I am very happy to announce that our dossier was mailed yesterday!!! It will not get to Ethiopia for a few weeks because it must first go to West Sands in Utah, be authenticated, and then make it's way to Africa but the point is, it is no longer in Kentucky, and that my friends does my heart all kinds of good : ) Once it does get to Ethiopia we will officially be put on the "List" and will be awaiting our referral, i.e. a picture of our DAUGHTER along with all the other information available about her.
For documenting purposes I will tell this story, because I know that God has a purpose and a plan for things not going how I wanted and for them going exactly how He had planned. We were hoping to mail our dossier shortly after our last home study interview on May 3. We knew it would take our social worker some time to write our home study and for it to be approved but after that all the other paperwork was ready and waiting at Lifeline to be sent out.....or so I thought. Our home study was approved on May 21 but after reviewing our dossier they found the marriage license and Josh's birth certificate to be insufficient. Apparently Jefferson Co. never mailed our marriage license to the state so when I went through Vital Check in March to get it they couldn't find it. I called the county and they gave me a certified copy. This was fine for our home study, but apparently Ethiopia wants the real deal. I receive an email saying to call Lifeline and found out we are going to need to get the official state copy and we need a more recently issued copy of Josh's birth certificate, because obviously it may have changed from a few years ago and now (insert sarcasm and rolled eyes). I call the county again about our marriage license and they tell me to come downtown and they will issue me one with a state seal on it so I could avoid waiting for the county to mail the license to the state and the state mailing it to me. So I take both girls downtown and get a new copy from the county with a state seal. Our directer checks out my new copy and says we can try but she's not sure if Ethiopia will accept it. Well, there's no point in sending all our stuff over there if it's not right so Frankfort was my next phone call. For government employees everyone I spoke to was extremely nice and helpful. They got it to me as quickly as they could and I am very grateful, because I thought it would take over a month. Josh's mom took care of getting the new birth certificate for him since they live in a small town and Vital Check wanted me to send in a DNA sample just to get a copy from Indiana (insert more sarcasm, LOL). So thanks to Deb and some kind ladies in the department of vital statistics all is well.
Please pray our dossier is treated with kit gloves and makes it to Ethiopia as quickly as possible. Once I get FedEx confirmation it has arrived we can take a breath of relief and begin the big wait. Please pray for our patience, our daughter's health and protection, smooth processes in Ethiopia, and for us to draw nearer to God during this time and give Him glory for everything! Thank you all so much!
For documenting purposes I will tell this story, because I know that God has a purpose and a plan for things not going how I wanted and for them going exactly how He had planned. We were hoping to mail our dossier shortly after our last home study interview on May 3. We knew it would take our social worker some time to write our home study and for it to be approved but after that all the other paperwork was ready and waiting at Lifeline to be sent out.....or so I thought. Our home study was approved on May 21 but after reviewing our dossier they found the marriage license and Josh's birth certificate to be insufficient. Apparently Jefferson Co. never mailed our marriage license to the state so when I went through Vital Check in March to get it they couldn't find it. I called the county and they gave me a certified copy. This was fine for our home study, but apparently Ethiopia wants the real deal. I receive an email saying to call Lifeline and found out we are going to need to get the official state copy and we need a more recently issued copy of Josh's birth certificate, because obviously it may have changed from a few years ago and now (insert sarcasm and rolled eyes). I call the county again about our marriage license and they tell me to come downtown and they will issue me one with a state seal on it so I could avoid waiting for the county to mail the license to the state and the state mailing it to me. So I take both girls downtown and get a new copy from the county with a state seal. Our directer checks out my new copy and says we can try but she's not sure if Ethiopia will accept it. Well, there's no point in sending all our stuff over there if it's not right so Frankfort was my next phone call. For government employees everyone I spoke to was extremely nice and helpful. They got it to me as quickly as they could and I am very grateful, because I thought it would take over a month. Josh's mom took care of getting the new birth certificate for him since they live in a small town and Vital Check wanted me to send in a DNA sample just to get a copy from Indiana (insert more sarcasm, LOL). So thanks to Deb and some kind ladies in the department of vital statistics all is well.
Please pray our dossier is treated with kit gloves and makes it to Ethiopia as quickly as possible. Once I get FedEx confirmation it has arrived we can take a breath of relief and begin the big wait. Please pray for our patience, our daughter's health and protection, smooth processes in Ethiopia, and for us to draw nearer to God during this time and give Him glory for everything! Thank you all so much!
Love reading about your journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mandi! I'm so glad you starting blogging again too : )
ReplyDelete