Home Study Packet Arrived!

We returned home last night from a 5 day trip to NM. It was a great trip, but we were exhausted. Libby didn't sleep well...so neither did mommy or daddy. When we checked the mail last night we happily found our home study packet waiting for us. I poured over the papers last night and most of today. I had to rewrite our autobiographies a great deal bc some of the info they request I had not included. I have to stop short on paperwork this evening due to leaving town again tomorrow. (still have to pack! yikes!) We'll return home Sunday night so I'll be back in the game first thing Monday!

I have not received my dossier packet from AWAA yet. That's a little annoying (to be completely honest) but hopefully it will be here soon. Our doctor appointments are on February 5 and I need our medical forms (which are in the dossier packet) by then! I called Duni (Ethiopia Program Director at AWAA) and left a message to see if she can email me that doc if it doesn't come in the mail by then. Haven't heard from her yet - probably will tomorrow.

We're putting our home study and post-placement fees in the mail tomorrow. And if I have time tonight I will be organizing all my completed paperwork into 2 seperate file cases - one for Home Study and one for our Dossier. Next week I'll post the home study checklist so readers can see for themselves what this home study thing is all about.

That's all folks,
Cindy

A Bit of Progress

In case anyone is wondering what progress is being made in our adoption journey, here's the update. We mailed our USCIS I600A form off a few days ago, we finished our family photo pages, we received an email yesterday from Lisa (director of social services in Texas for AWAA) saying that our home study packet is in the mail and we should receive it soon, and today we went to the police station to obtain the required criminal background clearance letters. In the last week or so I also typed our autobiographies (for home study).

There's still a mountain to climb, but we're doing what we can until the home study packet arrives. It will explain in better detail the rest of the paperwork we need to complete.

We leave town in the morning to head for the New Mexico Adult Evangelism Conference. Actually we're at a church Sunday morning and then the conference is Monday - Wednesday. We'll return home Wednesday night, repack Thursday and then fly to Alabama on Friday - Sunday. We've all been sick so we need prayer for healing. I need to have a completely healthy voice if I'm going to survive that much singing in such a dry climate.

Hopefully on our one day in town next week our packet will have arrived and I can look it over and get some things done. We'll see!!!

In the mean time - I keep reminding myself to slow down and enjoy Billy and Libby to the utmost before Aria arrives on the scene.

That's all folks!
Cindy

Approved!

America World called today! We are approved to move forward with the adoption process. Basically, all that means is the paper work now begins! YEAH!

Two Must-Reads

We traveled this weekend to lead worship for an event in East Texas. As Libby watched her beloved DVDs the entire way I devoured 1 book and began sinking my teeth into another. Both are must-reads.

The first is "Red Letters" by Tom Davis. I won't explain it - just go buy it and read it!

The second is longer and so I've only read the first 200 pages thus far. It's a book by Melissa Fay Greene called "There Is No Me Without You". Chapter 24 just about killed me. This book is so eye-opening and heart-piercing. You HAVE to read it! PLEASE READ IT!! It's about a middle class Ethiopian woman who opens her home to hundreds of orphans who were either orphaned because their parents died of AIDS or because they had AIDS themselves. This story is humbling and will force you to find that cry for justice that I believe God has put in all of us, but most of us seem to ignore. If you realize your need to put a real face and story to your "idea" of AIDS victims and poverty victims you'll find it in these pages.

Greene recently wrote an article after taking her adopted Ethiopian daughter back to Ethiopia for a 10 day trip. What her daughter, Helen, experiences and says will steal away the numb in you and revive your compassion in the deepest way.

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_01-13-2008/Finding_My_Daughter