Up 2 Date

     We are looking forward to starting our online auction within the next week! So keep a lookout for it on facebook! :) It's a great way for you to do some Christmas shopping and help us bring home our baby!!

     We have had a lot of people inquiring about the adoption, so we thought we would catch ya'll up on what is happening...
    We are still in the waiting stage of the adoption, our paperwork has been in Ethiopia since March 22, 2013 and that day is when our official wait time started. The adoption agency estimates the current wait is 2 to 2.5 years and it's possible that it will continue to increase. The biggest reason for this long wait is because the demand for younger children is higher than older children and we have requested a healthy 0-2 year old. It is really hard being patient, but I know God has a plan and that it'll be totally worth the wait when we bring our baby home!

     Since the wait is so long, we have documents that will expire while we wait. Starting in January 2014, we have to start renewing some of our documents, like our medical exams and our homestudy. We definitely aren't looking forward to getting back into the hassle of the paperwork again but I guess we should be use to it by now! Some of these documents have the potential of being very expensive to renew, but we won't find out how much they are going to set us back until next year. We are hoping that we will only have to renew once!
  
     We also are required to read 6 books while we wait. These books are intended to prepare us for the child and give us a heads up on what to expect. I like that the books prepare us for the worse, rather than sugar coating everything. We also found this cool website, which is helpful in teaching us how to care for their hair. http://www.chocolatehairvanillacare.com.
 
     While we wait we also have to come up with the money to pay for the adoption, cause unfortunately it isn't free! There is a range for how much our adoption will cost, the range that our adoption agency gave us is $28,190 - $38,100. You can find the detailed breakdown here: http://www.awaa.org/programs/ethiopia/cost.aspx. So far we have paid $9,587.00 and we still need approximately $10,000-$19,000. We continue to do new fundraisers and try to have at least one fundraiser a month. God has blessed us so much and we know that He will continue to! We are so very thankful and grateful for everyone who has helped us!  We still need a lot more to bring our baby home, so we will continue to press forward and trust in God and His plan!