On Monday, we will have been officially waiting for one month. They say we have about 23 more to go; however, I looked at the list. There are only five other families with requests exactly like ours. So, I've decided it's like the Fast Pass, or whatever you call it, at Disney. Everyone thinks the wait will be long, but somehow, magically, you're at the front of the line before you know it.
Luckily, while the rest of you are breathing a sigh of relief and sending your kiddos off to school with nothing to do but catch up on day time television and eat bon bons, Jimmy and I have been crazy busy working at school taking care of some pretty amazing kiddos. This means, no time to think about the 23 possible months of waiting ahead or debate the validity of my Fast Pass theory.
Enjoy your television and bon bons!
:)
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
DTE
dossier \ˈdȯs-ˌyā, ˈdäs-; ˈdȯ-sē-ˌā, ˈdä-\
(n.) a file containing official paperwork on a person or persons
to \tə, tu̇, ˈtü\
(prep.) used as a function word to indicate movement or action
Ethiopia \ˌē-thē-ˈō-pē-ə\
(n.) Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with an approximate population of 73 million people (2005) in just over 471,000 square miles in Northeast Africa. Bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Solmalia to the east and southeast, Kenya to the sourth, and Sudan to the west. Adis Ababa is the nation's capital and largest city. As of 2006, UNICEF says there are over 4 million orphans living in Ethiopia - of those, over 800,000 were orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS.
On September 7, 2012 our adoption agency Fed Ex'ed our dossier to Ethiopia. Last I checked - and I'm checking every time I pick up my phone- our little pile of paperwork was in transit to Memphis, TN.
Our agency doesn't do an offical waitlist. It makes sense, there are too many different sorts of requests, and their people working in Ethiopia know the kiddos really well and get to have voice in which kiddos get placed with which waiting families, and I'm sure they have lots of other reasons, too, but those are the two that make the most sense to me. Anyway, even though there isn't an official waitlist, there is a group of waiters who share information and keep an un-official waitlist. So, unofficially, we are anywhere from #88 to #15. So, who knows how much longer we'll actually wait, but at least we know that the part we could control is on its way to stand in line for us. Next up, our referral.... at which point we will begin to gladly announce that our baby is cuter than your baby :)
Love,
Jimmy and Celeste
(n.) a file containing official paperwork on a person or persons
to \tə, tu̇, ˈtü\
(prep.) used as a function word to indicate movement or action
Ethiopia \ˌē-thē-ˈō-pē-ə\
(n.) Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with an approximate population of 73 million people (2005) in just over 471,000 square miles in Northeast Africa. Bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Solmalia to the east and southeast, Kenya to the sourth, and Sudan to the west. Adis Ababa is the nation's capital and largest city. As of 2006, UNICEF says there are over 4 million orphans living in Ethiopia - of those, over 800,000 were orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS.
On September 7, 2012 our adoption agency Fed Ex'ed our dossier to Ethiopia. Last I checked - and I'm checking every time I pick up my phone- our little pile of paperwork was in transit to Memphis, TN.
Our agency doesn't do an offical waitlist. It makes sense, there are too many different sorts of requests, and their people working in Ethiopia know the kiddos really well and get to have voice in which kiddos get placed with which waiting families, and I'm sure they have lots of other reasons, too, but those are the two that make the most sense to me. Anyway, even though there isn't an official waitlist, there is a group of waiters who share information and keep an un-official waitlist. So, unofficially, we are anywhere from #88 to #15. So, who knows how much longer we'll actually wait, but at least we know that the part we could control is on its way to stand in line for us. Next up, our referral.... at which point we will begin to gladly announce that our baby is cuter than your baby :)
Love,
Jimmy and Celeste
Sunday, September 2, 2012
What a Week!!!
This is the week that I've been waiting on for at least the last three years- the first week of the last year that ECP is growing into a full-fledged middle school. I couldn't have dreamed up a better week if I had tried. Getting to be part of a team of AHmazing and joyful first-year and veteran teachers (for added fun, Jimmy and I are on the same teaching team this year) and receiving notice that our dossier is under one last staff review with an estimated date of 9/7 to be sent off to Ethiopia are just two outstanding memories of this monumental week.
Looking ahead, the next BIG week at ECP will be the week when we end our offical middle school journey with the class of 2017 (Garbs, can you believe we've been with these kiddos since fifth grade and they're leaving?!!?!?) and send them all off to high school.... the next BIG step of our adoption journey should be when we recieve our call from the 703 area code to let us know that they have a referral for us.... still, waiting patiently and enjoying both of these journey; we couldn't feel any more hopeful and excited about the year ahead.
Here's hoping your week was as eventful as ours :)
Looking ahead, the next BIG week at ECP will be the week when we end our offical middle school journey with the class of 2017 (Garbs, can you believe we've been with these kiddos since fifth grade and they're leaving?!!?!?) and send them all off to high school.... the next BIG step of our adoption journey should be when we recieve our call from the 703 area code to let us know that they have a referral for us.... still, waiting patiently and enjoying both of these journey; we couldn't feel any more hopeful and excited about the year ahead.
Here's hoping your week was as eventful as ours :)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Celebrate the Waiting
Hi all!
Since our last post, we have been practicing the fine art of waiting with purpose. You know where you do stuff to make the waiting seem worthwhile. Like getting a great bed for a kiddo who you've never seen or building the world's greatest picture book library for kiddos who may or may not love the same kinds of books you do.
Today, though, we get to celebrate! We just received notice that our I-600 thingy-thing was accepted so we now have a very plain piece of paper that says that we are approved for visas to bring home up to two kiddos. We couldn't be more excited! (Well, we could - like when we our actual referral or when we get to bring home our kiddos. But, for now....) And what other way would paperchasing-parents-to-be celebrate except by going to see our notary? Yes, we have our own personal notaries - that's right, not one, but two. One that travels and one that makes us go to his office. At the end of this process, I think we will have made a thousand new friends. The best part of getting to visit our notary today is that I think we might be officially done with paperchasing! Later this week we'll send everything off to AWAA, wait for their official review of our documents, wait for them to do their stuff, and then get put on an officail list of waiters.
Thank you all for continuing to check on us and our process. And thank you for the support and love that you continue to show as you shop through our Amazon link. We can't wait to bring our kiddos home and let them meet the wonderful community that has supported them for so long.
Love,
Jimmy and Celeste
Since our last post, we have been practicing the fine art of waiting with purpose. You know where you do stuff to make the waiting seem worthwhile. Like getting a great bed for a kiddo who you've never seen or building the world's greatest picture book library for kiddos who may or may not love the same kinds of books you do.
Today, though, we get to celebrate! We just received notice that our I-600 thingy-thing was accepted so we now have a very plain piece of paper that says that we are approved for visas to bring home up to two kiddos. We couldn't be more excited! (Well, we could - like when we our actual referral or when we get to bring home our kiddos. But, for now....) And what other way would paperchasing-parents-to-be celebrate except by going to see our notary? Yes, we have our own personal notaries - that's right, not one, but two. One that travels and one that makes us go to his office. At the end of this process, I think we will have made a thousand new friends. The best part of getting to visit our notary today is that I think we might be officially done with paperchasing! Later this week we'll send everything off to AWAA, wait for their official review of our documents, wait for them to do their stuff, and then get put on an officail list of waiters.
Thank you all for continuing to check on us and our process. And thank you for the support and love that you continue to show as you shop through our Amazon link. We can't wait to bring our kiddos home and let them meet the wonderful community that has supported them for so long.
Love,
Jimmy and Celeste
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Biometrics
We just received notification that we have our biometrics appointment next Friday. The timing is perfect since that's the last day of work for this school year and we can scoot out early! This is part of the requirements for the adoption visa. So, I guess that means our paperwork is being processed and we should be ready to submit our dossier soon.
Happy almost-summer vacation!
Jimmy and Celeste
Happy almost-summer vacation!
Jimmy and Celeste
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