Moving Along and Unknowns

So our dossier was shipped to Ethiopia last week which many of you know if you keep up with me on Facebook. We should find out our wait list number on Friday. I'm expecting the number to be in the low 100s so we should have a pretty good wait till we get our referral.  There is one thing that could make a difference in wait times. Dove Adoptions International announced that they will be closing and we got an email from Lifeline saying that they are going to be partnering with Dove and letting our accreditation cover them so that they will be able to finalize the adoption for their waiting families. I was concerned at first that this would slow down things for us in the event that they would jump us on the wait list, but my social worker assured my that the results would be positive for all Ethiopia families that are adopting.  I've done some research on the internet and it looks like Dove has a lot of orphanages that have a lot of children available, so maybe if Lifeline is able to have access to those orphanages as well then that could speed things up.  That's just me trying to understand and figure things out on my own, but things are still very new on how the relationship will work, but all that to say, we are planning to try to raise the money a little more quickly than we had thought.  In case things do move faster we want to be prepared.  

I'm excited to be planning a silent auction and also we are getting closer to our garage sale date (March 23rd).  My garage is totally stuffed but that is a good thing.  I need to start sorting and pricing things.  Anyone is welcome to come and help if they feel so led by the Holy Spirit. :) hah! We are still trying to figure out the best place to have the auction and how to publicise it.  

Casey was awarded a $1000 ministerial grant through Lifeline, so we are very thankful for that.  This was our first financial aid that we applied for so we are very grateful to get it.  

We know that the waiting will be hard, but we are praying that the Lord can speed things up which He may even be doing, so we are praying that the money will come in as well.  We are saving and I have been working part time and I have a peace that the Lord is going to provide.  I'm trying not to take for granted me three precious boys that I do have now.  They are a joy and a blessing to me every day and they are very ready for their little sister to come home. Continue to pray for us in this endeavor and for us and our sweet girl in Ethiopia.

Hannah Hough

Tshirts

We now have more tshirts available in all sizes. If you are interested send me a message or comment below.  They are $15 and $20 if they need to be shipped to you. You can pay through our donate button to the right.

I600A approval

We got our letter in the mail today saying that our immigration status was approved.  Praise the Lord.  It only took about 10 days. We have our check ready and I'm dropping it in the mail today.  The DOSSIER IS COMPLETE.  On to authentication and then to Ethiopia.

I talked to our social worker yesterday and she said that wait times for referral were averaging 12-15 months and that was longer than they had originally told me so that's kind of a bummer.  This is such a long hard process. I had no idea.  She also said that our number will more than likely starts in the 90s :( She did say that special needs children sometimes don't take as long but that we couldn't count on that.  Just praying the Lord will teach us patience and help us to stay encouraged.  We are one big step in a long journey closer to our sweet baby girl!

Dossier all but complete

We are so excited to announce that we have done our fingerprinting and that our dossier has been reviewed and accepted.  We are just waiting for our USCIS approval which should come any day and then we will send our payment.  We are overwhelmed by the Lord goodness in providing this payment.  It has been one of our harder ones to get together and the Lord has sought fit to urge His people to give and we are so thankful.  We have the necessary amount and now our dossier will go to authentication and then on to Ethiopia. We were concerned that it would not get there before our paperwork expired, but it looks like it will.  Thank the Lord.  We still have much money to raise for our referral, but we should have about a year to get that together

On another note, please pray for my younger sister.  She has been diagnosed with rectal Cancer and is having surgery Thursday.  Please pray that the Dr will get all the cancer and it won't be as bad as they think and that surgery is the only treatment that will be required.  She is a believer and has a peace and comfort found only this those that love Christ with all their hearts.  Please pray for us during this difficult time.  I will leave you with this quote by CS Lewis

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in ours conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."