Adoption

We knew the process for international adoption was a long one, but our's has seemed to be a bit longer than we first anticipated.  However, we have found it to be God's perfect timing.  It feels a bit like we've been driving in 1st gear since we submitted our pre-application to begin the process in December 2010.  As of November of 2012, it feels as though we've moved into 6th gear and are rapidly approaching a finalized adoption.  In November we began pursing a boy with special needs in South Africa, and the organization there agreed to work with us, finding our family a good fit for him.  So we said goodbye to all our previous Ethiopia paperwork and started working on our South Africa paperwork.  It took about three months worth of nap-times for me to gather all of the stuff they required and get it all sealed the way they need it to be.

On February 26, 2013 we mailed our dossier to get in route to South Africa.  And as of this week our file has been submitted to the government there for approval. We'll wait another 6-8 weeks before getting an official referral for our little man (I would love to share a picture of him and tell you all about him, but we're not allowed to post this info since he's not ours yet).  Once we accept his referral and pay the remaining fees we've been told to expect to travel about 6-8 weeks later.  So, right now we're talking about September 2013!!

South Africa requires us to come and stay for several weeks to complete a bonding period, court date, health screening, passport and to finalize the adoption.  Until then we're going to continue to save our pennies and apply for grants (we've applied for several so far, so you can pray for those applications) among other things to get ready to add another one to the mix.

We're excited and blessed to be on this journey and can't wait to see how the Lord continues to work and make himself known for His Glory!

Journeying On,