Dossier

As we finished out homestudy meetings, Linda gave us this Huge packet of information. It was the Dossier paperwork. She said this needs to be sent to the country of Ethiopia and everything needs to be done exactly as stated. I started to flip through the packet. WOW- what a lot of work. I am a finisher so I was determined to get this done ASAP. The things needed in this packet was new marriage, birth certificates, dr. letters, police clearance, letters of reference, pictures, bank statements, etc. 26 items needed. Many, many pages of stuff. Most of the papers had to be notarized, signed and state sealed. I did finish most of this at a good speed, and we were getting ready to be done. Then we had a gliche. The USCIS paperwork was suppose to be added later to the Dossier. Ethiopia is a newer country for Bethany and Ethiopia changed the rules. They wanted the USCIS paperwork to come with all the Dossier not later. So we had to apply for this from the state of Michigan. This paper work takes about 3 months. I was bummed about this. We were ready to send our paperwork and then we had to wait. So we waited all summer. Part of the USCIS paperwork is we needed to get fingerprinted. Everything takes so much longer that what you think. Once we got the USCIS approval, we got it state sealed and brought everything to Bethany. Within the week they sent it to Ethiopia, and we are in line for a referral. A referral is when they send you information on a child that fits your request. So now we are waiting for this to come. (Oct 2008)