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.
