We have been waiting for close to 2 months to receive our approval from United States Customs and Immigration (USCIS) so that we could submit our Dossier(Adoption Paperwork) to Ethiopia! We got home from camping yesterday afternoon and our Approval Page was in the mail! I was so excited! We got it notarized and copies made! I drove into town today and shipped off our Dossier to our agent at America World. She has to look it over - get a few things finalized and then it will be on its way! We should be DTE(Dossier To Ethiopia) by next Friday August 19th!
I am so excited to be at this point but I am feeling a little nervous. It seems so official and so real. The next step we take is receiving a referral - which will be a picture, name and history of our daughter to be! I know that God has chosen her for our family long before now - I trust that God will bring her paperwork to our paperwork and we will be chosen as a forever family. This is the part in the process that will be difficult for me - and I can sense it already. No control - no time frame - no say. I truly have to Trust God and let Him lead her home. I am anxious to see the journey that God brings our daughter on as well as the journey that God continues to take us on while we wait.
We were originally told to expect a 5-8 month waiting period from Dossier submission until a referral. We were told it would probably be the shorter end of that time frame since we are requesting a toddler. With the changes going on in Ethiopia, however, there has been some slowing down and not sure what to expect. Families requesting toddlers in the last few months from our agency ranged from as short a wait as 4 months for a referral. I know that God's timing is perfect - everything so far has happened sooner than the expected time frame. Home studies usually take 2-4 months - ours took 6 weeks! Dossiers usually take 4-7 months - ours took 3 1/2 months! I'm trying not to get my hopes up that a referral will come sooner than later - I am just holding on to the truth that God has her in His arms for now!
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