Compiling our Dossier! (and a new friend!)

Naomi met a new friend this week at the baseball game! She and Elijah are quite a pair. Perhaps someday she'll sit well for me to do her hair like Elijah's big sister who is absolutely gorgeous by the way. :)

Well, If all the paperwork to the our US placing agency, in addition to our homestudy isn't enough .... now it's time to compile all of the documents for our dossier. Those of you fellow adopting families reading can understand this undertaking. For our friends and family who haven't adopted, you might find the below list interesting. These are all the things that have to be done just for the dossier part of our adoption, which is all the paperwork that will go to Ethiopia. There it will be translated into their language and then the referral process begins. After much contemplation, we decided to hire KBS Dossiers to do the authentication part of our dossier. Since we have not done this before (international adoption) we are unsure of just how each piece must be done .... but what we do know is if there are errors, it won't pass through. We are grateful to have been in contact with Kate at KBS Dossiers. Not only does she come highly recommended, but she clearly knows this process well and is very attentive to the families she is working with. So ... after we pick up the last of our medical reports today, we'll be sending everything we have so far off to her! It has been our goal to have our part of the paperwork completed before leaving for TN the end of the month.


*A written statement from the adoptive parents stating why they want to adopt from Ethiopia

*Certified birth certificates for each parent

*Certified marriage certificate

*FBI clearance letter for each parent

*Homestudy

*Homestudy agency license

*Homestudy preparer's license

*Employment/self employment/homemaker letter

*Proof of life and health insurance

*Financial statement

*Bank letter

*Copies of passports

*3 reference letters

*2 passport size photos for each parent

*Power of Attorney (basically this says that we give Gladney's in country rep. permission to go before the courts on our behalf)

*Medical certificate for each parent

*CIS approval letter

*A post-placement agreement from Gladney

*Family photos

I'm sure some still wonder WHY all of this? ... especially after reading the list for the dossier. Well, a friend at the Abba Fund said it so clearly in relation to our fund-raising efforts yesterday. He said that these children have WORTH ... and they are worth all of this hard work!!! So simple and so true. We are so eager to have all this "work" behind us and go on to meet the child that God has led us to all these months. It's amazing how things are coming together. Once the paperwork is completed, we can put our focus onto the Stamp a Child Home project and not be trying to juggle quite so much. We are also really looking forward to our upcoming travels to Tennessee!!! The timing could not be more perfect to be able to break away for awhile and just spend time as a family!