It's official!!!

OUR DOSSIER HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN SENT TO ETHIOPIA!

The dossier was supposed to go out last Friday, but due to bank holdings on our adoption account it didn't happen. They put a hold on our deposit that we made to cover the translation fee, international fee, second agency fee, and adoption fee. Because the check was well over $5,000 they had to hold it for 2 weeks! It was very upsetting for us, because we wanted to get on the waiting list as soon as possible, and the only way to get on the waiting list is for your dossier to be shipped, and the dossier can't be shipped until you have paid everything you owe. So once again, money issues were halting our process. (I feel a recurring theme here, so far with this journey.) But I was clinging to God and His plan for me. It's not always smooth, but sometimes you have to hold on to Him when the road gets bumpy and rest assured that His timing is perfect. That evening I got a very reassuring email from our wonderful case worker, saying that no other dossier has come in and that our dossier is first on the list to be shipped over (meaning no one will be in front us on the waitlist due to this little bank mishap.) Praise God! He works even in our accidentals and imperfections.


So, you better believe that we were ecstatic when we got the email today from our agency saying that they have shipped our dossier to Ethiopia today. Next up, our agency's team in Ethiopia will get our dossier on Monday or Tuesday. One of the workers will run around Addis Ababa all day on behalf of us getting all the necessary notaries and authentications needed from the country. I can't wait to get the email saying what number we are on the waitlist.


So what to do in the meantime......

I ordered a ton of books to read to prepare for the road to come and we have to do some required training from our agency about adoption. We also will be doing more fundraising to pay for the rest of our costs, which consists of traveling fees (we have to travel twice).

I will continue to update our progress everytime we  get word from our agency. To pass time, I'll continue to blog how God is working in our lives to prepare us for what's to come. There's nothing that brings me more joy to be able to go back and see what God did and how He uses people to make His plan perfect!

Thanks, again for all of the prayers and support thus far! It's an honor to share our story with all of you.