Some recent information

I was recently sent this information from our adoption agency Wide Horizons. I thought it would be interesting to share. Once your dossier is accepted you get on the waiting list. Once you are on the waiting list you are simply waiting for your referral for your child.

Total number of referrals for the months of:
December 2006: 18 referrals (23 children).
November 2006: 6 referrals (7 children).

2 0 0 7
Total number of children referred in 2007: 21 children
Total number of arrivals for 2007: 10 children

2 0 0 6
Total number of children referred in 2006: 173 children
Total number of arrivals for 2006: 132 children

• Referrals
  So far in the month of January we have received 17 referrals (21 children). Below please find some details about the children referred as well as how long families waited.
  
  Child Age Family Wait Time for Referral
  Boy 3.5 months 9 months
  Twins (boy/girl) 25 months 8.5 months
  Girl 3.5 years 4.5 months
  Girl 4.5 years 5 months
  Girl 3 years 8 months
  Twins (boy/girl) 10 months 9 months
  Girl 3 months 9 months
  Boy 6 months 9 months
  Boy 3.5 years 5 months
  Boy 3.5 years 5 months
  Boy 25 months 5 months
  Girl 3.5 months 9 months
  Sibs (girl/girl) 3 years & 14 months 6.5 months
  Boy 4 years 1.5 months
  Boy 5 months 9 months
  Sibs (boy/girl) 5.5 years & 12 months 12 days
  Girl 3.5 months Waiting Child

So as you can see, you just never know how long you will wait. The Ethiopian program is becoming much more popular as more people become interested. I hope our wait time is not too long, I wish I could have started the process earlier but I felt we had to raise a certain amount of money before we could begin.

The Dossier

I am trying to complete our dossier but have to wait for certain documents to be sent back to me, which is fairly frustrating. The most difficult part is that almost everything we are doing has to be notarized. There are new fee's popping up as well, which I guess at this point I shouldn't be so surprised about.

"...An adoption dossier is a compilation of documents required by the adoption authorities of the country from which you choose to adopt..."

One of the documents needed, the Medical Certificate, has to have the doctors signature notarized. I had to schedule Fred and I to have TB tests first. Then we have to go in together and pay $15.00 each for her signature to be notarized on each of our health forms. So that is $15.00 co pay for each of us, then $15 for each notary. An additional $60.00 I wasn't expecting. Then there is the Local Police letter of good conduct for each of us, which low and behold the state charges $25 per letter- even though we already signed off on the criminal background check. Then there is a $5.00 charge for the state certification of power of attorney, not to mention the fees for obtaining original, stamped copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate. And after I have gathered these things, I should mail it all in, plus copies, to Wide Horizons in Waltham with a check for processing of $450.00. In this pile of papers I also need to have a letter of intent, photo pages, reference letters and our CIS approval form. I am not even factoring in any cost of Fred having to take time off work for appointments and signatures. I can honestly say I am currently in paper chasing hell....

Antiwar Speech by MLK

This is truly worth watching if you have an extra eight minutes...

Martin Luther King Jr.

Last year I took the day off work and brought Kiana to the Berkshire Museum where there was a dance troop performing in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unfortunately this year I did not see any local, non religious celebrations. So I worked, and when I came home Kiana and I read some of our childrens MLK books and talked about what he meant to this world, and all the hard work he accomplished in his much too short life. It is unfortunate that her school did not do anything to celebrate his life either.
I honestly do not think we would be flying half way across the world to adopt a child from Africa, if it were not for the changes that this great man inspired in our society.

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -MLK

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

A view of Awassa, Ethiopia

I have borrowed this great footage from my Ethiopian adopt yahoo group. Its really neat to watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvP7NQq1WNQ

I am having major withdrawals from not having a computer
at home :(

This is a picture of the orphanage our baby will be in!