Moving on

Just posting so I can move on from my previous post of venting. I'm okay with it all. Just have to motivate myself to do the course soon.

Libby has had a fever for 3 days straight. Her temp is 101.5 right now. We're headed to the doctor this afternoon. She is actually doing well, considering. Billy feels like he is getting sick. So now I'm just overdosing on vitamin C to avoid getting this too. We have to sing in Nashville next week and I'd really like to have my voice and no sinus drainage for that. 

Just want to say thank you for all the encouragement after my last post. Thank you for your comfort, prayers and for kicking me back in gear.

Blessings,

Cindy

This just in..... BOO!

Let me start by saying I am NOT mad or frustrated at our agency about the following new requirement. It's not their fault that this is required. But - I am definitely not happy about having to do it.  Here's the email I received a few minutes ago:

Dear Waiting Family,

Due to America World’s Hague accreditation and licensing, 8 hours of Hague Training is required for families who submitted a dossier to Ethiopia After June 1, 2008.  After completion of the 8 hour on-line course parents will receive a Certificate of Completion.  Families must submit a copy of the certificate to their family coordinator.  The certificate will not need to be notarized, certified, or authenticated. Families are encouraged to complete this training as soon as possible, however, the training certificates will be due into America World’s offices at the time of referral acceptance.

These 8 hours will need to be completed by the family through the online training, The International Adoption Journey.  Families can access The International Adoption Journey atwww.hagueadoption.org.  The cost of this training is $175 per couple or $95 per single.  Families will need to submit the America World reference number, 1500, when registering to ensure we receive confirmation of their training. 

EIGHT HOURS!!!! WHAT!? So, has anyone taken this online course yet? If so, fill me in - what does it entail? Please tell me there are no tests or papers due! This is just silly (in my opinion!) and expensive! I'm guessing the fact that I've adopted internationally before and our beautiful, bright Chinese daughter is not proof enough that we are "certified" to be parents. For crying out loud!

Okay - so that's my vent for the day. I'm complaining, I know. And there's probably nothing profitable in doing so. But I'm completely frustrated that I will have to spend 2 evenings or more with my husband taking an online course for which we have no need. OH - and pay $175 for! Someone is making money off this on-line course - seriously!

And now for some perspective from my more mature side.... is it really that big a deal in the broad scope of things? Maybe not...

So, now that I sound a little nuts I'll stop and move on with my day.... sigh....

Thanks Renee!

Renee just left a comment (or 2) and actually - Renee - you were right the first time - I did have the Gillmans on the list.... SO......The Gillmans have changed their request to a sibling group - so now we are actually #10 waiting for a girl only and # 16  waiting for a girl or either.

YEAH!  

Amber - you asked which agency we are using - it's AWAA (America World Adoption Association).

Another girl referral for the month of January!

Rothermund family received a referral today - another baby girl referral for the month of January! I really think this is a record!

So - here's the new list below - however - I don't think we've moved up the list because I'm pretty sure that S. Bartley is asking for a girl and not "either" (which is how she was listed before). So I've added her to the "girl only" line and that keeps us in the same spot for now.

I am encouraged, though, by how many girl referrals have been received this month. It's amazing! We have a home visit scheduled for March so we can complete our home study addendum (since we moved to a new address), but now I'm wondering if I should ask the AW representative to do the visit in February so we can move things along. I think we will have to submit the new home study addendum to USCIS and I don't know how long it takes USCIS to process this stuff and if I'm supposed to receive something back from them AND if I need it by the time of our referral - lots of questions there. Any advice is welcome. Caldwell's - I think you ran into a problem in this same situation. Please fill me in or advice me what to do if you know anything.

Lastly - our fingerprints expire in July and August and it is likely that we will need to update those... I can't remember if I have to wait until closer to the expiration to redo them or if I am allowed to do that now. I had problems with fingerprints last time around and after 2 tries my fingerprints were not able to be processed and I had to do some extra paperwork to get around that... So, I'm concerned about having to redo them and how long that might take. I'd rather take care of it now if I can, but I'm not sure how to proceed. I'll check my paperwork and see if there is more info or a number - but again - if anyone is in the know - feel free to comment with advice or email me privately at: info@billyfoote.com.

It's late and I'm packing for our trip to Dallas. We're leading worship for a worship conference there. Looking forward to it.

Oh - the new list: (on Friday 2 more referrals came out - the Falgatter family and the Rutland Family. The Falgatter family was on the list below, so I've changed it again to reflect where we are currently).

1. (1) Eckhardt – girl only – dte 3/28/08

2. (2) Heinrichs – girl only – dte 3/28/08

3. (3) Keiderling – girl only – dte 4/18/08

4.    Mullins – EITHER – dte 4/25/08

5.    Rogers – EITHER – dte 4/28/08

6.    Bayly – EITHER – dte 5/2/08

7.   Stackler – EITHER – 5/2/08

8.  Precopia – EITHER – 5/2/08

9. (4) Taylor – girl only – 5/2/08

10. (5) Delfosse – girl only – 5/9/08

11. (6) Pickard – girl only – 5/9/08

12.  (7) Bartley – girl only – 5/30/08

13. (8) Gagnon – girl only – 5/30/08

14.   Bushre – EITHER – 5/30/08

15. (9) Portilla -girl only-6/13/08

16. (10)  Foote - THAT'S US!!!! 6/13/08  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17. Redd - girl only - 6/13/08

18. Kerby- girl only - 6/13/08

Blessings!

Cindy

hold that thought....

So, although I wrote the last post (a few hours ago) with complete confidence in God's timing - I still wrote it with sadness too - certainly not wanting to have to wait any longer. But then I received an encouraging phone call from another ET family and found out that more referrals came today and 2 of them were from the girl line!!! The Jones family received a referral for a baby girl and the VanDruff family received a referral for a 3 year old girl and a 7 year old boy!!!

I also discovered that several of the families on my "list" that I keep posting are requesting either a boy or a girl - which usually means they'll receive a boy - so as far as families requesting only an infant girl is concerned we are a little higher up the list than I realized - like maybe around number 9 or 10 maybe...

I'm not sure how to balance this encouragement with not setting myself up with expectations, but I'm trying. I am encouraged but I still realize anything is possible - faster or slower.

Here's the reconfigured list. If you count only the "girls only" families - then we're number 10!

1. (1)  Rothermund – girl request only – dte 3/19/08

2. (2) Eckhardt – girl only – dte 3/28/08

3. (3) Heinrichs – girl only – dte 3/28/08

4. (4) Keiderling – girl only – dte 4/18/08

5.    Gillman – EITHER – dte 4/18/08

6.    Fallgatter – EITHER – dte 4/25/08

7.    Mullins – EITHER – dte 4/25/08

8.    Rogers – EITHER – dte 4/28/08

9.    Bayly – EITHER – dte 5/2/08

10.  Stackler – EITHER – 5/2/08

11.  Precopia – EITHER – 5/2/08

12. (5) Taylor – girl only – 5/2/08

13. (6) Delfosse – girl only – 5/9/08

14. (7) Pickard – girl only – 5/9/08

15.  Bartley – EITHER – 5/30/08

16. (8) Gagnon – girl only – 5/30/08

17. Bushre – EITHER – 5/30/08

18. (9) Portilla -girl only-6/13/08

19. (10)  Foote - THAT'S US!!!! 6/13/08  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20. Redd - girl only - 6/13/08

21. Kerby- girl only - 6/13/08

Goodnight!

Cindy

7 months of waiting and several more to go....

Tomorrow will mark 7 months of waiting since our paperwork was shipped off to Ethiopia. I don't think I've said it this plainly yet - but reality has been revealing itself to me and I really don't believe we will see our Lulu face to face in Ethiopia until this time next year....

Here's how I've deducted this:

There were 3 or 4 girl referrals in January - but all of those families had passed the 9 month waiting mark. This is also the highest number of girls referred in one month that I have seen, so it's not realistic to think there will be that many each month. We are at least number 14 in line - I say "at least" because there are likely "mystery" families in line ahead of us (families who are not on the YG for our agency so we have no way of knowing if they exist since our agency doesn't tell us the official waiting list - we just have to figure it out as best we can). 

Our agency has already increased the wait time from the original 7-9 months to 9-11 months - but since the families who just received their referrals were already in this new time frame and there are more people with DTE's in Feb, March, and April than most of the previous months it's likely that we won't see a referral until at least the 12 month mark - which would be June for us.... so why am I saying travel to Ethiopia this time next year???.... Well, the families who just received court dates don't have court until March 13. This means that after referral there is almost a 3 months waiting period before the paperwork can go through court. It seems that many (if not most) families do not pass court the first time (for the silliest things like mispelled names which were mispelled by the MOWA and not the families or agency - or their paperwork just didn't make it through the expected date). And if they don't pass court the first time it's possible that they can't get a court date for another month.... But let's just say for our situation that if we got a referral in June we would most likely not get a court date before court closure. The court close Aug -part of October. Then there is a backup of cases due to the closing. So then I would finally get a court date sometime between mid Oct and Nov. and IF we passed court the first time we would travel the next month  - so that puts us traveling to ET anytime beween Nov 2009 and Jan 2010.... Did I just write the numbers 2010??? ugh.

I am actually handling this fairly well. It does, however make me not want to answer the question "where are you in the process" or "when will you go to Ethiopia".... I just don't have a solid answer and it's hard to say it out loud because I don't want to believe that it will be this late.

On a positive note - I know God can move mountains and changes for a faster process are possible. So, if I keep thinking it will be a year from now before I meet Lulu in ET then anything sooner will be THRILLING!

So - here's to reality in 2009 - the year that we might not, afterall, fly to ET and bring home our daughter. And here's to the same year that I am still blessed and enjoying the daughter God has so mercifully given me so far.

Now We're Number 14?? -Maybe!

I have very little time to write, but had to post this news... AWAA was back in the office today after a long Christmas/New Year break and they hit the ground running! 6 referrals came out today - 3 for a baby boy (the Crowell family, Mozambite's and Koby's), one older girl (Moffat family) and 2 baby girls!!!  - The Lunceford and the Bowman families!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

If we have no mystery families in line before us we are currently number 15 in line for a baby girl - sounds a lot better than 17!

Updated List:

Rothermond - 1

Eckhardt - 2

Heinrichs - 3

Jones - 4

Keiderling - 5

Gillman - 6

Mullins  - (asking for either - which usually means boy, so I'm not counting them in this line right now)

Taylor family (not sure where they fall in line - but their dte is 5.2.08 so I know they are ahead of us) - 7

Pickard - 8

Delfosse - 9

Drogovich - 10

Gagnon - 11

Bartley - 12

Portilla - 13

Foote - 14!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Redd - 15

Kerby - 16

Reed - 17

Bowers - 18

Carpenter - 19

Monberg - 20

Keep praying for more referrals!!!

cindy

PS - I just updated the news as more referrals came out today (1/6/09) and also I received a comment that the Mullins family is asking for either - a boy or a girl - which probably means a boy. And then the Taylor family was DTE 5.2.08 - so they are in line ahead of us - --- basically, I think this means that we are still number 14 without mystery families being ahead of us.... clear as mud???