More paperwork!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I have the urge to write and unwind alittle. I feel like I need to put my thoughts in writing to see what I've done and what needs to be done. I have been doing paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork. Luckily I am fairly organized with this kind of thing but I get stressed easily. With my personality I like to get things done and I don't rest until everything is completed. There are positives and negetives to that. Clay is opposite he will sit on something until it is due and not stress about it one bit.


Today I got our homestudy paperwork. We will start the homestudy in 2 weeks. We will have 4 meetings with our social worker. There is a lot of paperwork to pull together for this. One thing is a 2-4 page autobiography for Clay and I to do. I got the instructions on it today and guess what, I did it today! Today we got some official looking papers from the government too. They are very vague and tell us to be at the USCIS office at a specific location, date and time. I am pretty sure we are just getting fingerprinted but it doesn't really say that anywhere.

Here is what I have done so far for the Dossier(pronounced dosea) in case you ever hear me say that. The dossier is all of the papers we will send over to Ethiopia-probably in January.
1. Application Letter
2. Ordered new Birth Certificates for the family
3. " " Marriage Cert.
4. Got physicals
5. Proof of insurance through Merck
6. Financial info
7. Proof of income/employment
8. 1 reference letter
9. FBI records/background reports
10. Sent off I 600 gov't form(don't ask I don't know)
11.Got my passport
12. I've finished 8-10 hours of online training! Clay has done 20 mins or so

Still need:
1. Clay's passport
2. photo pages
3. I 171 approval
4. a finished homestudy report
5. 2 reference letters

Most of these papers have to be notarized so I need to do that too!

Things I have completed for the homestudy:
1. My autobiography(rough draft)
2. Income tax returns
3. Medical reports for my kids
4. copies of insurance cards
5. Police clearance

What I need to do or get:
1. Read 5 books of required reading.
2. along with lots of forms to fill out.
3. Clay's autobiography

With every check mark I put on something completed I know that I am one step closer to our boy or His boy.

Total expenses so far:

Application Fee $250.00
Online Training Fee $175.00
1st payment to AWAA $1,500.00
Tracy's Physical $15.00
Clay's Physical $15.00
USCIS for I600 $830.00
Marriage Cert and 2 birth certs $46.00
Passport Photo(2) $20.00
Passport Clay $100.00
Passport Tracy $100.00
Police Report-Tracy $29.00
Police Report-Clay $29.00
Anslee's Birth Cert $17.00
Homestudy $1800
Post placement fees: $1050

Total: $5976.00

God is still blowing us away with the money coming in. We have no worries regarding the financal end of this. We KNOW that he has called us here and he will provide!

Once our homestudy is complete we can start applying for grants and receiving tax deductable donations.

Thanks again for all of your love and support!