Fingerprint Appointment Coming...

I received an email from Milwaukee. They need me to send our homestudy. I told him I would have it there tomorrow. I cannot drive it there because they don't allow such a thing. Because I told him I would have it there tomorrow, he is scheduling a fingerprinting appointment now! He requested one and will email me with the date and time. I really appreciate Bill's shipping department....Josh does such a great job of getting my paperwork out and into hands the next day!

We got to talk to Pochie yesterday. Pochi is the director of the Ophanage our 11 year old is at. So exciting! She is currently in the United States and was staying at the house that has our 11 yr old's siblings. They also came from her ophanage. What a sweet lady! I was able to ask her all about T. He is a happy boy. He loves to play with the kids at her "house" (Covenant Orphanage). He loves soccer. He likes all kinds of foods. She gives all the kids vitamins. He has a beautiful smile. Is very responsible. Misses his mom but she is very sick(AIDS). He is not in school because he came to the house in the middle of the school year. I thought he had very little schooling but he has, in fact, had 4 solid years of school. He missed much of the 5th year because he had to take care of his mom.

He knows he has a family! Yes, he was told and he is excited! She wants us to send a photo album of us - to him. She asked about our family and each boy, including our grandson Ether, introduced themselves. She laughed that we had all boys...until I told her about Nicky, but she still thought all the boys are funny.

I asked her what her orphanage needs. She said they need clothing for the 10 & 11 yr olds. She had a hard time finding clothes for T when he came. She also would like vitamins for her children. I will work at rounding up those items and so we can bring them to her when we travel there.

USCIS sent this reply to my emailwondering why we don't have a biometrics appointment yet:

Good Morning,
Yes, we do have your SIM file. We do not scheduled fingerprinting until our office receives the home study. Kindly send the home study to our office at:

USCIS Milwaukee Field Office
310 East Knapp Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202

After we receive the home study, you will be scheduled for fingerprints.
Milwaukee Adoptions

The thing is: I did send it! I waited until it was done before I sent the package off. Looks like I will be driving to Milwaukee on Monday.

He is Faithful!

1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Greetings from Paul

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.

2 I am writing to God’s church in Corinth,[a] to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus,[b] just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

4 I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. 5 Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. 6 This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. 7 Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9 God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-9 All Christians are by baptism dedicated and devoted to Christ, and are under strict obligations to be holy. But in the true church of God are all who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, and who call upon him as God manifest in the flesh, for all the blessings of salvation; who acknowledge and obey him as their Lord, and as Lord of all; it includes no other persons. Christians are distinguished from the profane and atheists, that they dare not live without prayer; and they are distinguished from Jews and pagans, that they call on the name of Christ. Observe how often in these verses the apostle repeats the words, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He feared not to make too frequent or too honourable mention of him. To all who called upon Christ, the apostle gave his usual salutation, desiring, in their behalf, the pardoning mercy, sanctifying grace, and comforting peace of God, through Jesus Christ. Sinners can have no peace with God, nor any from him, but through Christ. He gives thanks for their conversion to the faith of Christ; that grace was given them by Jesus Christ. They had been enriched by him with all spiritual gifts. He speaks of utterance and knowledge. And where God has given these two gifts, he has given great power for usefulness. These were gifts of the Holy Ghost, by which God bore witness to the apostles. Those that wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, will be kept by him to the end; and those that are so, will be blameless in the day of Christ, made so by rich and free grace. How glorious are the hopes of such a privilege; to be kept by the power of Christ, from the power of our corruptions and Satan's temptations.

In this adoption process, I "dare not live without prayer". I must "call on the name of Christ".
All Christians are by baptism dedicated and devoted to Christ, and are under strict obligations to be holy. But in the true church of God are all who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints..." I am sanctified in Him and called to be a saint! I am "kept by the power of Christ" so therefore, have the power to lead a holy life. He is faithful! I have the power to obey His call in my life. I must remember that this adoption is not about me. He called our family to provide a home, a home He blessed us with, for these two orphan boys. He will sustain us and provide what we need, because, He is faithful! If only I, in my feeble mind, could remember to thank Him and turn to Him. It is Him that gets the glory! He us just using me to take care of His precious children. They aren't really mine. They belong to Him. He will give me everything I need. He is faithful!

I have a dear friend who has gone before me and is sharing the challenges ahead. Bless her heart for doing that! It makes me see just how inept I am and how in my weakness I need to rely on my Lord.

Our Dossier is in FL

Angela received our Dossier yesterday. She will review it and then FedEx it off to Ethiopia.

I was able to purchase a brand new box spring and mattress along with a bed frame yesterday. We had been shopping all over for beds. I happened to be in my car when our local radio station had their "air exchange" on and the first person to call in had all the things I needed. I called immediately, stopped to look at it within 10 minutes, and it was mine! Brand new, still in the plastic. It was a quality set! Just amazing. Bill brought it home. We had to load the set onto a sled and pull it down our hill (The Towsley van doesn't do so well with icy, snow covered hills).

While I was at this person's house looking at it and writing out a check, they offered me another free mattress if I wanted it. It was used but in good shape. We have a box spring for it sitting in our basement! Just like that, we have two beds for our two boys.

JC Penney has their sheets and mattress pads on sale at 50% off. I ran and found exactly what I needed at a great price. They only had one kind of mattress pad in their store but they are waterproof, so it was perfect. (plus I signed up for their credit card and got another 10% off)

I would definitely say the Lord provided for us! God is sure good!!!!! We had really been stressing over what we are going to do about beds. In fact, Bill helped me figure out how we are going to fit two more boys in Seth and Alex's bedroom. We figured it out and all it good!

Bring on the boys!!

My Dossier was complete and in order, has the "Great Seal" and is on its way to Florida. CCI will look it over and then FedEx it to Ethiopia. We are getting closer!

That was really fast! I sent it out Tuesday!!!

I got my Dossier off to the Assistant Stork in D.C. They will go over it with a fine-tooth comb and then walk it into the office that puts the Great Seal on it. It will also get bound together with a grommet. Asst. Stork will ship it to our agency in Florida. They will look it over and then FedEx it to Ethiopia. So glad it went before this snow storm!

It's Gone

I got my Dossier off to Madison. I also got 2 copies off to CCI in Florida. Sue, the director, is going to Ethiopia on Tuesday and said if she gets my copies, she will carry one with her and get the translation started. I Express Mailed it to her! God orchestrated that one!!!!

The Last Piece

We got our Police Certificate today! My Dossier is complete. Bill and I have to have the cover sheet notarized today. I can then run to the Newton PO and Express Mail the Dossier to the WI State Secretary for the State Seal on the POA and the Dossier. The Dossier is one document even though it has many supporting documents.

This is so exciting! I never really thought this day would ever come. I have been gathering documents since early September.

Next step: Dossier goes to DC to get bound. From DC it goes to CCI in FL. Our Agency will send it FedEx to The Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia.

I am so close to being done with my Dossier! Our agency thought our homestudy social worker would have a Police Certificate for us. They didn't. I UPS'ed the DJ-LE-250 form out on Thursday and included a self-addressed UPS envelope. I am hoping it gets there fast and comes back fast. It is all I am waiting for. I had to have Bill's medical clearance re-done by his doctor. Actually, this is sitting at the clinic waiting to be picked up (again). The notary forgot to put the date in. The notary date is very important as it is one of the things that gets looked at.

I got my notarized Home Study document in the mail on Friday. Because I have this, I was able to get together my I600a form last night. I needed an original Home Study to send with that form along with copies of our birth certificate, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, and a check for $830. This form is an orphan petition. The purpose of this form is to:

• determine the eligibility and suitability of the prospective adoptive parents looking to adopt
• determine the eligibility of the child to immigrate to the United States

We will have to go to the USCIS office in Milwaukee to get fingerprinted as part of this process. They will do a background check on us. We did this for our Police Certificate. The Manitowoc Police Department did the fingerprints. Total cost of fingerprinting: $180

After we get approved by the I600a form, the USCIS sends us an I171-H(Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advanced Processing of Orphan Petition). This allows us to file an I600 form while in Ethiopia. This form is a Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative.

I am praying that there aren't too many deer hunters in the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Justice office! They should have received my application for a Police Certificate on Friday. I have the UPS numbers to track so I will be watching them. My goal is to get my Dossier of the the State of WI for a State Seal before December 1st.

This is the story (total God thing) of T:

About 1.5 years ago, 2 college students with Campus Crusade for Christ were out evangelizing in a village.. They knocked on a door and a woman answered. They asked if they could come in and talk to her. She said yes they could, but to hurry because she had something to do. They talked with her and told her about Jesus and His salvation message. She listened and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior! She then explained to them that she had just found out she was HIV+ and was going to commit suicide the moment they knocked on the door. She had three children and no way to support and feed them. She didn't know what she was going to do. The college students didn't know either what she was going to do with her children. They went back to the church they were working through and talked to the lady there. The lady said to them, "don't you know our church has an orphanage?" They went back and talked to the mother and told her that they had a place for her children. The mother, knowing she would die, agreed to put the two youngest (ages 1 & 4) up for adoption. My agency, CCI, put the two on their waiting list and a single mom, who was paper ready, saw them and accepted a referral. She was paper ready so they went straight to the transition house. She picked them up in June. She was surprised to find there was an older brother, age 10. He didn't want to be put up for adoption because he wanted to take care of his mother.

When it came time for court, the mother was very sick. The students said she was "rigid". They found orange Fanta and poured it down her throat to revive her so she could get to court. It is required if a parent is alive that they go to court to give up parental rights. She made it to court and decided she needed to have her son taken care of too. He got put on the waiting list and we saw him.

I had posted on my homeschool forum asking if anyone had used CCI. One lady came forward. I told our agency director I was in touch with "Mary". She said that Mary had T's siblings. Mary said it was her cousin who had them. I got an email from this cousin. I then got pictures. I got the story of picking up the two siblings. The cousin had went to T's mother's house and visited and met T.

Mary's cousin had been with another agency and was #300 in line for a child/children. Mary had asked why she would wait when her agency had many children available and there was no wait. She changed agency's, made a few changes to her paperwork and was very quickly paper ready.

I guess I saw God's hand in it all and we were meant to take T.

Where are we at? I am waiting for: Obligation of Adoption or Social Welfare Agency - CCI prepares this document, notarizes it, and mails it to you for inclusion in your dossier.

I think this got put in the mail. My third reference letter is in the mail.

Then, I am waiting for this: Home Study- Include the License of the Home Study Agency and the Diploma/License of social worker providing the Home Study as the last two pages of your Home Study so you can have these 3 documents notarized as one.

Not sure where this is at but shouldn't be too far behind.

After I get these items, I can finish my dossier and get it off to Wisconsin Secretary of State for authentication. I will FedEx it there, it will take 2-3 days and they will FedEx it back. Then it goes to DC to get Authenticated.

Then:

10. CCI will receive the completely authenticated Dossier and review it
11. CCI will mail Dossier to Ethiopia to the in country representative
12. Dossier is translated and authenticated in Ethiopia (2 weeks)
13. Your dossier goes (3-6 weeks)
14. CCI’s in country representative submits your case to court for a court date (1 week)
15. Your court date is given (4-6 weeks later)
16. Court takes place with an in country representative from CCI acting on your behalf by Power of Attorney to complete the adoption (same day)
17. File goes to WACM to get letters needed to have a passport and birth certificate created (1 week)
18. Case is submitted to American Embassy for embassy appointment (1 week)
19. Embassy appointment is given
20. Family travels to Ethiopia to pick child up and to go to the embassy appointment (5 weeks after exiting court)

We are expecting traveling in May.

Home Study

Yesterday we had our Home Study visit. I was able to hand her Seth and Alex's Physician Physical forms. They had doctor appointments on Monday. That appointment included a PPD (or a tuberculosis test). They shoot a small amount of the TB virus under the skin of their forearm and then we go back 48 hours later and if there is a rash, they have been exposed to TB, and then they probably wouldn't be able to travel to Ethiopia. We were safe, no rash.

Alex is deathly afraid of needles. The poor boy was shaking and turning white for the ppd. Then they had to draw blood. Thank goodness he got to go first. He then watched Seth's draw. I should tell you Alex's reason for his needle-phobia. He had to have a rather large wart removed from his big toe. It was a very stubborn wart and it got down to having to laser it off. It had to be frozen which consisted of sticking a needle under the wart. Alex was sweating it hurt so bad. He had beads of sweat on his little nose. I think he is damaged for life!

Back to the home study. The visit included a walk through our house with Diane and Monica. They said we have plenty of room for two more boys. They loved the remodeled bedroom for the boys. They loved our view out all our windows. They loved the colors in my bedroom (I do to!). They loved my kitchen. Whew, I guess we passed. Diane was supposed to check all the smoke detectors but never did. The family got interviewed next. They had to make sure we knew what we were getting into. Especially the boys seeing that they will have to share all they have with strangers. Seth and Alex are really excited to have two more brothers.

We are using Lutheran Family and Counseling Services out of Wauwatosa. Diane, the Social Worker, has all of our paperwork now. She had done most of her report from the paperwork we sent her. She will only need to add the home visit part. Our Agency, Celebrate Children International, out of Florida, will then get that report. CCI will prepare a Home Study Approval Letter , notarize it, and mail it to us for inclusion in our dossier.

We are getting closer!

Blogs

I spent the last two days reading Steppin' Heavenward. Click on the link and at least look at her family. She is just amazing. How in the world does she find time to post on her blog? To post all her pictures? Truly amazing!

I also love following this blog: the Journey She is serving orphans in Uganda, East Africa. Her ministry is striving keep the children in Uganda alive and give them life to the fullest. They want to educate the poorest of the poor there intellectually and spiritually.

New Video

We got a new video in the mail today! "O" is such a sweet boy! When the camera man (Dave) asked him about school, his eyes just lit up. I can tell he loves school. He is studying about the USA. He also knows bible verses. "O" wants to be a pilot so he can fly missionaries to different countries.

I found this on another blog:

There are many children in the Kamashi area that need homes - particularly boys ages 6-12. These are very intelligent (we met more than one boy who spoke four languages - including English), very happy children that are desperate for loving families. If you have ever considered taking in a child who needs a home, I can guarantee you will not regret bringing home one of these boys.

This lady was visiting the orphanage where "O" is at. "O" speaks three languages, one of which is English.

Why they don't know how old they are...

I was reading on CCI's yahoo group this explanation:

Most of the kids that come home from overseas have made up birthdates. Many were abandoned and the orphange just guessing on their birth date. This is often true for countries such as China, Russia, Ukraine, etc. In many developing countries, such as Ethiopia, most people don't actually know when they were born. Many were born in rural villages, like my girls, where no one has a calender. Also, Ethiopia has a otally different calendar than the rest of the world. It has 13 months and they just had ET New Year's so its now 2002 in Ethiopia therefore there are often mistakes when they try to translate the date into our calendar.

Sure is interesting! I am still trying to comprehend how one part of the world is still in 2002. Instead of being 49, I would only be 45. I think I like that!

The other boy, "O"

This was written up at his admission to the orphanage and the birthdate can't be right because he is at least twelve.

Birthdate: 10/22/98
Date of Admission: 2006

O's parents both passed away from an illness, and he was taken in by his brother. He ended up on the streets though when they could no longer afford to care for him.

O is a good student and is in the second grade at the Orphanage School. His favorite food is pasta. He enjoys playing ball with his best friend "S". When he grows up he would like to be a doctor, and one day visit America.

O arrived at the orphanage malnourished and underweight, but his spirits were high. He suffers from no physical disabilities, and is doing well now with proper nutrition and diet.

T is healthy!

We got the news this morning that T is HIV negative and the final recommendation is: Physically and mentally fit for adoption.

Another hurdle crossed.

Why we adopt

From an Illinois newsletter about adoption:

Others tell you that you are good with kids.

Your commitment will help change a child's future.

Patience and a sense of humor are two of your greatest strengths.

You have love and time to give.

Reaching out to others seems natural to you.

You have a spare bedroom, and you rather it go to a child than become yet another storage closet.

You know how important it is to be a part of a family.

You are ready to accept the challenge of parenting a special child.

You believe that every kid deserves a family.

Today there are approximately 6 million orphan children in Ethiopia who need the constant love of a family.