the ups and the downs.

I've been seriously fighting the urge to write a whiney post. Maybe that's why there's been 0 activity on here in two weeks - right now I am seriously overwhelmed and, well, whiney. Finally I remembered that we started this blog in order to document the ups and the downs so *sigh*…here goes. 

For the last few weeks we've been working like crazy people to get this home study paperwork done.  Order this, sign that, print this, go here, get that, notarize EVERYTHING. It seems never-ending. And this is supposed to be the easiest part of the whole deal?? Oh mylanta. 

And to top it all off, the only thing I seemed to be able to get done quickly and have almost complete control over is now royally out of control. I ordered 12 birth certificates total (3 for each of us) and, get this…

my NAME is misspelled. 

On every last one of 'em. 

Really. 

And for the life of me I cannot get anyone to answer the phone at Austin Vital Records so that they can print me up a few new ones. I've now spent 5+ hours on the phone trying to get through and calling a few other places (including the agency from whom I placed the order who assured me that they can do nothing and wonders, "Are you sure that that's not just how your name is spelled and you've been misspelling it for 26 years?").  I am resorting to the only thing I know to do now. Cry. And tomorrow, when I call all of those numbers again the first unlucky soul to answer the phone will be bombarded with the only thing I have left - a good, hard sob. 

Poor guy. Or girl. Preferably a guy…and we all know why.

On a brighter note, here's Brandon drawing a picture of what he thinks our baby will look like. 

We had to do this for one of our adoption education courses.

I would post the picture of the final product but it's really pretty comical. 

(think: football player shoulders on a baby girl.)

hmm, maybe I will post it. :)

timeline.

Here's the short version of what we're shooting for:

We should have our first $8,000 (aka, our agency fee) turned in by the end of 2011. This ensures that our application doesn't expire and we won't have to re-pay our application fee.  Unfortunately, we can't apply for any kind of assistance with this first chunk of cash.  We have to come up with all of it.

After this we will have to wait about 3 months for the U.S. paperwork to clear, our home study to conclude, a few other things to happen, and then we'll be all set to go from the U.S. side of things.

Once this is done, we've got another 6+ months of waiting for the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia to take care of the Ethiopian side.  Apparently there's no real way of knowing how long this will take, but we've been told to expect 6-9 months.

After the MOWA has decided to let us have one of their precious babies, we'll be matched with a baby living in Hannah's Hope, an orphanage located in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.  We'll finally get to see pictures of our baby, we'll receive their medical information, and we will take over their orphanage expenses.

Six months later, we'll board the plane to Ethiopia!  We won't get to bring our baby home at this point - this will just be a 10-day-long trip to begin the bonding process, make final decisions, and take care of a few legal things.

Six weeks after that, we'll return to Ethiopia, finalize the adoption, receive our baby's U.S. Citizenship, and return home to begin our new, wonderful life.