Dossier is DONE!

Well after months of gathering the documents (and having to have some re-done), our dossier is complete!  It was mailed out today ad should arrive at our agency by Friday!  This is very exciting although we still have one more small step before it can go any further...what is that one small step you ask?

Oh just come up with about $2,900


This is a lot but when I look at the fact that in October that number was $5,500, it makes me feel a little bit better.  One way we have been able to raise money is through Ordinary Hero by tax-deductible donations made at http://grouprev.com/expectingfromethiopia

and only until FEBRUARY 1st, 2014 we can receive 40% of all sales made under our family name at the awesome Ordinary Hero store http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/ 

(just click on "oneal,joely" under affiliate)

Once we are fully funded for this step then ...

-The state sealed documents of our dossier will be sent to Washington DC to be authenticated by State Dept and Ethiopian Embassy

-Once all documents are returned to our agency they will be put into a final format and sent to the Ethiopian staff with our agency, at this point we can be officially able to be given a referral of a child (or children) in need of a family.

As I type this my heart is excited for that day to come and at the same time sad and broken because it also means there is a child or children out there that don't know the love of a family to call their own and to be honest, as excited as we will be, they will be scared.  I wished we could skip those steps and fast forward till the time where they can know they are safe and loved and in their forever family but the reality is we can't and those grieving steps are important for them, it's just such a mix of emotions when you're dealing with the course of a child's life.