Light at the End of the Paperwork Tunnel

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."

Hello Readers! I am a bit more upbeat today because we are getting so very close to having all of our dossier paperwork gathered! Amos got his passport photos today and I uploaded our family photos for the dossier to Costco! They are mailing them to me! We are just waiting on a couple things to come in the mail and for our social worker to finish revising our home study! I don't think this should take too long because the bulk of it is done. Let me make this as clear as my guesses can be:

1) Gather and notarize remaining paperwork (a week or so)

2)Get home study (2-3weeks)

3)Apply (again) to CIS (2-4weeks)

4)Get dossier approved and authenticated by Hilary Clinton(2-3weeks)

5)Ship it to Ethiopia! (January?)

6)Hear back about a specific child (2-6 months)

Those are my best guesses based on the agencies paperwork but STUFF always happens.

I feel like the Mrs. Slowsky the Turtle

Hello Readers,
I had to shop in the baby section today for my soon coming baby niece. This is VERY hard to do. I try to avoid that section because it makes me feel sad. One day, I will get to go in the section with our little one and hold up clothes to them to see what colors look good on them and all that but it just seems so far away.
I have a new song that I have been playing in the car. I think it's just called 'Waiting'. The lyrics say "While I'm waiting, I will move ahead bold and confident" and "I will serve you while I'm waiting" and "I will trust you while I 'm waiting...". It's been my anthem lately.
I met with our social worker this week. She needed to come see our new place and ask a couple questions so she can start revising our home study. I'm excited about this but a little disappointed that we'll have to redo most, if not all, of our paperwork because it is over a year old now.
We are supposed to have another phone conference with the agency this week to discuss the dossier... I hope that happens. Our lady is out sick again and I didn't get to confirm our appointment.
That's all for tonight folks:)

Moving Ahead

Hello Readers!
Amos and I had a successful conference call and are now OFFICIALLY working with DOVE International Adoption Agency. We have signed our contract and sent in our first chunk of money.
We meet with our social worker who is going to revise our home study for Ethiopia tomorrow afternoon! I am so thrilled to have her start revising this because it is a HUGE chunk of the dossier. Once we have our home study redone, we just have to get a few other official papers together and reapply for another I-600. The agency says that there is a chance that we may be able to switch our approved I-800 to a I-600...but they aren't sure. I'm expecting that that won't be the case so I don't get disappointed.
We will have another conference call with the agency the week of November 16Th. They will discuss details of compiling our dossier. This will be a great time to ask about some of our paperwork that has already been done.
We are REALLY enjoying working with DOVE. They have been so kind, informative and helpful so far. We feel so taken care of. What a switch!

Fall

It's Fall already. We are moving ahead. What else can we do? If we could hurry it we would. Baby Kallen, we are so ready for you. We're hurrying.
Hugs

Phone Tag

Okay...it's been a bit frustrating...but what's new with adoption eh?
We were supposed to have our phone conference last week with our new agency. Amos rearranged his work schedule, worked an 11 hr day and came home early for the call. I got a call from the agency that morning saying that they had to cancel because the lady signed up for our call was out with the swine flu. We did everything we could to try to get someone else to do the call so we could check that box and move on. It didn't happen. However, we were able to reschedule for this Wednesday so that isn't too bad. I think they tried to get us in early because this application process has been ridiculously slow so far between letters getting lost in the mail, just not arriving, miscommunication and sickness.
I've been thinking lately about the delays...I'm not sure if it's a God thing or darker powers at work. It could be God holding things back to keep us in His timing. Or it could be Satan doing everything in his power to hold us back and frustrate us into giving up. God, if it's you, I put this in your hands. Satan, if it's you, screw you. We aren't giving up.

Plugging Along

Hello Readers,
We have filled out our application for a new adoption agency. With our application we had to give names and addresses of 5 references. All 5 have to be returned before we can move forward. It has been about 3 weeks and they only have 3 of our 5 references. I got tired of trying to track down the missing people so I just called on two friends to write ones FAST and mail them in. I'm hoping the agency received those last two this week and we will get a call for a phone interview this week. I'm also hoping that things start to move along.
I said I wouldn't peak at the Burundi program, but I have. The first family (that has their little guy's photos and such) still has not left to pick him up. Supposedly their paperwork is still in the court system! It looks as though even if we chose a child from Burundi tomorrow, we could be in the same spot 6 months from now because of how SLOW things are moving.
I bought a cute little giraffe at Value Village this week for our little one....It's so hard to wait and wait.
As frustrating as it has been, I have a sense of peace about this switch. I think Amos does too. I really feel as though God has rearranged our adoption and lives so I will be able to take this missions trip to Haiti in February. I think he has something up his sleeve with this trip.
It will be a whirlwind year for us. The Holidays are coming up and then I leave for Haiti in February and then, hopefully, this spring I will travel to Ethiopia to pick up our baby! I'm hoping it goes by quickly!
Keep us and our little one in your prayers please.

Changing Directions

We have big, new news. We are changing gears. Amos and I are so frustrated with our agency and their lack of communication and the way they have been treating us. Something about this Burundi program isn't sitting well with us all. We find it odd that in more than a year they have only found ONE child in need of a family...
Anyway, to fill you in....We are switching to another agency and getting in line for Ethiopia. It's a bit ironic that we were going to adopt from Ethiopia in the first place and then found the Burundi program. I truly believe that things happen for a reason so we aren't looking back. We should receive our new agency application in the mail tomorrow and we will sign with them and hopefully get in a moving line!
Amos and I are feeling at peace with this new decision for a couple reasons:
1)There is a time line. People are bringing home babies from Ethiopia every day.
2)This new agency seems more trust worthy. I know people that have adopted through them and was very timely.
3)Traveling to Ethiopia will be A LOT safer, more economical and easier to plan for.
4)Our child will come from an established orphanage of about 300 children. No shady business.

The process will be a bit more expensive and we do have to switch some things over. It will take a few months to get this all situated but we know there will be a Baby Kallen at the end of the road.
Please join us in prayer!

A Tiny Bit of News

So we got an email today showing that there is some progress with the first adoption from Burundi. The hope is that we get some referrals of available children soon. It is thought that they are holding back on sending word of more available children until they get this first adoption through all the necessary hoops. Goodness, I am hoping and praying things proceed. It has been an emotional week!

Burundi on my mind

Hello Everyone,
I haven't written in a while because absolutely NOTHING is happening. I don't know who to be frustrated with. I'm frustrated at our agency for lack of contact and frustrated at our contact in Burundi for not being able to do more than one thing at a time and doing that one thing with apparently no rush at all. I've heard over and over again that things move slowly in Africa but this is getting unbearable.
The couple in front of us in line has sent their paperwork over and it is before the govt in Burundi right now. They expect to hear back within the next couple of weeks...I hope things move forward for them and they are able to travel soon. As soon as that happens we may get some more referrals! I have heard that some babies are being tested for HIV but I'm not sure if this is for sure the case or just people hoping it is the case.
I keep watching Burundi videos on Youtube...my heart aches for the children, mothers, widows and men of this country. I want to travel there so badly and love on as many people as possible...
The day WILL come and someone reminded me the other day that the right little one for our family will be ready for us when the time comes. They just may not be ready for us right now. I like this idea and it makes me feel a bit better.
Until next time...

Frustration In Waiting

Waiting, waiting and more waiting. The frustrating thing is not just the waiting. It's that we are not really in line anywhere. Our paperwork is not getting reviewed somewhere. Stuff isn't in the mail...I'm frustrated because we are just sitting here not hearing of any progress with the whole Burundi program. It's like it's frozen. I check the adoption news bulletin at least twice a day hoping to read ANY news from Burundi but there is nothing day after day after day. And occasionally there will be "news" but it really isn't important news. What an emotional roller coaster.

Sister Connection in Burundi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftHOpsF8WnY

Amos thought it was silly but came with me to pick out a blankie for our little one. Not knowing if we will get a boy or girl made it a bit difficult but I love this puppy blankie that we got! On the way home I realized that we have now been in this adoption process longer than a pregnancy. If we got pregnant at the same time we started the adoption process, we would have a child already. Errr... However, knowing our little one is out there and having a peace about the fact that God will put this all together in the right time helps.
Also, I read The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell, M.D. It's a fabulous book about how to make sure your child knows you love them. Kids, like adults, express love and feel love in different ways. It was a great read and gave me some good pointers.
Lastly, my school signed up to sponsor a widow from Burundi through Sister Connection (check them out on YouTube!). I got an email asking if it was okay if we sponsored a family of children whose widowed mother just passed away. It turns out that this widow's children are too young to care for themselves and have been taken in by a neighbor lady who has 6 children of her own. Of course I said we would and I am anxiously awaiting the packet of info on these children. I feel like this is not only a small way I can bless someone in need, it's also a good connection to a country I'm beginning to love. More to come on this venture as well...

Shots, shots and more shots...
My body now recognizes typhoid, polio, Hep A, Hep B, yellow fever and the influenza. I feel so powerful!

The latest

I listened to a chat room conference today about sensory processing disorder among children from orphanages. The good news is that I found out that our child will most likely come from a foster care kind of situation. Keep in mind that foster care in Burundi, Africa probably isn't like foster care here in the US but it's probably still better than an orphanage. Children that come from orphanages usually have many attachment and developmental issues. It's nice to learn any information that is available about our child. It helps us prepare a bit better. My prayer for today is that our Burundi baby is safe and being taken care of by someone. Bless them for caring for our little one until we can bring them home.

Baby, I got a boost of encouragement yesterday with the approval of our I-800A. You seem closer now. I cleaned out the books at school and brought some home that will be perfect for you! I can't wait to read them to you.

GOOD NEWS!

We got notice from Immigration today!!! Our I-800A has been approved!!! I opened the fancy letter from them thinking we hit another obsticle but got GOOD news instead! The US has determinded us eligible to adopt and bring an orphan into the United States! I cried when I read it. If my thinking is correct, I believe we get to stand in line for available children now!
I know lots of you have been praying. Thank you.

Baby Kallen, Grandma Anderton got you these red boots. Frosty tested them out. They are waiting for you!

Passports- check!

Up Till Now

Hello Friends and Family! Amos and I (Emelie) filed paperwork 8 months ago to start our adoption of a child from Burundi, Africa. We spent about two months gathering birth certs, marriage certs, police clearances, passports etc for our homestudy. We completed a phycological evaluation and found we are sane. We finished our homestudy and turned it in in February of 09. We just recently sent in our application for our I-800 from US immigration. An approved I-800 gives us permission to bring an orphan into the US. We got fingerprinted while Amos had a platelett count of 1 and heard back a few days later that we did not include the new requirement, a state clearance from every state we lived in. The letter stated that we had 48 days to write a letter to California where Amos lived for a year and hear back from them that he wasn't in any trouble while living there. Amazingly, we heard back in time and sent it off to immigration before our deadline. Now, we wait...We expect to hear back from immigration by July. As soon as we have an approved I-800, we can get in line for a specific child! We did not specify gender. We asked only that our child be two or younger. We are in for a surprize! Thanks for joining us on our journey!