The Process From Here

Where we've been:

• Applications to the Placing Agency (Adoption Advocates International) and our Homestudy Agency (Hands Across the Water) submitted and approved
• New homestudy completed = documents gathered, visits with our great social worker done, homestudy submitted, approved, and notarized
• Dossier submitted to AAI = MORE documents gathered, every speck of it notarized, trip to the Secretary of State for 'Certification with the Great State Seal' (Aar, Aar...flap fins together) to certify our notary

Where we are now... waiting for:

• A piece of paper from the State Department in Washington DC, stating that our dossier is good ~ approving our State Seal, which approved our notary, which approved us and all the folks who signed things for us (at least I think that's what it's for)
• Our dossier gets translated into Amharic and is sent to Ethiopia ~ not sure which comes first
• Our paperwork is submitted to a court clerk in Ethiopia, and then routed to a judge who sets a court date for us. When our paperwork is first submitted, we are assigned a group letter (group Y, Z, A, B... whatever).
• COURT DATE ~ a very important day! We are represented in court by someone from AAI. One of the girl's family members or previous guardians must appear, and the government rep. ... or something like that. If everything is in order and the court passes everything, the girls will be legally and officially OURS.
• We wait 3-6 weeks for the adoption order to be translated into English and wait for an appointment date at the US embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• A few days before our appointment, we TRAVEL.
• The morning after we arrive in Addis, we are taken over to Layla house to meet, hug, kiss, weep over, smile with, laugh with, hold like we never want to let them go... OUR girls.
• We spend the next few days getting acquainted with the girls while we wait for our embassy appointment. At the appointment, we smile pretty, hand in a pile of paperwork and some $$, and the nice people give us visas for the girls.
• We have farewell parties for the girls at Layla, and finally travel HOME

Then the REAL work begins!