"I will not leave you as orphans..." - John 14:18
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Monday, June 10, 2013

May Update


Alright, so we're going to have to do our monthly update a little different from here on out. Toward the end of May, we received word from All God's Children International (AGCI), our adoption agency, that there will be a change to how our progress will be reported to us, and the way we update our progress on our blog will reflect this change.

Here's an exert from the email we received from AGCI recently:

"We are still uncertain of how long any one family will wait as it depends on so many factors, age and gender of a child, a family’s openness to special needs, etc.  When AGCI receives a referral for a child, we begin by looking at the date a family’s dossier was registered and then by looking at a family’s desired parameters.  This has always been AGCI’s process so it will remain consistent and unchanged.  Please remember, AGCI is a child centered agency and is looking for the most appropriate family for a particular child, which has many considerations.  In the past, we have also provided families with a waitlist number.  These numbers are actually fairly inaccurate as families are actually placed by the date the dossier was registered and their desired parameters.  A family could be on multiple lists, further skewing the reality of the waitlist number.  For example, some families are simultaneously on the boy list, the girl list and the sibling list.  While we know that it can be exciting to have a “number” and watch for progress, these numbers do not reflect the actual total number of waiting families.  For this reason, effectively immediately, AGCI will discontinue the use of this current number system.  Instead, we will continue to provide monthly program updates based on dates that a family’s dossier was registered, which will provide a more accurate timeframe of movement toward referral. Now, in the program update, AGCI will provide information such as that a placement occurred for a family with a registered dossier date of November 2011 (for example)."
While we began our adoption journey in September 2010, we spent the first six months preparing our homestudy, our dossier, and getting US CIS approval (immigration approval for our children), so we were not officially put on the wait list until April 2011, which means our registered dossier approval date is April 2011. So, we'll be using this date to gauge our progress from now on.

We received our May update on Friday, and there were four referrals (for AGCI only) during the month of May:
1. Infant girl (dossier approved July 2010)
2. Infant girl (dossier approved September 2010)
3. Infant girl (dossier approved October 2010)
4. Older boy (dossier approved May 2011)

AGCI has 4 families traveling to Ethiopia this week and 3 families came home with their children in the month of May! 

All of this indicates that we could have up to a 7 month wait to receive our referral, but it could be shorter or longer. Our expanded referral parameters could possibly shorten this wait, but ultimately, it's all in God's hands who will faithfully complete that which He called us to, so once again we rest on His perfect timing!

So that's it. The change is a bit confusing at first, but it does ultimately make sense. 

Here's what we've been up to since our last update:

One more picture from our Napa trip! It's so cute, I just had to share!

 Mother's Day
Intermission During the Play "Oliver"




Mother's Day at Church

Ella's First Grade Music Performance


Bed Head 


Ella's Field Trip



Date Day!



 Our Girls

Avery's "Nerd" Glasses
Until next month...