We have been keeping pretty quiet, because we haven't had anything exciting to report. Although we finished our intake package and sent it off around Thanksgiving, there was still much to be done in order for our home study to be finished. We needed to complete some online training and have a couple of formal interviews with our social worker. These were more like a pleasant conversation with a dear friend over tea and scones

Although it hasn't been officially confirmed, it appears we set a new agency record for getting our paperwork together--just one month. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it! The process was made easier by the fact that most of our major life events happened in the state of California (our births, marriage,  three out of four kids' births).

There is one piece of paper that has held us up a little bit. We needed a child abuse clearance for every state we've lived in (CA, WA and TN). All three were ordered back in October, but Tennessee was very slow in coughing it up! That finally came in last week and now our home study is working its way through the approval system. It needs to be approved by America World (our placement agency) and by our social worker's supervisors at Bethany Christian Services. We are praying that this goes quickly and that we will have the home study in our hands this week.

Once we have it, we mail the home study to Sacramento to the USCIS office. They will review it and then schedule a fingerprint appointment for us. That will happen in Sacramento and we will go whenever they tell us to. After that, we will wait for the cherished I-700 to come in the mail. This is the final piece in the paperwork puzzle for us and it is a very important immigration document that will allow us to bring our foreign-born children into the U.S. Once that comes in, we will drive to Sacramento again to have our dossier (all of the paperwork that will go to Ethiopia) certified by the Secretary of State. Then, we can send everything to our adoption agency. They will have it authenticated in Washington, D.C. and then send it to Ethiopia. It will be translated into Amharic and then we will be logged into the system and begin our official wait for a referral. Whew!

We will keep you informed as we complete each step in this process. That is an overview so that you can follow along with us as we wrap up this "paper-chasing" phase of our adoption. Please join us in prayer that the rest will go quickly and smoothly. Our hearts are feeling the pull to Ethiopia grow stronger with each month that passes and we can't wait to see what God has in store for our family.