Yes, it was our agency

I've had a number of people ask if was our adoption agency that declared bankruptcy last week. The answer is yes. I'm not comfortable putting a lot of information on a public forum like this, but you are welcome to contact me privately if you want to know more. Also, we're urging people not to pay much attention to the media reports. The media reports are based on speculation right now, and I've noticed that the media is not reporting the good that's being done to quickly remedy the situation. When listening to or reading news stories, remember that the media's job is to create a reaction. Instead, if you want accurate and up-to-date information, please look at this link www.bdo.ca/imagineadoption. Any information you hear that is not on this site is merely speculative at this point. Thanks for your prayers and we will update more when we have a concrete plan regarding our individual adoption process.

And now we wait . . .

Our dossier has been sent to Ethiopia and our immigration paperwork is underway. Now we wait to be matched with our baby girl. Based on current wait times, I expect that we'll receive a proposal sometime around Christmas. There probably won't be much to update in the meantime, but know that we're very excited that our next post will likely be to announce that we're anticipating travel to meet and bring home our new child!!

Oh, and in case you haven't read our family blog, we welcomed a second biological child (a perfect little boy) into our family on May 13th!! This affects our adoption in that the soonest we will be able to bring an adopted child into our home is May of 2010. It should time out very well, given the wait times for an Ethiopia adoption.

Dossier is done!

Our dossier is done and will be sent to Ethiopia in about 4 weeks. Then we wait for a daughter to be proposed to us!! In the meantime, we can now start the immigration paperwork.

Long Time, No Post!

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted!! That's the main thing I'm learning about an adoption: it's exciting overall, but there's long stretches where there's not much to report. To date, we have completed our homestudy and are preparing our dossier to send to Ethiopia (hopefully we'll have it there by late spring/early summer). I'll post once we've sent it. In the meantime, there won't be too much to report. Once the dossier is sent off, then we wait for a baby girl to be proposed to us. That's when it gets really exciting!!

I sometimes write more about my thoughts/feelings on our family blog so if you're family or a friend and don't have our family blog link, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Our main prayer request right now is financial. We need $12 300 for agency/orphange fees (due at the time that we send off our dossier). I think we'll need to borrow, but I still am not putting it past God to provide the funds at the eleventh hour either. I've updated the financial breakdown thus far. Almost $6000 spent and all of it provided by God. Plus we've been blessed with another $5000, which will help cover the agency fees. Otherwise we would need $17 300 for the next stage. Wow. And, of course, we have immigration and travel costs once we have been matched with our child . . . I'm trying not to think about that yet, as sometimes the financial aspect can seem a bit overwhelming.

The Ball is Officially Rolling!

August 13-15, Corey and I attended our 3-day seminar through Hope Adoption Services. It was incredible and we gained so much valuable information. This also means that our educational component is done! All our initial paperwork has been submitted and as soon as all of our references come in, we will begin our homestudy. During the homestudy we will have more paperwork to complete so our dossier can be sent to Ethiopia shortly thereafter.

Along with the Funds Raised column (which is doing great), I have decided to add a Costs Incurred column so people can see the costs of an adoption while in progress. We have been so blessed financially and it just seems that God is prompting people to purchase our items/donate to our cause right when we need it.

So, I guess it's official . . . the ball is rolling and our adoption is in-progress!!

Ethiopia!

The decision has been made. We will adopt from Ethiopia. I had a great chat with our caseworker from Hope Adoption and we both feel great about our choice. There were a lot of pros to Ethiopia vs. Zambia such as:

-The timelines are more predictable
-The stay in country when we go to pick up our child is only 5-7 days compared to 2-6 weeks for Zambia
-Only one parent can to go, if the other parent are unable (may be important should I get pregnant again and am unable to travel overseas)
-Addis Abba is at a very high elevation (too high for mosquitoes) so there is a lesser risk of disease when travelling (a doctor who is a specialist in tropical disease and worked for the WHO will be at our 3-day seminar in Aug to answer questions like this even further)
-Adoption in Ethiopia appears to be much more stable than Zambia right now

Right now we are completing the following so we are ready for our homestudy asap. If all this is complete, we can begin our homestudy right after our 3-day seminar in August. Once our homestudy is complete our application will be sent to Ethiopia via Imagine Adoption in Ontario.

Here's what we're working on:
-application form
-references
-criminal record checks
-medical evaluations
-prior contact check with the Ministry of Children and Families
-Notice of Assessment from Revenue Canada

I'm also planning to have a garage sale, likely in July, to sell the remaining items from the online garage sale. I've been kinda slacking in the fundraising department with all that has happened over the past few months.

Ethiopia or Zambia?

Our one day course on May 3rd was incredible. There was so much valuable information and we learned a lot about the process involved. The next course is a 3 day seminar August 13-15, after which we can do our homestudy. Between now and August we have lots of paperwork to complete: criminal record checks, medical evaluations, references, and more! Once the homestudy is complete, we can send off our applications to the country we wish to adopt from. Right now, we have it narrowed down to Ethiopia and Zambia. I'm doing a lot of Internet research and plan to join some chat groups of families that have adopted from these specific countries. We need to make our final decision about the country during the homestudy phase. It can be a bit overwhelming at times and I'm definitely looking to God to guide us to where He wants us to go. I'll keep you posted as we go!

Update

Well, there's not that much new to update. We've been very busy with Doggie Detail stuff the past month or so and are just now recovering. I reposted some stuff that didn't sell before Christmas on craigslist again, and have had a pretty good response. I'm also planning a garage sale for late May/early June to sell any remaining items.

Corey and I will be attending our first workshop on May 3 (the homestudy requirements include attending two workshops that cover the adoption process and the unique challenges that come with raising an adopted child). I'll definitely fill you in on what we learned after that!

I have more money to deposit and as soon as I get it to the bank, I'll update the funds raised section.

New Directions

As most of you know, we originally thought we'd adopt from Haiti. As we've explored this further, we've found out that the adoption process from Haiti is pretty much gridlocked right now. There are exceptions, of course, but in most cases the government is being extremely slow to process the paperwork and children are remaining in the orphanage for much longer after being accepted by a family. This means that there's not enough room for new children and the turnover is becoming very slow. The orphanage we were considering has put a hold on accepting new applications from adoptive families as a result. They have also increased their fees from $5000 US to $9000 US because they do not have enough money to provide the basic needs for the children while they are in their care (because the children are staying at the orphanage for about a year longer than they used to stay).

So, after much prayer, we've decided to look at other countries. Nicole spoke to the international worker at Hope Adoption Services (the adoption agency we're using) and there are some African countries where adoptions seem to be going more smoothly at present. Ethiopia, Zambia, and Ghana are a few countries that we're going to examine a bit further. Pray for us that God gives us a clear sense of direction. We know He has chosen a child who is meant to part of our family!

We also have registered for the educational courses that are required as part of the homestudy. We'll be taking one course in May and a three-day course in July. In between the two courses, we'll begin the necessary paperwork. Presently, we are still selling stuff. Nicole will be putting the online sale items on craigslist, kijiji, and ebay. Pray that we are able to get a fair price for all the items we are selling . . . there's still a lot more money to be raised!

Abundant Blessings

Look in the funds raised column . . . notice an increase?! Yes, we can hardly believe it ourselves. It seems like a dream. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of family this Christmas. Also, a number of our Christmas items sold for a fair price on craigslist, which was great. In January and February, we'll be putting all the items on the online garage sale up on craigslist and ebay. Both of us are still in complete amazement that just over 1/4 of the funds needed have been raised. Most of the initial costs for educational courses, the homestudy, and paperwork are now covered! Wow!!

Coin Show Update

Yesterday, we took the Canadian part of Corey's coin collection to a coin show in Vancouver. Neither of us had ever been to anything like that and it was fun to see some very old coins/bills. We didn't have coins that were exceptional, just old; however, coins older than 1960 were made with silver and that makes them worth something!!! We sold some coins and walked away with $122.00 . . . that, along with the few things we've sold, almost covers the cost of the first educational course we need to take. We'll be taking Corey's international coins to another coin show in June.

The online garage sale is still a go, so please continue to check it out. A friend is donating a bunch of baking dishes and tupperware that is either unused or was used only once. I'll hopefully have those items posted by next weekend.

Also, thanks to everyone for all your kind words, prayers, and encouragement. We are very blessed to have such a great group of friends and family supporting us in this adventure.