December 25, 2010

A very merry Christmas! We feel so blessed with our amazing circle of family and friends. What a gift they will be to our daughter! We think of next Christmas and how our family could be hanging another stocking out for Santa!

December 16, 2010

Really frustrated this week! We were due to have our last fingerprinting appointment with the USCIS on December 21, which is the kids last day of school before break. We weren't sure how that would work out as our appointment was set for 8am in Naperville (2 1/2 hours away) and how childcare could be arranged. We were assured via our agency that we could request another time, so I mailed off a form December 1st. When I still hadn't heard back this week, I began making many phone calls to government offices and sent several urgent emails. I finally heard back today that our new date was set. Phew!

December 10, 2010

Gavin requested to sleep downstairs tonight in his new room. In one quick moment Emmett climbed into the bottom bunk where his big brother once resided and promptly said,"my bed!" I tucked Gavin into bed, solo for the first time in three years as Emmett joined Keaton for their first slumber as bunk mates. With that I walked by the empty nursery and knew it was no longer Emmett's. It now waits for another sibling to take his place!

December 8, 2010

We just received our December update and we are #80 on the girl wait list! While this is not as big of a move from our last update, it is still bringing us closer to our daughter.
In this waiting time we have been working on preparing Gavin's room downstairs. With a fresh coat of paint, furniture arranged, and a Star Wars theme for the decor-our eldest is getting excited for a room to call his own!

November 22, 2010

I just started reading "There is no me without you". It is a story of an Ethiopian widow whose home became a refuge for hundreds of orphans. I have already gained some insight into our daughter's country's rich history contrasted against many heartbreaking statistics noting the state of this nation today. This has been both an informative resource as well as a beautiful story of parenting. "At heart, it is a book about children and parents, wherever they may be, however they may find each other."
http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/

November 6, 2010

We received an email today from AGCI that we have already moved up on the waitlist! We are #86 right now!

October 27, 2010

We got the call today! Our dossier was approved and we have moved to the waitlist!!! It really is sinking in now. We are another step closer to meeting our daughter! We are #95 and will get monthly updates on our status. Now we can finish the form for USCIS and mail that off for that approval. And immuzations! We have to wait until the first of the year to get started on those due to an insurance change, but during this waiting time, we still have plenty to do!

September 30, 2010

Our homestudy was approved! Weee! (Phew- they think we are fit to be parents!) The first component is officially complete! Onto wrapping up that dossier! Only a few more documents to go!

September 16, 2010

I met a mom at the park today who just went through All God's Children as well for an Ethiopian adoption last year. Emmett ran around the playground with her son and her friend's son, who was also adopted from Ethiopia. I love that our daughter will have playmates to play with here in town from her birth country. I am also thankful for the parents that I am meeting who have also gone through this process. I appreciate this connection and the additional support they provide to us!

September 14, 2010

It was an exciting day! Our homestudy is completed and ready to be sent off to Springfield to be approved. I pray that things move swiftly as we continue and that I may find solace in allowing God's hand to lead.

August 30, 2010

We have been busy this month with doctor appointments and a lot of training/education. We are almost done with our workbook and have a few more online classes to complete. We've had another home visit from our caseworker where we had our interviews and house walk through. We've been trying to get the loose ends tied up for our homestudy to have it completed by mid September.

July 31, 2010

We had our all day International Adoption Training at the Baby Fold. It was a draining day with a lot of information, but it was exciting to gain more knowledge about what lies ahead. Now I am feeling a bit more anxious about all of the paperwork still ahead of us. I am seeking for some inner peace at this time.

July 25, 2010

We have been busy gathering documents, renewing passports, getting fingerprinted, and writing our autobiograhpies! We are in the midst of our homestudy and have much reading and educational workbooks, training sessions, and online courses to complete yet. I feel as if we are moving forward, yet not moving ahead at all. I hope that by October we can have this part of the process completed. It just seems so far away.

June 28, 2010

We had our online call with our case worker from AGCI to go our our dossier. My head is spinning! I'm trying to keep straight which paperwork we have to do for our homestudy and which overlaps with our dossier and which ones are different and which ones need notarized (all of them!!!) and which we need to focus on first. I'm going to try to make a to do list each week with just a handful of tasks to complete so that I can feel as if I am making progress.

June 23, 2010

June 23, 2010
We had our second home visit from our case worker from Baby Fold. She gave our oldest boys "homework" which they were eager to start! It's been cute to see them begin to process all of this. Gavin and Keaton have been spontaneously sharing with others about the adoption. They are talking about it more and I see their own anticipation now.

June 21, 2010

This past weekend two of my dearest friends coordinated a garage sale fundraiser for our adoption. Over 25 people donated goods and so many others gave of their time and effort to pull this off! It was amazing! I saw such goodness in people who contributed in such a variety of ways. Our daughter will certainly hear about all of those who cared for her even before they knew here! I feel so blessed!

June 21, 2010

All God's Children emailed that our notarized contracts and first payment had been received! Our Adoption Planner is the mail and we have to set an appointment with our case manager to go through our dossier. We are moving forward with purpose now! I'm trying not to think about that credit card balance right now. We have a year without interest or payments, so I'm not going to put worry into that at this time. I am picturing our little girl and focusing on bringing her to our family.

May 21, 2010

Originally the following note was composed to send to close family members, but Jeremy prompted me to post it on facebook so we could share with our friends as well.

Hello! Jeremy and I wanted to share with you all some recent happenings for our family! Throughout the course of our marriage, the desire to adopt a child has been placed upon our hearts. Even before our own biological children were brought into the world, we were talking about this dream. We have always said “someday” we would like to adopt. It just wasn’t the right time. I would keep pushing it aside each time Jeremy would suggest looking into it more. We were busy with infants and our growing boys! How could we afford it? How would this impact our family? I continued to say “later” or “not now”. But in the past year, after much thought and prayer for God to lead us, it seems that our “someday” has become today and we are in fact pursuing adopting a daughter into our fold!
After extensive research and discussions with other adoptive parents in the area, we decided on the agency All God’s Children. Personally, I love the name, as it speaks volumes to our belief that God embraces us all around the world as His. We really did not care which country our child would come from. There are over 143 million orphaned children in the world. We consulted with 3 different agencies and they all told us that Ethiopia was the best match for us. (Of course this was the country Jeremy has had his eyes on for the past couple of years!)
About a month ago we submitted our application, filled out additional forms, mailed more forms, and this past Wednesday we received the call from our agency that they have approved our application for adoption. Our “paper pregnancy” has begun! This coming week we have an orientation call with a caseworker and more paperwork to complete! The first week of June our homestudy begins with our local agency, The Baby Fold. From there many more steps are required before this all can even come to fruition. We are hopeful though that a year from now, we will be welcoming a little girl around age 2 into our family.
Thank you in advance for your love and support as we open our arms to this child from around the world. Please keep her in prayer and we ask for your prayers as we continue in this process. We love you all and are so thankful for such a blessed unit of family and friends.
With love,
Jeremy & Julie

May 19, 2010

We were approved!! All God's Children called us this evening to confirm that they have approved our application for an Ethiopian adoption. It was that rush of emotions like I had just taken the pregnancy test and the stick in my hand read "pregnant"! Our "paper pregnancy" has begun. We are getting a packet FedExed to us and next week we have our orientation call with a caseworker. Baby Fold, our local agency, also contacted us today to set up a time to start their formal application. One step closer today.

May 8, 2010

On this day before Mother's Day I sit here to put this into writing. We are again looking to expand our family. This time not through pregnancy, but adoption. A few weeks ago we took the first step and submitted our application online to All God's Children, the agency we decided to go with. It's kind of like saying "we are trying to get pregnant". All of the same hopes and dreams are there with all of those same uncertainties and unknowns. I hope to share our story in the days to come, one step at a time, concluding with an introduction to our daughter. I pray for God's guidance as we proceed...