Moving along... slowly.

I realize that it's been awhile since my last post. I don't have anything big to tell, but we've had a busy month slowly paper chasing. Since meeting with our social worker back at the beginning of October, we've gathered these things:

Our finger prints, police reports, and criminal background checks
Child abuse and neglect registry report
4 Reference letters for the Home study
3 Reference letters for the Dossier- all notarized
A school reference
Child medical reports- notarized and TB tests for all 3
Adult medical reports- TB tests, AIDS tests, and notarized
Employment verification letters- both notarized
Birth Certificates for all
Marriage certificate
Health Insurance and Life Insurance verification- notarized
Financial Statements- notarized
We have both completed 10 hours of online training
I got my passport (Nathan has one)
I have completed my 8 page autobiography (Nathan's is almost done)
So, as you can see we've been quite busy! There's much  more to do to complete our dossier to be sent over to Ethiopia- we'll be working on those things for the next few months. Now that we're knee deep into this process, it's eye-opening for us just how intricate the process to adopt is! Every aspect of our lives is being investigated. Once the criminal background check is complete (and Nathan finishes up a few items of paperwork), we'll be scheduling a time for our social worker to visit us in our home. She will be talking to the kids at this time (in age-appropriate language) about the adoption. After that, there will be one for face-to-face with the social worker, she'll write up the home study, and it'll be sent in to our agency for approval. Once the home study is approved, we can start applying for grants! It makes me excited to think about the possibility of getting help from various agencies that help people to adopt. We can definitely use that kind of help, so the minute the home study is approved, we'll be applying for those. We hope to have the dossier paperwork complete in March to be sent over to Ethiopia, and that's when we'll get put on the waiting list for a child. (not because there aren't enough kids to adopt right now... but, because of how long it takes to get the paperwork completed on the children and looked over by the governments). I really don't know exactly what all goes on behind the scenes, but there's a lot of waiting on others- much will be out of our control after collecting the paperwork.

The frustrating thing, too, is that our home study will only be good for 1 year, and so we'll need to get this re-done at least one more time in this process. You don't start from point A, but the social worker has to come visit, re-write a home study report, which you guessed it... costs us more money. There are other things that will also expire, such as our physicals- those will need to be re-done next year as well. 

Along with the paperwork and things listed above, I've been busy building up support in the adoption community, and in the wonderful people at our church who have adopted as well. They have a lot of pointers and words of wisdom as far as the paper chase and then in the issues that come up after bringing our child home. We are feeling very blessed to have these people in our circle! We particularly enjoyed an activity at our church last Thursday- the Adoption Network came together to put up Christmas trees with foster kid's names as the ornaments. This past Sunday was Orphan Sunday, so those who came to worship were encouraged to choose a name from the tree- all of the foster children in the KC area will receive gifts this year! Addison bonded with Ava, a 3 year old, beautiful girl who recently was adopted from Ethiopia by some members of our church. Here they are posing by the trees, in all of their preciousness!

Sunday was a special day, and I'm excited about the great things our church family is doing to help take care for the fatherless and the motherless children in our country and around the world! It's inspiring to see evidence that people realize the depth of this problem, and that no matter where they are from, they are God's children, all deserving of love, and a family to call their own.

 

Since Sunday was Orphan Sunday, and we realize that we care getting close to that home visit by our social worker, we attempted to have a conversation about orphans and our intent with Riley and Addison. After talking about what an orphan is, Nathan asked the kids what they thought we should do about it, and Addison, our almost 5-year-old said, "We should help them to find a mommy and a daddy." This is such a simple little statement, but she seemed to understand how sad it would be to not have a mom or dad to read you bedtime stories, or to kiss your boo-boo when you fall off of your bike.

 

When I think about the "things" that we all think we need to have (material things, fancy vacations, etc...), and then I remember that there are people in the world without running water, sharing sleeping quarters with livestock, and many other terrible living conditions, it reminds me that there are so many things that we take for granted, or even find a way to complain about. The fact that we have the resources to get an education, and to have freedom make all of these things that we have possible. In Ethiopia, and many other countries around the world, poverty is the norm- they aren't worrying about what store they should purchase an iPad from, or whether they should go to Jamaica or Hawaii for their next vacation. They are hoping to live through the day. As a kid, I had fun birthday parties, went on family vacations, and went shopping with my mom- I took all of these things for granted. I remember pouting my way through the mall when my mom wouldn't buy me some shirt that I wanted. There are so many children in the world that would just love a hug, to have the feeling that someone cares about them. How bratty I feel now! I am prayerfully thankful every single day of my life for the blessings I have been given, and will continue to give back, and to show my children that this should always be a priority in their life as well.

 

Here is a self portrait from Orphan Sunday- this is the shirt I purchased from our online fundraiser (info below).

 

 

Reminders:
Our agency, America World Adoption, has a program called the "Eternal Family Program" which enables family and friends to contribute toward the cost of our adoption. Of course, we present this to you as an opportunity and not an obligation. If you feel led to partner with us financially, America World will accept contributions on our behalf and will provide a letter or email to you which will substantiate that the funds have been received by AW. Go to https://www.awaa.org/forms/payment.aspx

And don't forget about our fundraiser! Go to www.adoptionbug/thegronberg6 to order a t-shirt. We receive a commission for each one sold, AND you would be raising awareness for adoption and orphans around the world!