Bye Bye and Away!!

Well our portion of the paperwork is done. That's right, the Dossier is done and will take about 3 weeks to go to Austin, then back to Oklahoma, then to Washington, then back to Oklahoma, and then to the Ethiopian Consulate and then to the country of Ethiopia. From this point we are told that we have roughly 6 to 8 months of waiting before we receive a referral (the child's name, photo and medical history). After receiving the referral, we are told we have about 2 to 3 months of waiting before we go to Ethiopia for the first trip. I don't know how much time after that for the second trip to bring him home but we will keep everyone informed.

I want to thank all of you for your support thus far through this process. Lifesong has reported donations already and we appreciate that. I've had a couple of questions about that so let me clarify: Lifesong will match our first $2000. This means if we raise $2000, they will give us another $2000 making a total of $4000. Any amount received above that will be place into an account to continue to help our adoption. To put this into perspective, as of now, we will still need about $20,000 to finish the entire process so any help is much appreciated. Lifesong is tax-deductible as a donation to a non-profit organization. So if your question is, "Do you have enough money yet?" The answer is, "no." If your question is, "Do you still need money?" The answer is, "Yes. And if we happen to end up with more money than we need, that money will still go toward orphans through Lifesong." If your question is, "What if I can't donate" or "What if I don't feel that I should?" That is between you and the Lord. I encourage anyone to pray before donating and do as the Lord should lead you. He called us to do this and we know he will provide for us. He may want to use you to do that and then again He may not. That is solely between you and Him.

Thank you again everyone. Now we begin the daunting task of....waiting.

JK

Lifesong for Orphans

We have been approved for a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org). Lifesong with give us a matching grant, up to $2000, to use towards our adoption. This means that a $2000 donation will result in a $4000 donation. Our church, First Baptist Church of Mansfield, is sponsoring our efforts with Lifesong. Any amount donated above the initial $2000 will go into an account to be used for our adoption. All checks are made to the non-profit organization and, by law, they may distribute the funds in any way they have a need. However, they will do everything to respect your preference and donation request. This means your donations will be used for our adoption.

NOTE: Donations made to Lifesong are tax-deductible.

For more information on how to donate with Lifesong, see the "donate" section on the right side of this blog.

Now the scary part, we are just about finished with the dossier. This means that the government of Ethiopia will begin their process of getting our referral pretty soon. Whew!

That is all, thank you again. Please keep praying for us.

JK