Melkam Genna!

Melkam Genna! That means Merry Christmas in Amharic. January 7 is Christmas in Ethiopia. Their calendar is different than ours.  Mark and I were invited to an authentic Ethiopian restaurant (Yes, in Indy!) to join a bunch of families that have adopted from Ethiopia.  The restaurant is called The Major, I highly recommend it...service & food were great.  I loved getting a taste (figuratively & literally) of the Ethiopian culture.  We were so glad that we were able to join such a great group of people.  It was so encouraging and exciting to speak with families that have adopted from the same country as we are, as well as seeing their beautiful children (bio & adopted)! Thank you to all of our new friends ;)!


This past month has been a whirlwind!  Here's our latest news...


~ We have prayerfully decided to be on the "either list" for a BOY or a GIRL!  We have explained this to our kids & they are excited for whatever God has in store for our family.  


~On Wednesday (Jan 5th) we sent in our dossier!!! This is a huge step in the process and is the major thing that we have physically done ourselves.   


A dossier is a compilation of paperwork that shows that we are ready and approved to adopt. Each document had to be notarized, then we had to get the official "state seal."  Our homestudy report was included in the dossier.  The homestudy is a written report from a social worker who interviewed our family, digging deep into our history, our motivation to adopt, and the emotional/physical health of our family.  This involved LOTS of forms ahead of time, then an interview in our home.  Our complete dossier is off to Washington D.C. then Ethiopia! Here is a photo of all of the papers lined up on the table. 

We will be doing a lot of waiting now... Waiting on these important documents to be approved and translated...  Waiting for a referral for our future child!  We would appreciate your prayers as always and we really appreciate you checking out our blog and checking in on us!