Stepping out onto the water...

After many months of researching my brains out, I have an amazing announcement!  My husband and I are officially adopting from Ethiopia through the agency West Sands Adoptions!  They operate out of Utah, and were one of the very first agencies licensed in Ethiopia.  We have had a great experience with our coordinator so far.  She's been very helpful and patient with us through all of our many questions and concerns.  I did extensive background checks on the agency and checked all the references I could find.  Considering all I discovered and all the prayers, everything points to WSA as GREEN for GO!  WSA estimates that the entire process from application to the "gotcha day" takes about a year.

So!  Application is filled out.  Contracts are signed and notarized.  We are just waiting approval at this point.

In the meantime!...

While talking to my Spanish professor, who previously adopted a little boy from Vietnam, I found out that her mother is a social worker for an agency that conducts home studies in our area.  That's convenient!  It gets better though.  This agency happens to be the exact same agency used by the only other couple we've found in Paris who adopted from Ethiopia.  Now it's very convenient!  So I contacted Lutheran Social Services to start the process.  We have received the home study packet in the mail and have begun to collect the paperwork required.  Once we finish all the paperwork (which should be next week) we'll get that sent in and set a date for our social worker (my professor's mom!) to visit us at our house!  The whole home study process is estimated to take a few months to complete.  During that time we can begin to collect the massive amount of paperwork and documents required to turn in our dossier.  Hopefully we will have our dossier compiled by the time our home study is approved, and can get the adoption process rolling!

While it is my intention to keep our family and friends up to date with our adoption, I would also like to inform others of what it's like on the inside of international adoption.  Maybe you're just curious about the process, or maybe you are contemplating being a part of the adoption journey yourself.  Whatever the case, I would love to make it easy for you to learn more about it.  As a start, I have highlighted certain words and phrases that are important to know concerning international adoption.  I'll provide corresponding links at the bottom of my post for you to reference if you're interested. :)

Thank you so much for reading my blog and for your continued support/prayers!  I love each and every one of you!


“I don't always know where this life is going. I can't see the end of the road, but here is the great part: Courage is not about knowing the path. It is about taking the first step. It is about Peter getting out of the boat, stepping out onto the water with complete faith that Jesus will not let him drown.”  - Katie Davis  (Amazima Ministries)


 West Sands Adoptions

Gotcha Day

Home Study

Lutheran Social Services

Dossier