This picture could not describe our feelings more accurately these past few weeks! We received two large binders full of paperwork, and our adoption
education booklet about two weeks ago. These documents will serve to help prepare us
for our home study as well as to begin the compilation of our dossier. I cannot
even begin to describe the amount of documents that are required for adopting
an international child! Here is a brief glimpse into what we are talking about:
Notarized employment verifications, proof of health, life, and auto insurance,
financial statements, FBI, state, and local background checks, child abuse
screens, notarized medical clearances, fire safety inspections, home safety
audits, veterinarian letter of clearance, 8 references, notarized guardianship
documents, and various copies of marriage and birth certificates, social
security cards, drivers licenses, tax documents, and on and on and on. I have to admit that the hardest part
is the notarization! While most banks will provide this service free of charge,
there are several documents that require us to hire a traveling notary to
follow us to doctors appointments and the like, and because the process is so
long, the notaries expiration date that we use can not expire for 24 months. I have only two notaries who fulfill
this part and they aren’t travelers! I keep telling all the people who are
helping us compile all of our documents that we will bring our baby around to
show them why all this hard work was needed and worth every minute. I have to
say that if anyone in the Columbus area is considering international adoption,
please let me know and I will go get my notary to help your process go more
smoothly!
While all the paperwork is daunting and seemingly never ending, we are glad that we have something to focus on, something to work towards. I know there will come a time when all we can do is wait, and I hear that is the hardest and longest part of the journey. We do have a lot of education to complete that is necessary for our home study, and it is exciting for Jay and I to begin discussing things like where the baby will sleep when he comes home, and how we are going to incorporate his culture into our lives. In fact, we have kind of already started that part. I recently found an Ethiopian restaurant near us and we invited the family to partake in our first cultural outing experience. In the Ethiopian culture, eating with people is a pretty big deal. Everyone at the dinner shares a large plate or tray, and it is said that those who dine together this way, shall never betray each other. Everyone eats with their hands (no worries there was plenty of purell to go around) and it is a sign of affection to actually feed each other. Everyone must eat with their right hand. Ethiopian food is considered a respected gift from God and eating it with your left hand is considered disrespectful! Injera is Ethiopia's national dish. It is a spongy, tangy, kinda mushy tasting bread made from the grain teff which grows only in the highlands of Ethiopia. This is Injera. It is kinda like a thicker, spongier crepe.
The Injera sits on a the large plate or tray and is covered with wots (or wat). Wots are the traditional stews made with various Ethiopian spices, meats, vegetables, hard boiled eggs, and legumes. While its hard to tell by the pic, the center plate, which we all shared, was pretty large...in fact it fed six of us with left overs.
So, you get sides of injera and you simply rip off pieces and you use these to eat the different wots (or stews), with the right hand of course!
As you can tell, fun was had by all. Of course, some preferred the unique taste to others! I think Kurt can check it off of his "to do, and never do again" list.
Along with the education we are completing, we have various exercises to complete. Some are quite silly, but they do encourage us to think from our baby’s perspective and we know, no matter how silly the task, there is a HUGE reward upon completion. I had to share this part on the blog; this was one of our exercises: to draw a picture of how we think our child will look. I let Jay complete this part, as he does have his dad’s genes when it comes to drawing. I left the room and when I came back, I was NOT shocked at all at what Jay pictured our child to one day look like and take an interest in.
However, we (perhaps I a tad more
than Jay) are very open to our child deciding not to follow daddy’s footsteps,
and instead perhaps follow his uncles and cheer from the sidelines, or his
aunt’s and become a singer. See, these exercises are already working!
God continues to amaze us through this process though. We pray for
guidance and clearance, and we are given it through the awesome case managers
and social workers that are helping us get our life together in paper format. We pray for help financially, and help comes along. He continues to shower us
with stories of international adoption, and more recently, stories of couples
that decided to start their family through international adoption and have
biological children after. It is crazy how similar our lives seem to these
other couples, and it is so reassuring to see others who have walked this
path. Jay and I are honored and feel incredibly grateful for the task and responsibility of
caring for one of God’s beloved children.
"For I know
the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to
give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
"I will never
leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
