Post It Notes: Forever A Family

June 16th, 2010

June 16th, 2011

I am sorry this post is a few days late. This past week has been pretty insane. I am a local director for the Miss Michigan Program (affiliated with Miss America Org.) and this past week is when Miss Michigan is held each year, which requires me to be out of town, and in addition to that we had Fathers Day in there and also, we sold our house! So, needless to say the week was a bit nutty.

But despite the craziness, on Thursday I came back home to spend the day just with my boys. It wasn't anything crazy, we just went out to lunch, played at home and went mall walking. But, it was exactly what this busy family needed, a day just for "us". I truly cannot express in words how much I love my family. Sometimes I really wonder what I did to deserve such blessings in my life.

Oh, and just so you know, Eli had a great time at Miss Michigan. ;-)

Timelines

Adoption #2

6/20/12: Announced we will be adopting again!

7/5/12: Faxed in preliminary application to Adoption Associates.

7/31/12: Finished formal application

8/13/12: Homestudy update

9/13/12: Sent I600A

10/17/12: Fingerprinting Appointment

10/23/12: Received I-171H!!!

11/16/12: Dossier to Ethiopia, officially "waiting". Informed we are #41 on the waiting list.

3/28/12 #29 on the waiting list

6/1/13 #19 on the waiting list

7/1/13 #17 on the waiting list

Adoption #1 - Eli Akram Post

Late 2008/early 2009: Researched agencies, talked with agencies.

4/19/2009 Decided we are adopting from Ethiopia!

4/23/2009 Faxed preliminary application

5/15-5/21/2009 Home Study Meetings

7/25/2009 Agency Approved

7/27/2009 I-600A Sent (USCIS Approval Request)

8/15/2009 Fingerprinting appointment

9/12/2009 I-171H arrives!

9/24/2009 Dossier to Ethiopia! OFFICIALLY "WAITING" #24 on the list

10/22/2009 WAITING #12 on the list

11/18/2009 WAITING #9 on the list

12/17/2009 WAITING #4 on the list

1/15/2010 Still WAITING #2 on the list

3/15/2010 Still WAITING, still #2.

3/31/2010 REFERRAL DAY!!!

4/20/2010 Notified that our court date is 5/6/2010

5/6/2010 WE PASSED COURT!

6/16/2010 FOREVER FAMILY!

New here?

Please visit the blog archive below, find the first post (in the month of April, 2009) and read from the beginning if you like!

Important Words To Remember:

*Dossier* The set of documents that we send to Ethiopia to be put on the waiting list.

*Referral* The photo and information on our child that we will receive several months after we've been on the waiting list. This is when we find out who our little one is!

*Court date* After we receive our referral, a court date will be set up about 6 weeks later. We will travel to Ethiopia for this hearing.

*First Trip* The trip both of us will take to attend the court hearing and meet our child.

*Second Trip* The second trip when one of us will travel to pick up the child from Ethiopia and bring them home!

Most commonly asked question:

"Why?"

Answer: Mark and I don't really know, we believe there is a reason God put it on our hearts to adopt first rather than trying to have biological children. This does not mean we will never try for a biological child, it's just not where we are being led to build our family right now. We ask that you please respect our decision and join us in celebrating our amazing family!