It has been a while since I last posted....Here is an update.

I have successfully completed my home study and I look fabulous on paper! Thanks to everyone who wrote a referral for me. I really appreciate you helping me become a mom.

I sent my completed dossier to Washington, DC this afternoon. (YEAH!) Dependable Adoption Courier Services will receive it tomorrow and personally take my dossier to the US Dept of State to be authenticated and then on to the Ethiopia Embassy. They will put their seal of approval on my paperwork and then, early next week it will go to my agency, Christian World Adoption. I am about one week away from my paperwork being sent to Ethiopia. Once it is sent to Ethiopia, I am added to the official waiting list of prospective adoptive parents. They said the wait is anywhere from 4-7 months to referral and another 3-4 months until traveling to Ethiopia. Of course these time frames are approximate and each case is different. If I had requested a boy, I could receive a referral sooner. I am not opposed to a having a son. I just feel that Magdalena Maclain is out there...waiting for me. Does anyone remember the song from An American Tale...Somewhere out there

Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Some ones thinking of me
And loving me tonight

Somewhere out there
Someones saying a prayer
That we'll find one another
In that big somewhere out there

And even though i know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams
Come true

And even though i know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams
Come true

This is such a special time for me. I have been doing research, reading (yes Gren, I read) and preparing as much as I can, this far in advance. Derika has been so wonderful to share so many toys, clothes, shoes and baby items. Maggie will be the BEST dressed child. Dare - thanks for being so organized.

It has made me so sad to read the news about the drought and near famine they are experiencing in Ethiopia. It is not on the news like it was back in the 1980's. Check outthese stories:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/380371.aspx
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/378673.aspx
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/09/ethiopia.hunger.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

I hope we all can keep these people in out hearts and in our prayers.


Much Love -

Abby