What's Next?

Yesterday we officially accepted the referral for D. So the question we asked and others have asked is, "What's Next?" Well, we have A LOT of work to do. As far as paperwork goes, our agency is sending us an agreement to sign. They are also sending a document that explains to us what we can/should include in a welcome bag.

What is a welcome bag, you ask? Well, let me tell you. We will be putting together a packet to go over to Ethiopia for D. This is a one-gallon freezer bag that will contain a t-shirt, a letter from us, pictures (of the family, the dog, the house, her room), and maybe a couple of trinkets. We were told that the t-shirt is an important thing to those children. When she puts on the t-shirt all the other children will know she has a family and they will all congratulate her. We were also told that they will take pictures of her opening the packet and send them to us.

The agency told us that we will likely travel in mid-to-late October for the court date. While we are over there for court we will have limited access to spend time with D. This is to protect her from beginning to bond with us and then be let down that we have to leave without her. They said the time per day and the number of days will be limited. So we will probably stay for at least the number of days we can see her. During that trip she will become legally our daughter.

When we return home we will wait another 6-8 weeks before we return to bring her home. The reason for this is that there must be an appointment made with the US Embassy in Ethiopia to interview for D's visa. They are usually scheduled 6-8 weeks out, thus the wait time. During the time we are there to pick her up we will have our Embassy interview and then we have to return later that week to actually get her visa. Then it is time to come home.

We have so much to do between now and when she gets home. We have some projects around the house that we have been meaning to do and now want to get done before then. We are planning to re-decorate Faith and D's room. We are also going to buy a new kitchen table that will accommodate all of us since the family meal is an important part of our life.

So much to do and it seems like so little time to get it done. What a blessing! We pray that we can work hard but stay focused on the wonderful experience we are going through and not get caught up in the stress and anxiety of the process.