Start the clock....

Our Dossier was sent yesterday to Ethiopia! The Dossier is-in case you didn't know-a large stack of paperwork that is required for all international adoptions. It includes the homestudy, birth and marraige certificates of the parents, medical reports for the whole family, financial statements, reference letters, and much more. They all have to be individually notarized and sometimes sealed at the county and THEN the state level. Then after it is all complete, it is sent to the Ethiopian Embassy by a courier in DC. (there it's sealed with a "golden grommet" and tied with a gold ribbon?) Then it is sent back to the agency and NOW it's OFF to Ethiopia. Now we just wait. The approximate wait is about 2-3 months. Then we will receive a "referral". That's the picture, discription and whatever medical history they have of the child they have matched with us. Once we accept the referral, we get to make travel plans. We'll travel about 4-6 weeks after receiving the referral. And that's all I know. :) I'm trying so hard to just take it one step at a time. Don't tell me what I need to do in 6 weeks, tell me what I need to do now. We've requested a boy, age 6-12 months. It's a very strange, exciting, terrifying, sad feeling to know he really is out there somewhere. I can't wait to get him home.