I just love those words: let your faith be bigger than your fear. I find it easy to fear, but God quickly reminds me to trust! Have faith! Just because I may not see or know....He sees....He knows.
On Thursday, August 30th, our parameter change request was approved! We had to write a letter to AGCI explaining why we wanted to change our parameters, how our experiences and knowledge will make us fit parents for the new parameters, and additional resources that we will be able to utilize. We are so excited to have a view of what our family may look like--of what sex and of how old our child/ren may be. We can't wait to reveal it to everyone when we get on the waiting list!
But first, we must finish our dossier.
For our homestudy, we gave our social worker our parameter change so she could add it into her documents. The last thing she needs to complete the homestudy is Colin's background check for when he lived in Washington. We have everything sent in, we are just waiting on them to complete it. She also needs our reference questionnaire from a friend.
Once our social worker has everything she needs, she sends us the homestudy (a detailed look at Colin and me--our childhoods, our lives, and our thoughts on adoption, etc.). We look it over, and if we don't find need for corrections, we send it to Oregon, where AGCI is located. They look it over, and if no corrections need to be made, they send it back to us.
Then, we get our dossier all together.
The last things we need are pictures of our home and us, which we are completing today, and a reference letter from a friend.
Then we send in our application to U.S. customs, put all of the dossier documents together, including the written homestudy, and mail it to AGCI in Oregon. We pray for no mistakes! Once everything is just perfect, AGCI will put us on the waiting list!
Once we receive our FDL (Favorable Determination Letter) from customs, we mail it to AGCI, and they mail our completed dossier to Ethiopia!
Please pray for these last steps to be completed soon. We are bursting to get onto the waitlist!
You are so close!!! The last leg of the paperchase is brutal but you are almost done!! Excited for you guys!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo, so close! Can't wait to hear that you're finally on the waiting list!
ReplyDeleteAhhhh ... how exciting!!! :-) You are so.close! :-)
ReplyDeleteI liked reading our Homestudy, as it was interesting to read about "us" in the 3rd person ... how would we match up, etc. I'll be praying for No Errors and for your documents to file smoothly and quickly so we can hear more about that waiting list!!! :-)