So Much Can Change in a Year

It's incredible how much can change in a year. I think back to this time of year last year, and I am amazed. This time last year I was seeing four different doctors for three different reasons. How our family would grow was quite uncertain. Adoption was in the back of my mind, but didn't seem like a possibility for the near future. My how quickly things can change. Especially when God has a plan!

The fall season is here once again. This year we are waiting for approval from the US to adopt and then we will send our request (and lots of paperwork) to Uganda. Our family will soon be growing! The only doctors visits any of us have had is to ensure that we are in good health and that we will be able to parent an adopted child.  What a difference a year can make. 

A lot of people have been asking for updates on our adoption. I just love that so many are interested in our adoption journey and how everything is going. It means so much to us that people are interested! Things are moving along. Sometimes it seems slow, but progress is being made!  

John and I had more fingerprints taken, this time in Denver. Don't ask me why we needed more fingerprints done and why we had to go to Denver this time. It is somewhat of a joke in international adoption. It's pretty much the exact same thing we had to do for the homestudy, just in Denver and much much more expensive! Oh well, just another hoop to jump through I guess.

Currently we are working on preparing our dossier. The dossier is a a whole bunch of official papers that we send to the Ugandan government. It includes copies of our homestudy, birth certificates, our marriage license, passports, letters from our doctors, letters of reference, proof of employment, photos of our home and family, and our approval from the US government to adopt. Everything must be notarized as well. 

The next fee is $3000 to send the dossier. Once we send in the dossier, we will be told what number we are on the list. Then we wait for a referral for a child! We will not have another fee until we accept a referral. It can take months or possibly a year plus to receive a referral. I can't imagine how excited we will be to finally have a picture of our son or daughter!

Thanks to the amazing generosity of our friends and family, we have what we need to send in our dossier! What a blessing. We had a garage sale in September. Our friends donated a lot of great items and we were able to raise $760 dollars! Just a couple of weeks ago our sweet friends asked that donations be made towards our adoption in lieu of gifts for their daughter's birthday. The Hill's raised $200 dollars (thank you everyone who donated!!) which turned out to be right about what we needed to order certified copies of birth certificates/marriage license etc!! Praise God!

Here is another break down of the fiances:

Donations: $9170

Fundraisers (coffee, hats, garage sale): $977

Total raised: $10,147

Out of pocket: $5819

Adoption cost is estimated at $27,000+

Only about $11,000 more to go! All the glory to God!

Again, thank you to our family and friends. This adoption WOULD NOT 

be possible without your generosity. Words can not express what 

your support means to us!