There isn't a whole lot to update on but progress was made. We heard from immigration on our application (I800a). They were not satisfied with a couple of things, boooo! So, we had to revise a letter by adding ONE SENTENCE!!!! No big deal, we did that. They also weren't clear on a couple of things in our home study so our case worker from AAI had to call Immigration to explain that what they were looking for was actually in the home study. So, the revised letter is on its way to immigration and we hope to have our approval in the next couple/few weeks.
The dossier looked good to Small World. They only needed one thing from us, our police clearances, and that was it! It was easy enough. I just went online and paid $10 for a search for each of us and that was that! In case your wondering, nothing came up on a criminal background check for either Jeremy nor I :) So our agency will email our dossier to Lesotho!! Our caseworker from Small World is taking a trip to Africa in the next couple of weeks and will be taking our dossier with him to hand deliver it to the Lesotho government! Woo Hoo!
There is so much unknown with this because Small World has never done a complete adoption case for Lesotho. They don't have much to go on as far as answering questions for us in reference to time lines. They have no point of reference. It's a little frustrating not to have any sort of idea how long this could take. But then, I just keep remembering that the Lord knows the perfect time for "Ruby" to come to our family and it won't happen until then! He said not to expect to get a referral from the meeting that is taking place shortly because there are 15 families with dossiers in ahead of us. How many families they match depends upon how many kids they have ready to be adopted. And by ready to be adopted, I mean this. In order for a child to be deemed adoptable the country has to make sure that there are no other people in the child's life that want to take care of the him/her. They also have to make sure that the parents sign off their rights, if the parents are still alive and can be found. While there are millions of orphans around the world it's not as easy as it sounds to have them all adopted. All the red tape really is meant for the best interest of the child.
Our family is doing well. Noah is playing indoor soccer with his cousin Parker. They are having a great time! So glad Noah is getting to know so many new kids. They are all from a different school than him. We are finally going to have a full week of school since before Christmas break, i think. We have had snow day after snow day! All this snow is getting a little out of hand. I'm ready for spring!
I am excited for my weekend. I am attending a live web cast of a conference that is taking place in Austin, TX. It will have speakers like Ann Voskamp, Jen Hatmaker, Jennie Allen and a few other women in ministry. It will be a very Spirit filled weekend and I cannot wait for how the Lord is going to speak to me through these women.
Thanks for keeping our family in your prayers! We can feel them. This next step is going to be the hardest, as I have said before. Now all we do is wait.
God Bless
