one step closer . . . .

And it is complete…. The home study, which sometimes can take a little bit of time, is officially completed! God truly is so amazing. My day started off so bad today and it hadn’t gotten any better all morning. I just went to eat lunch and decided that I was going to come back to work and have a better afternoon. When I get back I had an email waiting to tell me that our home study paperwork for the adoption is OFFICIALLY completed and we should be receiving it in the mail tomorrow. The smallest things make the worst days turn into some of the best… Thank you to everyone who we had to pester as a reference and for letters of recommendation.

So what does this mean now? Well, tomorrow when I receive our copies of the home study, I will then mail off our dossier. I completed it a few weeks ago so that as soon as this came in we could have it ready to send off. We had to do three copies – each country is different in this aspect. One copy is for us, one copy is for our amazing family at Arise for Children, and the third is for our dossier that will be sent overseas to Ethiopia. So what is a dossier? Well it is a long list of things that you have to get together to send them. That is what they use in Ethiopia in court and to make sure that you are qualified to adopt. Here is all that we had to get. They all had to be originals and notarized.

- POWER OF ATTORNEY ( 3 originals)
- HOME STUDY & AGENCY LICENSE
- BIRTH CERTIFICATE - Father/Mother
- Marriage Certificate
- LOCAL POLICE (not State) CLEARANCE LETTERS/MOTHER
- LOCAL POLICE (not State) CLEARANCE LETTERS/FATHER
- EMPLOYMENT LETTER/ MOTHER
- EMPLOYMENT LETTER/FATHER
- BANK LETTER (a letter from your bank saying you are in good standing)
- Financial Statement (a worksheet that shows how much money you make and spend)
- MEDICAL REPORT - FATHER/ MOTHER
- LETTER OF INTENT (to the Director of the Ministry of Women & Children in Ethiopia, stating why you would like to adopt an Ethiopian child)
- Letter of Life Insurance
- Letter of Health Insurance
- 2 years of tax returns
- 3 PERSONAL REFERENCES
- OBLIGATION Statement for the Adoption Agency (this is where we sign saying that we will agree to do the follow up requirements: 1.) First report at the end of three months. 2.) Second report at the end of six months. 3.) Third report every year thereafter until the child(ren) is 18 years of age.)
- Color copy of passports
- Passport Size Photos
You are probably looking at it and thinking, “hmm… that isn’t that much.” Trust me. It is!
But we are DONE with the paperwork! So we now sit and wait. I can only think of Psalm 46:10 where it says - "Be still, and know that I am God.” This is going to be a trying time. We are going to be sitting and waiting on our referral – which will include the picture of our new baby, Zoe Grace. I am already praying for God to give us the strength to sit, be still and wait for his time – and also for patience and understanding for our case worker, Cindy, and everyone else at Arise, because I am sure I am going to drive them crazy asking for updates.

j.w. godwin