No more dossier!

We are very excited to announce that we mailed our dossier to Ethiopia and were considered DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) on May 18, 2012!

This is a tremendous weight from our shoulders as preparing the dossier has been the most difficult part of the process so far.

For those who don't know, the dossier is a large collection of papers giving detailed information about our family that practically contains our entire life history. Here's what AWAA says about it:

Each adoption process begins with assembling a collection of 13-15 documents called a dossier. The dossier mainly consists of a financial statement, employment verification, medical and health information, background checks, and a home study. The home study is a report submitted by a social worker, after meeting at the family’s home, outlining the family’s background and details of the household. All of these documents must go through several levels of certification so that they can ultimately be used as the legal framework for your adoption process. This stage is often referred to as the “paper chase,” and should take, on average, 3-6 months to complete. The finished dossier is forwarded to America World where our staff carefully reviews it to ensure accuracy. Once approved, your dossier is forwarded to the country which you have chosen to adopt from, and is then translated and processed.

Of course our family was a minor exception to the completion time table (insert sarcasm); it took us about one year to complete this portion of the adoption - it is not for the faint of heart! But alas, our work here is finished.

We are now in the waiting period, which is said to be the hardest for many adoptive families as the waiting times are growing longer by each month. We will utilize this time to become further educated on our children's cultural heritage, transcultural parenting, and other topics regarding adoption. But most importantly, we are spending this time in prayer for our children, and all the orphans of the world.

Following the waiting period comes the referral and travel. AWAA defines the referral as our children's most "basic profile, medical information, and first picture of them." We will still need to complete some additional work online as well as the acceptance paperwork, and then AWAA will help us make all the necessary travel arrangements for the two trips we will have to make. Of course on the first trip we will meet the children that God has purposefully chosen for us, and then will spend some time in-country bonding and applying for U.S. visas. We will return home while waiting for everything to process through, and will return again to bring our children home!

But it still won't be over yet! There will still be some steps that will need to be taken including post-placement reports which are designed to be a checkup on our children to see how they are adjusting to their new home and environment, as well as how the family is progressing.

Isn't this all exciting? We are very excited! And while this Friday, June 8, 2012 will only mark the three weeks from our DTE, we still have much to do. We will begin to apply for some grants from various adoption support programs as well as work to raise more money to finance the rest of our adoption.

Thank you all so much for the love and support that you have shown to our family, and please remember to continue praying for us as we continue on in this journey that God has called us to.

With great love,
Zehra, Michael & Morgan