I've been checking all day and the email finally came at 2:07pm! We are DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) 9/3/10. This means that our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia! YEAH!!
And now we wait..... More Fundraising!

It's no secret that adopting a child is expensive. We've tried to come up with different ways for our friends and family to be involved along the way. We would love any support you could give. We know God has called us to adopt our little girl from Ethiopia and we know that He will provide the way.

We are doing a great new fundraiser with a company called Thirty-One. My sister is a consultant and wanted to do a fundraiser for us and I'm so excited about it! This company has the cutest bags and accessories! A portion of all the sales will help with our adoption expenses. This fundraiser will run from today, September 1st through September 28th. All orders will be shipped after the 28th. You can save on shipping by having the order sent to me (if you live in Omaha). This would be a great time to start thinking about Christmas presents!

Click on the picture below to start shopping. Make sure to go to "Place an Order" at the top of the page and shop under my fundraiser so the proceeds will go to us. Read More 0 comments | Posted by Holly We Need Puzzle Pieces

Caleb and Corbin would love to start putting their puzzle together but they need more puzzle pieces. We've had ten sponsored so far. You can sponsor a piece for a minimum donation of $10. Just click the "donate" button on the right side of the page and you can make your donation through Paypal's secure site. You can make a note that it's for the puzzle. We will put your name on the back of the piece and once the boys have completed it, it will be glued together and displayed in Cadence's room. She will be able to see who helped bring her home.
We will post pictures of the puzzle so everyone can see the progress. Thank you to those who have already contributed! Package Delivered

We sent our dossier to America World on Monday evening and it arrived safely on Wednesday morning! It will be reviewed twice and if everything looks good it will be sent to Ethiopia on September 3rd. This is what's referred to in adoption language as our DTE....Dossier To Ethiopia. The waiting officially begins at this point. The current wait time for an infant female is 7-11 months, although recently the trends we've seen have been as short as five months. We have a lot to do in the mean time to prepare for her. We will try to stay busy and pray that God will give us peace and patience through the waiting. The Final Piece

I don't think anyone would ever mistake me for someone who is very organized. We had been waiting....and waiting for our I171H (the last document needed for our dossier) for a few weeks when I decided to go ahead and email our contact to check the status of this much anticipated piece of paper. As I was looking through our paperwork to find the email address and our receipt number for our case, I came across a document that we had received in the mail almost two weeks prior. I noticed at the very bottom in tiny print was written, "I171H". WHAT!!! I've had this important piece of paper in my possession for almost two weeks??? Needless to say, I felt very silly!
After kicking myself and laughing about it the rest of the night, it finally sunk in that we were finished with our paperwork! I spent the next morning making copies and making sure everything was perfect before sending our dossier off to America World that evening. It took us longer than most to finish our paperwork and it has been frustrating at times, but we know that God has a plan and every piece of this adoption puzzle is happening in His time and not ours. He has the perfect little girl waiting for our family and we are so excited to be one step closer to meeting her. Read More 2 comments | Posted by Holly Help Our Boys

Caleb, Corbin and Carson want to help raise money to bring Cadence home! Is that enough "C" names? They have picked out a puzzle to put together but need your help with the pieces. They can't start putting it together until pieces have been sponsored. We are asking for a minimum donation of $10 per piece. We will put the names of those who sponsor a piece on the back and once the puzzle is complete Cadence will be able to see who played a part in bringing her to her forever home. You can donate using the button on the right side of the page and make sure to make a note that it's for the puzzle. We really appreciate your support! Revised Fundraiser

Well, we realize that it's August and it's HOT outside. And the last thing people want to do is go outside and have a family photo taken. So we've changed our family portrait fundraiser to better serve everyone.
Instead of designating specific days for the pictures, we are asking for a $100 donation and you can schedule your family session anytime between now and Christmas.
We are asking for the money up front because, frankly, we don't have enough right now to move forward.
Right now we have about $3500 in our adoption fund. We need $4500 more to be able to send in our dossier....we are waiting on one final piece.
If you are interested in donating and having family photos taken you can click the "donate" button on the right side of this page. You will be taken to a secure site where you can make your donation and leave a note stating that it's for the portrait fundraiser. If you would rather send us a check please email me and I can give you our address. email@example.com
You will receive the following with your session:
- 30 minute session
- images on a disc with copyright release
- outdoor location TBD Garage Sale Success and Other Exciting News!

Well it may have not been that much fun, but it sure was worth it! We raised $870 at our garage sale! We are incredibly grateful to those who donated items to make this such a huge success.

We also got a letter from USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) regarding our I-600A. We have been approved and our application has been forwarded to the National Visa Center! It shouldn't be long before we have our I-171H....the final piece of the paperwork puzzle!

It has taken us soooo long to do our paperwork. It will feel great when everything is sent in and we can be put on the waiting list. Two Fundraisers

As of right now, we are short on the amount of money we need to send in our dossier to America World. Which means we can't move forward in our adoption journey until we have the necessary funds. So, we have scheduled two fundraisers to help us get where we need to be. Here are the details.....

Garage Sale - Aug. 5-7
I'm not really a fan of having garage sales but at this point I'll do just about anything. If you have any items you would like to donate we would greatly appreciate it. Just let me know soon!

Family Photo Sessions - Aug. 19 & 26 ~ 6:00pm - 8:00pm
- minimum donation of $100
- 5 images on a disc
- sessions will be held at an outdoor location TBD

The last photo day we did filled up quick so schedule your session soon! You can email me at email@example.com to reserve your spot. A Name

When we first started the adoption process, and up until just recently, we had decided not to name our daughter until we knew more about her. We wanted to consider keeping her name, or maybe just tweaking it a little. We wanted to see her sweet face in a picture. Then we realized...it's hard to pray for and care for someone you don't know, who is very far away. Once we started talking and praying using her name, instead of "our daughter", I've felt a deeper sense of longing for her. I have a beautiful baby girl in Ethiopia that I can pray for by name! It's so exciting to know that God has orchestrated this and he knows exactly who she is and that she will be perfect for our family.

Her name...... I'm An Awful Blogger

I'm just not good at blogging. Even when there are things that I should be updating, I just can't seem to keep up with a blog. So I'm trying....again...let's rewind a little. I want to catch everyone up on the progress of our adoption....there's a lot!

Here's a time line from the beginning until now including the cost of each piece:

September 7, 2009 - Application sent to America World $250
September 24, 2009 - Ethiopia Program Acceptance!
September 27, 2009 - Ethiopia Program Agreement and 1st Program Fee Payment Sent $1350
*Then we start gathering paperwork*
November 5, 2009 - Holly's Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate are approved $30
November 9, 2009 - Agency Recommendation Received

*The holidays came and we just couldn't seem to concentrate on paperwork...which is why there is a huge gap here.

March 22, 2009 - Holly's physical exam approved
April 1, 2010 - I600A Application sent to USCIS $830
April 9, 2010 - Passport Photos Taken $20
April 12, 2010 - Reference letter #1 approved....we need three
April 16, 2010 - Police reports approved
April 26, 2010 - Documents Approved:
Holly's Unemployment Letter
Application Letter
Proof of Medical and Life Insurance
May 5, 2010 - Reference Letter #2 approved
June 22, 2010 - Home Study Completed $1300
July 19, 2010 - Financial Statement and Reference Letter #3 Approved
July 28, 2010 - Federal Fingerprints Taken
July 29, 2010 - Matt's Birth Certificate and 1 of Matt's Empoyment Letters Approved

So as of right now, the only things we are waiting on are Matt's Employment Letter from the church and our I-171H (Approval from USCIS that allows us to bring a child from another country to the U.S. and is required for the child to gain U.S. citizenship)

Once we have all the pieces we will send our dossier to America World along with more money.

Here's the breakdown:
2nd Program Fee - $1800
Translation Fee - $800
Post Placement Deposit - $1000
First Half of the International Program Fee - $3750

Right now we are short on the amount we need to send in our dossier. If you are interested in helping to bring our daughter home there are several ways to do that. Click the "donate" button on the right-hand side of this page or buy coffee from our online coffee store through Just Love Coffee. We are working on more fundraising ideas so stay tuned. I'm sure Matt will be doing a family portrait day soon! Well, it has been several months since I've updated the blog so there are a few things to address. At this stage in the process there isn't much going on but I'll bring everyone up to speed on what's been happening.

1. We are finally starting our interviews with our home study agency tomorrow morning at 9:00am. We are really hoping that we can go through this stage as quickly as possible. We are so anxious to get the paperwork behind us get on the waiting list.

2.Ethiopia has changed their guidelines for court appearances. Originally, someone would represent us at court in Ethiopia. Now, both adoptive parents must appear in court. This means we will be making two trips to Ethiopia. We will go 4-6 weeks after receiving our referral and then again 8-10 weeks later. There are good things and difficult things that go along with this. This is great for the Ethiopia program because they really do care about the kids and want to make sure everything goes well for them. The down side is that we will get to meet our little girl and then have to come home without her. I really am not looking forward to that. I will be such a roller coaster of emotions. To be so happy and excited to finally meet her and be able to hold her and then have to leave her there, will just be just heart wrenching.

3. Finally, we will be doing several fundraisers to try and offset the cost of the adoption. We have set up an account with Just Love Coffee. When you buy a bag of coffee $5 will go towards our adoption fund. Here's the link http://www.justlovecoffee.com/ThePaddacks
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