The Journey

I really need to stop and just thank my wonderful husband, Jeffrey, for being by my side through this whole adoption process. I know we still have such a long journey ahead, but it is so much easier knowing I have such a strong man walking with me. I know he is going to be the best daddy in the world. 

A few months ago, my dear friend, Kaitlin, walked into my classroom and told me she had a gift for me. "I bought you guys two photo sessions. One for before the baby comes and one when the baby is home." I was so excited and thought it was one of the nicest gifts someone could give us. It showed us that she truly understood our heart with this adoption. Since Kaitlin gave us the gift, I have told many people, posted about it on Facebook and now have posted a few of the photos from the preview shots that the photographer posted the day of the shoot. Many people have asked us if this was something required for the adoption and why we were having to do these photos. Yes, the government of Ethiopia and the United States have required us to send in pictures that included photos of us with friends and family, photos of our house and more, but this was not another thing to check off the giant adoption process checklist. We are not sending these photos to Ethiopia. The purpose ...

As many of you know, Jeffrey and I went to our FBI fingerprinting appointment today. This was very exciting for us! Once we receive this paper from immigration, we are ready to send all our papers to our adoption agency. All of our paperwork will be reviewed and translated; they said it usually takes about two weeks till they send everything to Ethiopia. So many of you have been asking us WHEN? WHEN? WHEN? Last week, I received some discouraging news through a conference call from our adoption agency. They said that the current wait time is 18 months once our papers get in country. As I heard this news, I began to cry. I feel like we are getting so close, but then this news makes it feel so far away. They said that things can change, but this is the current wait time for an infant. We are falling more and more in love with this baby everyday, and are so excited to finally see his or her little face. Many people have asked me why does this process take so long. The good thing is r...