Dossier is on the way, we are on the Wait List!

24 June, 2009 - The day we got placed on the official waitlist!

Our dossier left Kate's possession last night and Gladney was notified. It should take about a week in DC and then another week in transit to Addis Ababa! This is such a wonderful day, time to do a little mild celebration!

Just to summarize, we are on the waitlist for a 0-12 month female and the latest approximation of average time is 9 months to wait for placement.

It's only a matter of time now!

Our First Baby Gift!!

The lady who is other director at the school where I work got us a Coach diaper bag (I knew Zadie would be a stylish baby girl) full of goodies like books, cuddle toys and a blanket.  I will treasure this gift!  It's our first and the gifts are so sweet!

This isn't the exact bag, but close!  Thanks, Aelisch!  We love it!

Also, we call our daughter Zadie now because we love that name, and it is from Sadie, which means princess.  We may meet her and love her Ethiopian name or look at her and know her name should be Sarah, but calling her Zadie now makes everything a little more tangible.  We can say things like "Which car seat do you like for Zadie?" or "We can just store that in Zadie's room for now". 

CIS Approval for REAL!!!!!!

So after the debacle that was the incorrect I-797C, in only 2 days the CIS office in Durham, NC has already sent to us an updated I-797C!!! We are so excited! The only remaining step is to get a photocopy notarized and authenticated as an original copy and FedEx it to Kate! Our dossier is practically complete, we should be wait-listed in no time at all!

More updates coming soon! Watch this space!

CIS Approval: Almost

Well, we did get CIS approval on Friday, which was so exciting, BUT the paperwork was incorrect. Kate from KBS and Jessica at Gladney jumped right on the case. By Tuesday morning, Jessica had confirmation from CIS that the mistake would be corrected this week. So we are now waiting again. Thanks to Jessica at Gladney and Kate from KBS this wait will be much shorter.

Both of these ladies wasted no time getting answers for us. We are so thankful.

So, here goes a little more time to wait... until the real waiting begins!!!!

CIS APPROVAL!

Leanne just called after work. We got the coveted CIS letter in the mailbox!

We are communicating with KBS and Gladney now so we can proceed!

Cheers! This is a very good day and a great way to start the weekend!

Still waiting...

Just a quick update from us. We're still waiting for approval from USCIS. We are told anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks and we are roughly 2 weeks into the wait. To maintain our sanity, we are expecting 8 weeks and if it takes less, then great!

Last week we got some really sweet shirts from cafepress.com that are Ethiopian adoption related. Leanne got 3 cool shirts stating things like 'expecting from Ethiopia', 'Adoptive mommy' and 'Somewhere in Ethiopia, my heart beats'. I got a very nice shirt for myself that shows the country of Ethiopia and the text inside reads 'A little girl from Ethiopia will change our lives forever'. It's a bit of a loaded statement I suppose, but I love it and I wear it with pride!

Thats the update from me for now. More soon as we know it!