Dossier in route to Ethiopia

Our dossier is off to Ethiopia. We are so excited that we can hardly stand it. (Still a bit nervous too) Ethiopia should acknowledge receipt of it by the end of next week.

Misrach at CWA was our coordinator for dossier preparation. She has been such a sweet lady in prayer and encouragement. We now move on to another coordinator named Ben. Not sure if we like all these changes but we will see. CWA has been wonderful to work with and has been doing this for a long time. So, we trust their path that they have laid before us. (Actually we trust that the Lord led us to CWA and we will follow their routine)

We will be informed on the next steps in the process and travel info when he contacts us next week. No more paperwork and we are thankful for that.

Hope you all are having a great day. May you seek a way to care for an orphaned child. They need you in prayer and spirit.

Vaccination Day

We visited the travel clinic today. OUCH!! Dan and I got 6 vaccinations, Amy got 5, and Joshua got 1. We are now ready to go and stay healthy.

The nurse gave us some good information and prepared us for stuff that could happen.

May the Lord protect us as we travel to Africa. May His angels surround us and keep us safe.

Today is Grandma Judy's birthday. Happy Day to you! We love you.

Dossier Complete

The dossier is complete and was sent to the courier yesterday. We received an email from the courier that said it was received today. YEH!! He will take it to the state department tomorrow and then leave it at the Ethiopian embassy for approval. It should be authenticated and sealed by Tuesday, May 26. The courier will then send it to CWA. CWA will receive it, review it, and then send it to Ethiopia.

The dossier should be in Ethiopia's hands within 2 weeks.

Continuing to praise Him! Thru it all, God is still good. Pray for our precious babies in Africa. Can't wait to see that wonderful country.

Garage Sale

We are trying to find things to sell in a garage sale. We had a huge one last year(before adoption of 4) and got rid of tons of stuff. If we can come up with a sufficient amount of things to sell, we will move forward. A number of people have asked if they can donate stuff to our garage sale so I just wanted to keep you posted on where we were with that. Not sure if we can have one--- not sure how much we have. Thank you so much for all that want to help. We are humbled by the generosity of soooo many. You are doing it for 4 precious children in Africa. They need to know Jesus and the Lord has an amazing plan for their lives. We are blessed that the Lord is going to allow us to help them come to know HIM.

Thanks again to all who want to give!

I-171 Approval

We received our I-171 approval from the US government today. This means that the US approves us for 4 children based on our home study and our fingerprints. This has been sent to Ethiopia stating that the US will accept them into the country.

So, another step closer to our kiddos. YEH!!

Dossier will be sent to DC on Wednesday (maybe Tues) .

Vision Moment - Sunday

What a great day it was today! The ministry, Mission:OrphanCare, had a Vision Moment at church. We put a video together that showed the congregaton the number of orphans in this world. It asked the question, "How can you be used by God to care for orphans?" A number of GBC families were up front to show how they were caring for orphans- Adoption, prayer, support, sponsorship, foster care... I am very encouraged and am hopeful that more will step out in faith and see what the Lord has planned for them.

The Lord totally planned the whole day. A missionary from Africa was there as a guest speaker. VERY COOL!

Our prayer is that more families step up and adopt. If they cannot adopt, (and most can) it would great if they supported someone who is. PRAY!!!!

Dossier delayed

Our adoption agency caught another error in the homestudy on Thursday. When the homestudy agency reprinted the last page due to their white out error, they reprinted the rough draft version. It should have said that we are "approved and recommended" to adopt and it just said, "recommended." So, we got our new one this morning. Our dossier is now complete and correct. Praise the Lord!!!! Monday, I will be running the forms to Indianapolis to get it authenticated and then the dossier will be off to Washington DC. If all goes well, our dossier should be in Ethiopia by the end of May. We are one month delayed which is very disappointing. The Lord is in control and there must be a reason.

The spiritual attack that we are facing is very frustrating. We are staying strong and have gotten some amazing advice and wisdom from our friends and family. We are blessed to have them in our life to lean on when we need it. The prayers are felt and we are thankful for them.

Please continue to pray for the Lord to work out all the details. It is too overwhelming for us to take it over. :) It is all in his hands. "While I'm waiting, I will serve you. I will worship and praise you, while I am waiting."

Dossier complete

Our dossier is complete and was sent off to CWA for review today. We are hoping that there are no errors and we can move forward with the remaining "official" authentications of the dossier. It will then go to Washington DC for more authentication and then off to Ethiopia. We pray that it is not too late and we can still get a summer court date. If it is the Lord's will, he will make it happen.

home study

We received our final version of the homestudy on Friday. In looking over it this weekend, we found a BIG error. The notary section had a "white out" mark on it. This is a HUGE no-no in the international adoption arena. We have had to correct them a couple times now on things they should already know. That gets to be a bit frustrating as we are paying them for their expertise. It is all in GOd's time. He knows are hearts and knows we want them home quickly. We just have to leave it up to Him to catch the mistakes and get the paperwork to us.
We are now waiting on :
* Our corrected home study
* Our medical forms from the doctors (thought what we had was ok, but it was not)

Prayers for all of this to come together so we can get our paperwork together.
Praise for all the new stuff we are getting! The Lord is providing and will continue to provide. This week we fixed the light in the kitchen, the window was ordered, the stove was ordered, the new lawnmower came in, and the sewer smell is gone for the moment. YEH!! Things are looking up. :) Thank you Lord.

More Africa confirmation

Yesterday's mail brought the World Vision update. The whole magazine focused on the situation facing African (Sub saharan, Kenya, Ethiopia..) children and people. The AIDS crisis coupled with the food shortage is devastating for this country. Again, a confirmation we need to help.

We rented a movie last night called, "Faith like Potatoes." Guess where the movie took place? AFRICA Potatoes grow in Idaho..... :) Well, again, the Lord is not letting us forget about HIS people that need us in Africa.

Thank you Lord for writing it on the wall. Help our doubts be minimal as we face the challenges of tomorrow. Provide for us as your Word says. We love you and want to serve you. Use our hands, mouths, minds, and bodies to serve you! Please protect our babies. We just heard that they had their first "outing" to the city this week for fun. Thank you for answered prayers! This is an amazing journey....

Confirmation!

150 people were laid off from Dan's company yesterday. This made me, Cyndee, a bit apprehensive. Then I started thinking about all the stuff breaking and all the money we are spending on that stuff. Then I went to , oh my, we are spending all this money to get the kids. Are we suppose to do that? Dan said, "That never even crossed my mind. We have to get OUR kids." As a woman, I need to have security and so that brought questions and doubts. I took the kids for breakfast and as I was getting out of the elevator, I came across a black gentlemen that worked at the hotel. He politely said hello and excused himself out of our way. I noticed an accent and asked (do you know where this is going?) where he was from. He said, "ETHIOPIA, mame. Nice to meet you." I almost kissed him. The Lord was again confirming in my heart that these babies are ours. They have no mom and dad and we need to be that for them. I am just a mess of emotions over these kids. I cannot wait for them to get home. I know the Lord will provide all we need for our home and our children. He is good! May we give Him praise and the glory for this amazing journey!