For all of you Ethiopia-adoptive families out there...

We just got these two bumper stickers for our car. For those of you also adopting internationally and/or from Ethiopia, you might want to check these out!

Ethiopia flag sticker: http://www.cafepress.com/buy/ethiopia%20flag/-/pv_design_prod/p_storeid.20590909/pNo_20590909/id_7036860/opt_/pg_/c_/fpt_

Our favorite: http://www.cafepress.com/buy/love+knows+no+borders/-/pv_design_prod/p_storeid.89754025/pNo_89754025/id_89754025/opt_/pg_/c_/fpt_

The Latest and Greatest...

So, a few weeks ago when we submitted our dossier and then received our I-171H approval in the mail, our agency informed us that they would prepare for our children to move from their orphanage in Awassa up to the CWA foster home in Addis. They said this might take several weeks, as they have to wait for space to open up for them.

Lo and behold, however, this past Monday we received an email from our agency telling us that our three have officially been moved to the Addis home where they will be waiting for us! And, they know that we are adopting them!

At that point, we were told that our children would be waiting for their 2nd medical exams, which we must approve so that their case will move to court. We expected this to take a couple of weeks.

But, lo and behold again, we received an email on Friday with the medicals attached. Wow! They are SO fast over there!

We, of course, approved the medicals right away. Our dossier was then passed on to the court for preparation. We should receive word any day now of when our court date is. This is typically only two to three weeks later.

At that point, once the Ethiopian judge officially finalizes our adoption, the children will be legally OURS (!), and we will then wait for an appointment with the U.S. Consulate in Addis. This is typically just a few weeks later.

We are still hoping for our Christmas miracle...to have our entire family complete before Christmas. It's been one miracle after another this entire year, so why should we expect any less now?

We'll keep you posted. Thanks for staying in touch with our journey!

Uncle Sam Hearts Us!!!

Ah, today...today today today...The mail came SOOOOO late. Thanks, I'm sure, to the mail holiday yesterday. You know, the day we celebrate when Columbus got lost and the Indians found him. (Loved that, so borrowed it.)

But, when the mail FINALLY came, I was thrilled not only because I had a package of books from Amazon (one of my very favorite items to find on my doorstep), but FINALLY finally finally...

We have received our I-171H approval from Immigration!!!

Wooooooooo-hoooooooooooooo!!!!

I have read other people's blogs and fully expected the simplicity of the approval letter itself, but c'mon, really? Can't you at least throw in a little gold seal? a smiley face to show you're proud of us? a mint?


Nevertheless, we are officially approved. Or, as the officials wrote so eloquently in the letter, "It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan." Thank you, Dear Homeland Security, for telling us we are parents-of-the-year. Oh, and while we're into thanking you, may we also express our sincere gratitude for allowing the line to take so much longer when we just want to board a plane. (How much can you really hide in a pair of flip-flops anyway?)

Our baby (dossier) is Ethiopia-bound!!!

Woo-hoo!!!!!! We just received an email from CWA informing us that they have sent our dossier to Ethiopia!!! We are SOOOOOOOOOOOO stinking excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This made our day. And weekend. And month.

Sweet, loved, and precious kiddos...We are coming to get you soon!!!!!!!! Hang in there!!!

Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!!!"

Still waiting...

For those of you in the adoption world, you know that the LAST piece of paper adoptive families wait for is the all-coveted I-171H letter from Immigration. It has now been 8 weeks and 1 day since we had our FBI fingerprinting completed, and we have yet to receive our form. Typical wait time is 6-8 weeks, we were told. (For those curious, this form is the official "permission" from the U.S. government to bring our children home...We must have this before we travel to get them!)

I contacted the immigration branch in Memphis yesterday, and this is what we were told: (Kudos to them, by the way...They are super-nice and helpful!)

Your application is indeed being processed. And
you should very soon be receiving your approval notice.

Sincerely,
MEM Adoption Unit

Woo-hoo! We will be watching the mailbox like hawks now...(as if we weren't already).

[For those of you wondering, CWA does not require the I-171H letter to be part of the dossier. Therefore, we were able to submit our dossier before receiving the letter from immigration.]

Once we DO finally receive this letter, our children will be transferred from their orphanage in Awassa (several hours south of Addis Ababa, the capital) to the CWA foster home in Addis. This will be a great day for us, but one of mixed emotions for our kids. They will be leaving behind the only town they have ever known, as well as any family they have remaining there.

Please keep praying...I am finding that with each day that passes, I am more and more aware of the reality ahead of us. We are not naive about the task before us, and we do not take it lightly. We covet your prayers.

Speaking of which, please be praying specifically for our three blondies: Brandon (8), Isabella (5), and Justice (almost 2). While the lives of me and Kirk are about to change for sure, our children's lives are going to be turned UPSIDE DOWN. We are very aware of the implications of bringing in three children to our already "comfortable" family. While we know that this is God-ordained and our children could not be more excited (we are stunned by how excited they are!), we want to be very sensitive to the fact that Brandon, Isabella and Justice are sacrificing the security and comfort of our family of five to share their home, lives, belongings, hearts, and rooms with their new siblings. Please be praying for them as they, in their own small way, grieve what will no longer be, and prepare for a wild life ahead!

That being said, though, all five of us are so very thrilled to be at this point in our adoption journey. We've come a long way, and we couldn't have done it without the amazing generosity and support of all of you. You have no idea...

Because you're just dying to know...

Our dossier was successfully authenticated by the proper authorities at the federal level and is now safely back in the hands of the staff at our agency.

Now, it's just Ethiopia or BUST!

Oct 4, 2007 5:38 PM Picked up CROFTON, MD

Oct 4, 2007 8:37 PM Left origin CROFTON, MD

Oct 5, 2007 12:46 AM Arrived at FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN

Oct 5, 2007 4:50 AM Departed FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN

Oct 5, 2007 6:58 AM At dest sort facility GREER, SC

Oct 5, 2007 6:59 AM At local FedEx facility SPARTANBURG, SC

Oct 5, 2007 7:36 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery SPARTANBURG, SC

Oct 5, 2007 9:40 AM Delivered

This just in...

Dossier was picked up this morning by the lovely Carol of Dependable Adoption Courier Service (www.dependable-acs.com). [By the way, we highly recommend her to anyone needing her services!!! She has been extremely helpful and very friendly.] Carol had the documents authenticated for us at the State Department and then dropped them off at the Ethiopian Embassy. She will pick up the dossier from the embassy tomorrow and send it on its way to CWA (our agency) in North Carolina. Then, off to Ethiopia!!!

More updates to come!!!

UPDATE: Dossier Tracking

Dossier is now in Washington, D.C. I thought about that baby all night long and prayed its way there...Every time it moved, as shown on the FedEx tracking site, I got a little ancy.

Oct 1,2007 2:04 PM Picked up FRANKLIN, TN

Oct 2, 2007 9:05 PM Left origin BRENTWOOD, TN

Oct 3, 2007 1:13 AM Arrived at FedEx location INDIANAPOLIS, IN

Oct 3, 2007 6:23 AM Departed FedEx location INDIANAPOLIS, IN

Oct 3, 2007 6:13 AM At destination sort facility DULLES, VA

Oct 3, 2007 7:07 AM At local FedEx facility WASHINGTON, DC

Oct 3, 2007 7:27 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery WASHINGTON, DC

Oct 3, 2007 7:28 AM Delivered Package delivered to recipient address - release authorized

YEAH, Baby!!!!

Why is there not a cry room at Kinko's??? (aka Dossier is complete and has been submitted!)

OH, today. WHAT a day!!! As of last night, our dossier is entirely, 100%, nothing missing, wholly, and every other redundant word C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E!!!!!

Other adoptive parents certainly know how it feels, and we have read others' blogs that describe the feeling, but WOW, what a feeling. While copying the papers at Kinko's, I had to hold back the tears. Not just because I didn't want a darn smudge on the all-too-important documents, but HELLOOOOO, it's KINKO'S. There's no crying in baseball, and there's CERTAINLY no crying in Kinko's! And then, releasing that dossier to the hands of the FedEx woman who certainly does not realize the SANCTITY of the documents entrusted to her was a bit mind-blowing for me.

All of the labor. All of the hard work. All of the dotted i's and crossed t's. All of the signatures, notaries, certifications, stamps, and seals. All complete. It's a marvelous yet surprisingly bizarre feeling to let go of the result of four months of paperchasing. But, OH, the day that we have been anticipating for MANY MANY MANY months is finally here. And our dossier is on its way, never to be touched or seen by us again! I felt I had to touch every single paper...just one...last...time...before I could slide it all into the FedEx package and let it go.

Ah, glory glory glory.

So, here's where we stand:

Our dossier will arrive in our courier's precious hands in D.C. tomorrow morning. She will then hand deliver the dossier to the Department of State for their official authentication. Next, she will hand deliver the documents to the Ethiopian Embassy for their final seal.

After the authentication process in D.C. is done, the dossier will be returned to our agency in North Carolina, where it will then be sent on its way to the great land of ETHIOPIA!!!!

After the Ethiopian officials review the dossier, they will assign a court date (typically about 6 weeks later). At court, an official from our agency will represent us as our Power of Attorney and we will receive official custody of our three children. Four to six weeks after that, WE TRAVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are still hoping for a pre-Christmas reunion with our children, but that is not necessarily realistic. However, this entire process has been nothing short of miraculous (don't get me started!), so we know God has the final word and a fabulous plan!

We will keep you posted. In the meantime, enjoy our photos from our dossier celebration last night with our kids here.




LEFT: Our entire dossier spread out on the coffee table, with 4 of the 7 of my most favorite people in the world!

BELOW: Our three blondies being TOTALLY giddy and hyper

BELOW LEFT: A kiss for my baby

BELOW RIGHT: Hands on. Praying hard.

Giving...

Several of you have asked about how to give a tax-deductible gift toward our adoption expenses. At this point, our actual adoption fees are covered, thanks to the miraculous provision of God and the incredible (!!!) generosity of others. However, we will still have several expenses we will need to take care of when it comes time to travel to Ethiopia to bring home our children. These include: the kids' airfare, meals, lodging, visas, etc.

You may continue to make tax-deductible donations to our adoption fund through our agency's web site and we will be able to apply those toward our travel-related expenses. Every penny given in our name stays with our adoption.

All gifts to our agency's fund are 100% tax-deductible, and you will receive a receipt stating thus.

To send a check, make it payable to CWF and put Kirk and Heidi Weimer in the memo line.
Mail checks to:

CWF (christian world fund)
Attn: Tracy Froidcoeur
777 South Allen Road
Flat Rock, NC 28731

OR, to give an instant, secure donation online, go to:

https://www.cwa.org/donatenow.htm
IMPORTANT: Select CWA/CWF General Fund (already in the box)
Then click next to CWA Family and fill in the information for us:

Kirk and Heidi Weimer
(You may leave the address blank, or email us for it.)

EVERY PENNY OF YOUR GIFT WILL GO DIRECTLY INTO AN ACCOUNT SPECIFICALLY FOR OUR ADOPTION EXPENSES.

Thank you so much for joining us in this journey. We are on the homestretch now. Things are moving very, very quickly in our case, and since the kids are considered "waiting children," we must act very quickly to get our paperwork to Ethiopia. Please feel free to forward this message to others.

If you would like more information, please email us at heidiandkirk@blessingsfromethiopia.com.

Thank you so much!!! Blessings to you...