The Dream

I guess it was bound to happen. I had a dream a week ago Sunday. For the first time ever, I dreamed I was holding my child. She(!) was very tiny, fragile, and floppy, like most newborns. (Those floppy heads always make me nervous). I was standing with her in my arms and leaning back, trying to prop her up on my chest so her head wouldn't flop around and so she would be more comfortable. Her eyes were closed. She was so fragile. Her name was Joy.

The Redhead likes the name.

WAIT LIST!!!!

Today, we received an e-mail from our caseworker at Gladney, and the subject line was the same as the title of this post! Normally, hearing that you've been placed on a waiting list is mediocre news, at best. Not today, though! We've never been so happy to be put on a wait list! We are now officially waiting for a referral for our child(ren). The average wait time to receive a referral for an infant through our agency is currently 8 months.

This is what we have stated for our referral preference: 1 child of either gender or twins, age 0-6 months at the time of referral. We are also open to an older sibling (of a single child), either gender, up to the age of 5 years.

This means that we could be matched with one or two children of either gender. If it is just one child, it will be a baby 0-6 months old at the time of referral. If it is two children, it could be twins (age 0-6 months old) or a baby age 0-6 months old with an older sibling age 0-5 years.

So now we wait to see what God will do! It is a relief knowing He is in control and so very trustworthy! It truly is in His capable hands.

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6 I can't wait to see who He sets in ours!

Dossier Completed!

We just got an e-mail confirming that our Dossier is complete and is en route to the Dept. of State in Washington, D.C. and then on to Ethiopia! This means that we can now be placed on Gladney's wait list! I'm not exactly sure when this will happen, but I'm hopeful that it will happen tomorrow! I'll keep you posted.

For those of you who aren't familiar with adoption terminology, the Dossier is the body of paperwork required by the Ethiopian government which we have to provide to be able to adopt internationally from that country. We have made more trips to get documents notarized for our dossier than we can count, and it feels like such an accomplishment to have arrived at this point in our adoption process!

If you are an adoptive family, and feel overwhelmed by the paperwork, we used Kate at KBS Dossiers. It was money well spent, in our humble opinion! She is one organized person, and I found her to be very trustworthy in getting this mammoth paperwork job done.

In all of the "to dos" of adoption, I have felt so aware that although we may be running around trying to get stuff done as fast as possible, there is also so much that is out of our hands...waiting for certain documents to arrive in the mail, how long we will be on the waiting list, even the child(ren) who will be referred to us. In this dance of doing what I can to make this adoption happen and surrendering to what I can't take control of, I am so thankful to my God in Whom I trust. His is the unseen Hand that is truly in control of the whole thing. I love You, Lord.

Thank You for Praying!

Praise the Lord! I got an e-mail from the Houston Department of Homeland Security this morning telling me that our CIS Approval notice was sent to us YESTERDAY!

Thank you so much for praying!

Prayer Request

Note: This post will have lots of "adoption speak"--the bottom line is that we're waiting on our one final document to come from Immigration, and it's taking longer than expected to arrive.

Our homestudy was completed in June and submitted on June 30, 2009 to CIS (Immigration). We then received a summons in the mail to come in for fingerprinting. We were fingerprinted at the Department of Homeland Security on July 18, 2009. We still haven't received our CIS Approval (I-171H) in the mail!

I called our adoption agency today, and our case worker agreed that ample time has gone by for it to be processed. She recommended that I send an e-mail inquiring about our status to the government agency that oversees international adoptions in Houston. I sent that e-mail today, and I've been told that I'll likely hear back within two days.

Please pray with us that our paperwork hasn't been lost in the shuffle, and if it has, that it will be located and processed quickly!

We are trusting in God's timing and know that with each apparent "delay" we encounter, each one is part of His sovereign timing in pairing us with our child(ren). Thank you for praying for us and with us!

Love,

Brian and Tracy