paper pregnant

Our thick file of paperwork for the Home Study, almost complete!!

We are "paper chasing" or "paper pregnant" as some call it!!!  What does that mean?  Lots of paperwork.  There are 2 parts to the paperwork process.  One part we are working on is our paperwork for the home study.  We are nearly done with gathering everything needed to submit to have our home study done!!  I finally feel like I have time to sit down and do something other than fill out paperwork or get things in order.  

We've ordered certified copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, gone to get new social security cards (because we somehow lost ours?! :-/), filled out what feels like a tree's worth of papers, bought 9 books on adoption from the required reading list, gotten physicals (Umm, getting the form needed for Chase's physical from his doctor is a whole blog post in itself.  If you ever considered Northwest Diagnostic Clinic in Cedar Park please reconsider.  These people can't fill out a form, I don't know how they could diagnose or write a prescription??!), had friends and family write referral letters (THANK YOU!!!), and the list goes on and on...

The second part of the process is our dossier.  This is our compilation of our home study report along with more paperwork that gets sent to Ethiopia.  Once that is completed and sent we are considered "DTE" (Dossier To Ethiopia) and put on the waiting list!!  We hope to be DTE by November and the approximate wait time right now is 18-24 months.  So in about 2 years (hopefully less!) we will be bringing home our baby boy or girl!  We are requesting 0-18 months, either boy or girl.  

I've been stressing myself out thinking about all we have to have done, not to mention the money we will have to come up within a few short months.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not doing this on my own and that I need to rely on Him to get us through.  God has provided and guided us this far, we know He will continue!  

I'll leave you with a couple pics of our first fundraiser! :)  My mom, sister, and I made these kitchen towels and pot holders this week to sell as a fundraiser.  Thanks Mom, for sewing them all up!  I hope to get a link up on the blog to sell these if anyone is interested, for now you can email me!!