CPR + Infant... DONE

Scott and I completed our required course this morning.

Scooter was a rockstar!

Me too.

Another step closer to our new child.

Pictures Are Done

Scott's friend arrived at 8:30am and we were all ready with big smiles. The kids were great and it was quick and easy. Thank God. We sent the pictures off to Costco and we can pick them up this afternoon. It is nothing short of a miracle that Macker is sitting with our family. The smile is simply a bonus.

Can't wait for one more!

Pictures being done means one step closer to our child.

This is the cleanest our family room as ever been. Hope the courts in Ethiopia like it.

2nd Home Study Visit

Our second home study meeting went really well. We met the social worker at a church basement in Aurora, about 45 minutes away from our house. The kids came along so we didn't have to pay for a babysitter and they were angels!! She (Beverly) wanted to know all about how we met and who does what at our house. She would say, "Who takes out the garbage?" We'd answer at the exact same time. "He does." Finances? She does. Cleans the house? He does. Fixes things? He does. Etc... it was fun to tell her about us. She had interesting stories about her own life. She's personally adopted 8 kids from 3 countries. We only need to meet with her 2 more times. The last visit will be at our house where checks out everything and gives us the thumbs or down. It's not till December 11th.
This has been a busy week with adoption paper work. We have started the paper chase. I am praying that I can be really organized. Sometimes I feel like I'm not sharp enough to get it all done but then I think of this new little person joining our family and I continue, one paper at a time.
* We have our 4 hour CPR + infant class this Saturday. $100.00 (anyone want to babysit?)
* We ordered new birth certificates for Scott and I and our marriage license. We already have our old ones but the country of Ethiopia requires that the documents be printed within one year. $130.00
*Contacted American Family Insurance in AZ to get copies of our life insurance.
*Power of Attorney and Cover Sheet for Dossier- Notarized and sent to Secretary of State to be certified.
*Family picture will be taken Wed. morning. Ethiopia requires 4-6 picture of your family. 1 of your living room and 1 of the outside of your house. 2 of your family doing activities. A pastor at church that works with Scott offered to do this for us. Thanks God.-Free
* Talked to Winfield, IL police department and made an appointment for next week to get our background records and police clearance. The lady who does that is a notary. Sweet! -Free
* Finished my 8 hours or mandatory Hage Adoption online seminar.
* Scott 1/2 finished with is seminar.
* Talked to our medical insurance BCBS of IL HMO. They will send letter of coverage. They will not be able to send proof that an adoptive child will be covered under our insurance. (Must talk to Scott's employer about that...)

"I am the Lord, the God of all mankind, is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 34:27

So, I know this is a boring post but I wanted to write down everything so I won't forget. Please pray for us as we continue to gather and notarize important papers. It's all so worth it. All of it. Pray for our new little Murray. If he's already born please pray for him. If he's not born yet then please pray that his birth mother has enough food to eat to keep she and our child healthy. Pray that she will be protected from abuse or disease. Did I forget to mention that we told our agency that we didn't have a preference as to boy or girl? They said that the need is MUCH greater for boys so that is what we are planning on. AWESOME! Any name suggestions?

Picture: My little sister picking up new birth certificates and wedding license in Iowa. Thanks, Lions.

It's Offical.

Received this email this morning and Scott and I are on cloud 9.

Hi Scott & Katie,

I hope you are doing well today! I wanted to email you to confirm receipt of your initial agreement paperwork and payment. Now that I’ve received your paperwork, your family will be assigned a Family Coordinator to work with you through the remainder of your process. You should hear from your Family Coordinator within the next week or so regarding the next steps. If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

It has been a pleasure to assist your family through the process thus far and I wish you the best in your adoption journey! I pray that the Lord will guide and strengthen you through your process.

In Him,


Amy Pearson
Intake/Post Placement Coordinator

Then later this afternoon we got this letter.

Dear Scott & Kathleen,

Hello and welcome to the Ethiopia Program at America World! I am looking forward to working with your family during the exciting journey of adoption! As your family coordinator, I will assist you in completing the comprehensive paperwork required to adopt a child from Ethiopia.

To begin your paper-chase process, please read through the information listed below and begin completing the following steps:

· Read through the Dossier Guidelines and sign the Dossier Guidelines Agreement
· Review other attachments
· Return the Dossier Guidelines Agreement and Family Service Plan to me through regular mail BY 12/03/2009. **Please put “ATTENTION: CAITLIN EDWARDS” on the envelope.**
· As you gather documents for your dossier make sure you send them to me by fax or email. This is mandatory so I can review them to make sure they meet Ethiopia’s requirements.
· Please note that the expected timeframe to complete a dossier is 4-6 months.

In order to assist your family in various ways throughout your adoption process, I wanted to make you aware of the following resources:

· We have an America World blog and will use this as our primary vehicle for communicating general information to you about programs, events, referrals, etc. Please sign up for the blog by going to www.awaablog.com. Please refer to it for the most up to date information from America World.

· You will receive Weekly Encouragements with paperwork tips and bible verses throughout your adoption.

· We have yahoo chat groups available for you to give and receive support from fellow adoptive parents.
ð AWAA’s Chat Group: www.yahoogroups.com. You can subscribe by going to our web page and looking under "links”.

· As your Family Coordinator, It is always my desire and commitment to respond to your voicemails and emails as quickly as possible. In order to continue to serve families to the best of my ability and manage work load, I will continue to respond to families questions and concerns though prioritizing families by stage of adoption and then by the order in which inquires are received. Due to time sensitive deadlines during referral processing, my response time will be focused on assisting families to accept their referrals,

I am delighted to begin this journey with your family. There will be blessings and challenges along the way; however, I trust our feet will always have the Light to walk in as Christ is the leader of this voyage. I am praying for your family as they begin this exciting stage.

Joyfully,


Caitlin Edwards
Africa Family Coordinator

I'm excited to get started but the 16 attachments made my heart race.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Philippians 4:13
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Please pray for us as we do our best to gather and organize and notarize every imaginable piece of paper. It's so worth it. In the end, a child that had no mom and dad will have one. A child with no wonderful sister will have one and a child without 2 crazy brothers will have a forever family. We fully love this little person already without ever laying eyes on him/her. It's hard to explain. Please pray for us.

Amazing

I just can't watch this without crying.

Mailing

Reference letters and contract agreement sent. Awesome!

Accepted

The adoption agency called today and gave us the thumbs up. We have been approved to the Ethiopia Program. They welcomed us to the wonderful world of adoption.

Yeah, we're happy and more than that we are humbled and honored to begin on this awesome journey to our new son or daughter. God has definitely been in front of us on this one... It's amazing to think that He already knows who this little child is and how perfectly they will fit into our family. God knows how much we are going to love our new little boy or girl. Now, the fun part begins! Proverbs 16:9 talks about how we plan our lives, but God directs our steps. Please pray with us as we wait to see what steps God will have for us. This is going to be awesome. -Scott

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday. We're praying and dreaming of what the next 12-18 months will hold for our crazy family. We know this process is going to change us, our family and hopefully the world around us. Thanks for praying.

The Beginning

Seriously? Seriously. Sweet, then we're doing it. No looking back. No doubts. This is going to be a long road but we are committed.

"...ONCE OUR EYES ARE OPENED WE CAN'T PRETEND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. GOD, WHO WEIGHS OUR HEARTS AND KEEPS OUR SOULS, KNOWS THAT WE KNOW, AND HOLDS US RESPONSIBLE TO ACT." -PROVERBS 24:12

Last March Scott sent my a text message from the Orange Conference in Atlanta, GA. All it said was, "Please pray about adopting an orphan, God is moving my heart."
At that time we had a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 9 month old but I began to pray. My heart was really excited. I started to search the Internet and read everything I could about adoption. I called organization regarding foster care, domestic adoption and international adoption.
Our eyes have been opened and our hearts are leading us to Ethiopia. We have a long road ahead of us but faithfully we will wait and trust that God will lead us to the child that is meant for our family.
Why Ethiopia? It’s hard to explain when you just know that something is right. Here are some statistics about the country that is calling us…
• There are 4.8 million orphans in Ethiopia
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years
• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school
• Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
• Average life expectancy is 37 years

So Scott and I are steping out to make a difference in the life of one person. One little person that matters so much to God. He already knows who and when. We are just trying to walk in obedience. Join us.