the process. We have a lot of money to save and raise in the coming months. So please keep us in your prayers and check out our funding page for the upcoming fundraisers we’re looking into. Thanks to everyone who has been supporting us through this process. We are so grateful for each and everyone of you!
2 Comments
June 27, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Josh and Bethany,
What a beautiful answer to prayer…both yours and theirs! I praise the Lord with you that He laid these waiting children on your heart, and I’m praying for their hearts to be prepared for the intense love that the Lord will share with them through their new parents. I’m so excited for you!
Elizabeth
June 28, 2008 at 9:08 am
I’m so, so happy for you guys! I know that God chose those two to put into your hearts. And to know that they may be saved into God’s kingdom because of your love. It could make a world of difference to the people whose lives even they touch. What an awesome challenge for the two of you!