Finally Moving Forward

I wanted to share a few things related to our current adoption.  I know I haven't really blogged about it for awhile, but there hasn't been too much to tell.  We started the process back in the fall, and then found ourselves in a holding pattern while we waited for tax time to roll around (for various reasons, but mostly for Uncle Sam's refund!)  Our taxes were filed over two weeks ago and our process is now moving again!  We've finished up our final 3 visits with our social worker with lightening speed (just another joy of the adoption process - while we were waiting, the rules changed yet again and we had to meet with her a total of 4 times instead of just twice.  She was awesomely understanding, and in order to keep us going, set up our last 3 meetings at our home.)

So now she's furiously writing our homestudy so we can file our pre-immigration paperwork with the US government.  And once we are fingerprinted and receive our magical I-171H back from USCIS, our dossier will finally be sent off to Ethiopia.  We're hoping this could be sometime in April.  Ironically, our last DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) date for Mia was 5/8/08.  Wouldn't it be strange to end up around the same time again?

And then our "official" wait begins again.  Infant boy referrals have increased slightly to 5-7 months wait, but I'm really not worrying too much about it, which is not at all like my personality and totally unlike our first time around.  While I am super excited to be done with all this paperwork and being scrutinized, and also to see my son's face and return to Ethiopia, part of me is a little sad that my one-on-one time with Mia will be coming to an end.   It took us a good while to get into a good rountine and adjust to all the change, and while she and I certainly have our moments, we're having a great time together.  She's at such a fun stage, and I love the flexibility that comes with her growing age.

That doesn't mean I'm not excited to bring our son home, I just know it'll be some major adjustments for us all.  The end result will totally be worth it, and I know Mia will be the best big sister ever.  

We've also got some more fundraising events scheduled in the coming months, the biggest being our Love Makes a Family Adoption Dance, which we are co-hosting with our friends' the Hennessy's on Saturday, April 9th.  The evening will include dancing, desserts, a silent auction, and of course more infomation about adoption.  See our new tab across the top for more detailed info.  You can purchase tickets either via email or through our Paypal link to the right.