We Are Half Way!!!!

We have been waiting for 5 months and 1 week now which puts us over the half way mark waiting for our referral. The time is quickly moving by and I kind of feel the panic mode starting to kick in that we have a lot of stuff to get done before we bring our baby home!!! Our agency has received lots of referrals lately including baby girl referrals which means our waiting time is still on track. They hope that in December all families with a DTE in March will have referrals. According to the unofficial list of waiting families we are #20 which is so EXCITING!!!!! Lots of families have been traveling to Ethiopia over the past fews weeks and have brought their children home. It is wonderful that they will be able to have them home for the holidays. We just ask that you continue to pray for our sweet little one and for all of the orphans over the world.

Where Have We Been??

I am sorry that I have been neglecting our blog and not keeping you updated on our adoption progress. We are still waiting for our referral. Right now the timeline looks like we will wait around 9 months for our referral which means we will hopefully get a referral in March and then travel 6-8 weeks after that. We ask that you please pray for us. We received some news yesterday from our agency regarding our adoption fees. Our fees have been increased by $3000 which may not seem like a lot to some people but to us this is HUGE!!!! We are already on a very faith driven financial budget and to add another $3000 is a lot. We have complete faith that God has brought us on this adoption journey and he will guide us thru it both emotionally and financially and we just ask that you join us in prayer that he would provide for us. We are not upset with our agency, we know that they had no choice in making this increase. They are providing the best care for our children and are doing wonderful work to join children with their forever families. We would rather pay the extra money in fees than see our agency close because they cannot afford to stay open. A number of things have caused our fees to increase. For example, the costs of things such as formula and diapers in Ethiopia have increased by 400%. We thank you in joining us in prayer. I promise to do a better job at keeping everyone updated on our progress. It is hard to believe that our dossier has been in Ethiopia for almost 4 months. The time is flying by!!! Thanks for stopping by!!

3 Families Just Returned From Ethiopia

Three families returned home from Ethiopia this week. We are thankful for their safe travel and we ask that you pray for all of them as they transition into being home. Click on the links below to read about their journey and see their beautiful children.

• Cox Family
• Ducommun Family
• Moles Family

Here's a little update on our progress-our paperwork has been in Ethiopia for 2 months which is hard to believe. The time has just flown by!! So far the estimated waiting time has remained the same. We are still guessing that somewhere in between January and March we should receive our referral and then hopefully get to travel to Ethiopia within a couple months after the referral. Thanks for following on our journey.

Welcome Baby Freise

Congratulations to Travis' cousin Hilary and her husband Kevin on the birth of their first child a girl who is named Isabel Leigh born on Sunday August 10th at 5:54am weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and was 19 1/2" long. We are so excited for them and cannot wait to meet precious Isabel.

An Update From Our Agency

Sorry faithful bloggers that I haven't posted in a while. We have moved, been working on projects and I have started a new job so it has been a little crazy around here. Usually about once a month we get an update from our agency on the Ethiopia program. It is so exciting to see how well the program is moving and how many families are receiving referrals. Here is the update from AWAA: Recent Referrals for Ethiopia America World received 10 referrals of children between the ages of 0-5 years for the month of July from Ethiopia. Below are the DTE of the families who received referrals this month: Referrals on July 21, 2008 DTE:11/21/07- Infant Boy 12/7/07- Infant Boy 12/7/08- Infant Boy 12/21/07- Infant Boy 1/25/08- Infant Boy 1/25/08- Infant Boy Referrals on July 29, 2008 DTE:1/25/08- Infant Boy 10/19/07- Infant Girl Based on the new referrals, the wait time for an infant boy is 5-7 months while the wait time for an infant or toddler girl is 7-9 months. The wait time for siblings under 7 is 5-9 months. For those that don't know DTE means Dossier to Ethiopia. Our dossier is DTE 6/13/08 and it is unbelievable to think that it has been in Ethiopia for almost 2 months. The time just seems to fly by. We are at peace with our wait and we thank you for your prayers.

Another Family Travels To Ethiopia

The Gibson family is on their way to Ethiopia to pick up their little girl Zoie. Please pray for them as they travel on this wonderful journey to be united with their little girl. You can follow their story at the link below.

• The Gibson's

Our Dossier Is In Ethiopia!!!!

Exciting News!!! Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia today. It is just so exciting to know that it has arrived safely. It is a very humbling feeling to know that it is now going to be touched and reviewed by Ethiopian hands. It brings us such joy to know that God is guiding us on this journey and he already has the perfect plan designed for us. We just get to wait and see where the road leads us. It usually takes a few days before our in country representative is able to pick up the package. We are still staying positive with the current time lines that we have been given by our agency. Hopefully within 7-9 months we will have a referral and then travel to Ethiopia a couple of months later. We want to thank all of you who have been praying for us on this journey and we ask that you continue to pray for us as our paperwork begins the review process. Thanks for following along on our journey!!