5.11.2012
Normally I leave this part for all things adoption. But, I’m excited that I was invited to write a guest post on my good friend Jamie Ivey’s Blog. You can check it out here
Thanks!
Noelle
Next Step
5.3.2012
It has been approximately 87 days since we first saw his picture and 79 since we were approved to start the process of pursuing “S”. In that time we have moved mountains, sold our souls to the “Dossier” god, and today I can happily report that is in en route to MOWCA in Ethiopia. They should receive it early next week and being the process of translating and authenticating our Dossier.
“S” has received his first care package from us (see photo above of awesome stuffed backpack). He still does not know about us, but we think he is old enough to put 2 and 2 together. When they gave him the backpack, they told him that is was from a family that “loved” him. As we get closer to court they will begin showing him our pictures! It gets us a little verklempt thinking about him finding out that he has a family…forever! we have learned a little bit about him too. He loves soccer and running, He goes to school where he is learning math, science, Amharic, English and sports. We are so lucky to have families take pictures of him whenever they travel to see there kids, so we have a ton! as soon as we pass court we are allowed to post them.
So next up is waiting for a court date! please pray with us that the next phase will move without too many bumps. We are expecting some of course. But we know he has been there a very long time and we have been waiting for him. We are ready for our family to be together.
thanks for being with us in the journey to “S”
xoxo
The Otts
Hearts Strings Stretching 8447.4 Miles
2.26.12
We have his pictures. We stare at them every day and study all the sweet features on his face. We talk to Cash and Maddie-Rose about him, and Cash got to tell all his friends about his “new brother”. It is beginning to feel so real and I am like a motivated beast getting everything done in order to start the process of bringing him home. I wanted to follow-up and let you all know where we are. I was able to get all our home study paperwork sent off last week and as soon as our birth & marriage certificates arrive in the mail (hopefully sometime next week) I will literally have our Dossier for him Done!! The only thing we wait on now is our new social worker to do our home study visits and write it up. The amazing thing here is that normally a home study is done for the US to approve a family for the international adoption of a certain age/gender child. Since once they arrive here with Visa in hand they are a US citizen. So it’s a huge part of the process. Well, when we did our home study with AWAA we were approved for 2 children, either gender 0-8 years old. So our current I-171H (that is the official approval letter from the USCIS) covers us for “S” already and we don’t have to wait on one! This is huge folks, that part usually takes at least 6 weeks to complete. So this home study that we are waiting on is solely for the agencies records (still very important). So our prayer right now, and one that we ask you all to join in, is that this social worker would be moved by our story to work at warp speed (like I’m praying for a week turnaround) at getting our visits done a written up. Cause once we have that we can send our Dossier off and wait for a court date! Our goal is to pray that mountains are moved and our boy is home with us this summer. Ethiopia basically shuts down during the rainy season (typically beginning is august) and we want him home before that, so we don’t get caught in those closures. Excited to have so many people in this journey with him. I can not wait to share his photo with you….his smile will melt you.
waiting no more,
xoxo
The Otts
Best Valentines Day Ever
2.14.2012
Today is a great day. Today is the best Valentines day ever! Today is the day that we accepted a referral for an absolutely beautiful boy. But this came about a totally different way then expected. Last week I saw his profile on the Waiting Children’s list for Dillon International. He was listed as an available, healthy boy from East Africa, estimated between 6-8yo. He was everything we have been waiting for. Thinking it a total long shot, I called the agency to inquire about him. We filled out some paper work and we were granted permission to review his file. It turned out that he was in their Ethiopia program! At this point Brad and I still felt it a long shot, but decided to keep moving as doors open and we were prepared to stop or pause at the first one that closed. Well, the doors flew open! our agency approved, our social worker thought it a wonderful idea, and today we got the call that after reviewing our case Dillon approved us to adopt him! Immediately after we accepted his referral, I saw an email from our coordinator with AWAA letting me know that they are expecting referral of healthy older boys in the next couple weeks. Even after reading that i thought “no way!, this is him, this is our son!”
So, if you are wondering what is happening with all the work we put in with AWAA? its all still there. We were also approved to concurrent family build, meaning pursue 2 adoptions at once, so our request on their list is changing to a girl 0-2 years old. By the time our name comes up at that list, “S” (we are not permitted to share his name or picture until we pass court) will hopefully have been home long enough to feel adjusted, that we would then begin the process of bringing our daughter home! So now, i have to prepare an entire new Dossier (oh the joy!) in record time, before we can get a court date. Having just done that, i feel like i can get it together quickly. Especially now seeing the face of our soon to be son! God, is amazing. Only He could have orchestrated a story so wonderful and beautiful. That one day soon, we can share with our son that we indeed picked and pursued him. That the moment I saw his sweet eyes, my heart melted and my soul began to fall in love. Adoption was not intended to be apart of his life, but the sad realities in this world have made it so, and I am thankful that we will be blessed to walk this journey with him as his family.
Waiting no more,
The Otts
Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock
1.17.2012
“Time is the longest distance between two places.”
~Tennessee Williams
I’ll be honest, embarrassingly honest. I never ever thought we would wait this long for a referral of an older child. I thought it would be any day after we submitted our paperwork. Silly me, now I know…nothing in this process is predictable except that you will be stretched in ways you never dreamed. For those of us that have brought our children into our families via labor…waiting for a referral call is like being months overdue. Our house feels too big for the 4 of us, Cash’s room looks empty with just him in it, and all in all we feel something missing. We are truly at the place of longing for him. Sometimes the weekends are the hardest, because I know our offices are closed and there is no possibility of a referral call. But still, we trust…
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
But still, we know that He is fighting for our son in way which our eyes can not see. So we move on, we pray, we dream about him, and what our family will look like one day soon.
So, this is month 4 of waiting. If you want some insight into some of the holdups, please read my last blog entry here. I also realize, that the referral is just another step. After we hold his picture in our hands, realistically it will be months before he is home. We are prepared for that and are ready. So, as always we covet your prayers.
Hopefully month 5 will ring in with some awesome news!
xoxo
waiting for the phone to ring
The Otts
What’s the hold up?
1.10.2012
Ethiopia is divided into 9 ethnically-based administrative regions (kililoch; singular – kilil) and two chartered cities (astedader akababiwach, singular – astedader akabibi). The word “kilil” more specifically means “reservation” or “protected area” and the ethnic basis of the regions and choice of the word “kilil” has drawn fierce criticism from the opposition, who have drawn comparisons to the bantustans of ApartheidSouth Africa.[1] The 9 regions (and two chartered cities, marked by asterisks) are:
That up there is my poor attempt, via wikapedia, to give you a little history lesson on how Ethiopia is broken up.
Earlier in 2011 a number of children’s homes in the southern regions were shut down due to improper record keeping and overall standard of care according to the ET government expectations. As a result of these closures all the children residing in those homes were absorbed by children’s homes in the north. Before a child can be “referred” or matched with a family, the child’s history has to “check out” and any living family members have to be notified and willing to relinquish their rights. It’s a very long process, especially when you are dealing with offices that run in a different way than we are used to here in the West. It is a good process, because of course our hope is that children stay with their families and in their culture if possible. Adoption is a beautiful means to an issue, one we are in love with, but not the end all be all. Previously, children were required to go through 4 levels of clearance before they are “adoptable” and with the current issue of the children from the south, the Kilil is requiring a new 5th level of clearance in addition.
<deep breath> So… that’s the hold up. We were notified that some 35% of the children in our agencies transition home are waiting on this 5th level of clearance before they can be referred to waiting families. We were notified last week, that the southern Kilil finally started working on processing these children’s clearance.
So, if you are wondering what we and every other waiting family needs? Prayer that these clearances move efficiently, correctly, and for the love…quickly!
waiting for the phone to ring,
xoxo
The Otts
65 days and counting
11.20.2011
Anytime someone asks us “hows the adoption going”, there is honestly never anything even minorly exciting to report, since we are in the “waiting” stage. It has been exactly 65 days since we were DTE (meaning our Dossier was sent to Ethiopia). We are anticipating a much shorter wait than most, since we are requesting a boy who is 5 -6 years old. We are #2 in line for a 5-year-old boy, and #2 in line for a 6-year-old boy. That phone call really could come any day now.
It has not been that hard for me emotionally, I am really trying to keep it all at distance until we get our referral. When his picture is finally in my view…then, I think mamma bear will come out and I will anticipate holding him with every ounce of my being.
We really begun talking to Cash about it. Just last night at dinner, I was asking him if he was excited about his brother, he said “yes” (he is really pumped about bunk beds). I asked him if he was ready to share all of his toys, that one took him an honest minute, but his answer was still “yes”. Then he started asking me questions,
Cash: what about his mommy and daddy?
me: well, we are not sure about that yet, but we know that your mommy & daddy will be his mommy & daddy
Cash: Are his mommy & daddy dead
me (trying not to burst into tears): cash, they may be. Or it might be that his mommy & daddy were not able to put food in his tummy or clothes on his body, but still loved him very much. Isn’t that sad?
Cash : Yea, but is here yet mommy? can you go get him?
That was a gist of our conversation. And I am floored by cash’s intuition and sensitive spirit. I can not wait to see their relationship in action. And I do get a little choked up thinking about popping my head in Cash room one night and seeing 2 sleepy heads instead of 1.
xoxo
waiting for the phone to ring,
The Otts
Dossier To Ethiopia (aka DTE)
9.10.2011
We have an official DTE date of 9/16. We had a couple more forms that had to be overnighted, but even with all of that our family coordinator said that we will officially be on the wait list as of next Friday.
It is feels so great to finally just be waiting.
xoxo
The Otts
(officially in waiting)
Dossier has been sent off into the hands of the mighty FedEx
9.7.2011
Yesterday was my birthday and the best gift I got, besides Cash telling me he thought I was six, was our I-171H in the mail. It came exactly one week after we got our fingerprints done and I’m pretty sure that is some record timing. I immediately ran down to FedEx, put 8 months of work into a flimsy mailing envelope, laid hands on that envelope, told the guy behind the counter that this was the most important package I have ever mailed in my life (no pressure buddy) paid an unreal amount of money to make sure it got to VA by the next day and walked out of that place with such relief….mixed with some panic.
We did it, our part is done. Now….we wait. Who knows how long this next part takes, it could be weeks or months, it will all come down to our phone ringing. Last I looked we will be number 2 or 3 line line for a 5 year old boy…thats crazy and could go real fast.
Blog post’s like this, make be both excited and terrified of what is next for the Otts family. But the “terror” part comes with such a deep peace attached to it. I am so incredibly thankful for people like Jen Hatmaker who are being so transparent about adoption.
next up, our official DTE (Dossier To Ethiopia) date
xoxo
The Otts
Fingerprinting
8.31.2011
So, our scheduled fingerprinting appointment was not until September 19th, but a little birdie told me that you can walk in on wedesdays and they might take you. Well, this morning we walked in and i was preparing my sob story that i would tell if they said no. Basically, she stamped our papers and we sat down prepared for a 3 hour wait…..we were the first people to get printed!
That’s it! today felt like Christmas Eve. We have done all that we need to do and as soon as our I-171H comes in the mail I will immediately overnight our Dossier and then we will get on that waiting list. I’ve heard it can take anywhere from days to weeks to get your I-171H but the woman working our case is awesome and trying to move it along as fast as possible.
can’t wait!
xoxo
The Otts
