Where we are at

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to adopt and Benji says 'he knew when he married me that we would adopt."  I just wasn't sure when or how it would all come about.  In the summer of 2010, God really laid it on our hearts that we were not doing enough to follow his command to care for the orphans.  We began discussing adoption and felt led to pursue international adoption.  We began looking into adoption agencies and we decided to use Bethany Christian Services.  We attended an informational meeting in October to learn about the process and the different countries and their requirements for adoption.  As we sat in the meeting, everything kept leading us to Ethiopia.  It was already on our list and we felt invested their because our church helped raise money to build wells there to provide clean water.   Then the paper work started informal application, formal application, a home study and interviews, fingerprints, and background checks.  Which kind of brings us up to where we are now.  We have gone to Nashville to have our fingerprints taken at the United State Citizenship and Immigration Services building, and our anxiously waiting to receive a letter back from them.  In the meantime we are working on our Dossier, which is the paperwork that will go to Ethiopia.  Once our Dossier is sent and translated, then the Bethany staff in Ethiopia will match us with our child. This will probably take at least 9 months, but we will see.  This was just a brief over view of the process, and a post to get our blog started.  I can't wait to share more!