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Dossier R E A D Y!

The last piece of paperwork arrived to us on Monday and on Wednesday my dad and I traveled the 3 hour drive to the Secretary of State Department to have the documents all certified and official.  Thankfully my dad was able to come along and thankfully my mother-in-law had the great idea for her to keep the four kids with her all day! Thank you family!!

The Lord was with us and we felt your prayers as we had no problems whatsoever traveling and getting to the necessary places.  The weather was gorgeous and dad and I enjoyed the stroll around beautiful Annapolis, MD.

Home again home again and time to copy and prepare the dossier for mailing! Two copies for the agency and one digital copy, then one copy for us to keep, and of course the originals all in order.


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We can't believe this day has come, but our dossier is finally ready to mail out to the agency!!  It has been 6 months of appointments, meetings, and gathering signatures for papers.  Everyday this list has loomed over us as we anxiously and diligently worked to complete it and fulfill the requirements.  With each appointment and check-off the list our hearts were more and more wrapped in love for these little children that some day will be our own.  We haven't even met them, but we feel closer to them now! Every step of the process completed is one step closer to meeting them, holding them, and bringing them home!

Thanking God for His guidance and His hand on us all as we've continued along this journey to adopt.

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. 3:6

To have this completed is a huge relief for us as now the process is completely out of our hands. There are only a few things for us to do in the meanwhile:

1. Pray.
2. Wait for the referral of the children- be patient.
3. Continue to rely on God for the remaining financial need.

I keep thinking of the song by Casting Crowns, "He's Already There" as I think about the pieces of this adoption coming together for the end result of bringing the children home.  The lyrics of the song go like this:
" From where you're standing Lord, you see a grand design that you imagined when you breathed me into life.  And all the chaos comes together in your hands like a masterpiece of your picture perfect plan.  I can't wait to enjoy the view and see how all the pieces fit.  When I'm lost in the mystery, to you my future is a memory.  'Cause you're already there."

Isn't that beautiful?  What a reminder that God is in control and that He has such a special plan for His children that often hasn't been completely revealed to us yet.  We continue to rest our faith in Him and trust His ways.

Please continue to pray for us, the process, and for the children we will be adopting.  Next steps are for the agency to review the dossier, then send it to Washington, D.C. to be authenticated (another 'make the documents official' process).  The papers are translated and sent to Ethiopia.  Praying that this takes 3-5 weeks and when the papers arrived all pretty and ready in Ethiopia THEN we'll be on the waiting list!  At anytime then we could get "the call" with our referral for the children.  Actually, "the e-mail" that will tell us about the children.  Very excited for these next steps, but for now, enjoying the accomplishment of having the dossier ready to mail!

Please continue to pray for us as we are near to reaching our financial needs for the adoption but still need help.  With the dossier being mailed out we also hit a large "payment due" stage for the agency fees.  This is a huge chunk of which I have never written a check this big!   We are thanking God so very, very much for providing our needs at the right time as the funds are available for this stage.  Praise God! Thanking the people who have kindly and generously given to the adoption fund and joined their hearts with us on this journey!! THANK YOU!! We continue to ask God to provide through His people by financial donations as we hold fundraisers for the remaining travel expenses.

Will you consider helping? The next fundraiser we are holding will be our One Sought Me Walk for Orphan Adoption on July 20, 2013. Visit here or visit www.onesoughtmewalk.org for info and to register!  Not local to us or able to come to the Walk? Consider donating using our Paypal button on our home page.   Thank you!!!  You are helping to bring change to the lives of orphans.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.















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