October 20th, 2011: Jason met “M” while on a mission trip to Ethiopia.
October 24th, 2011: Friends of ours give us their “spot” in the YWAM Ethiopian Adoption Program so that we can adopt M.
November 11th, 2011: Home Study Update Visit
November 21st, 2011: Home Study Approved and Notarized
November 28th, 2011: Receive Home Study in the Mail
November 29th, 2011: Over-night ship I600A and HS to USCIS, arrived on December 1st
December 27th, 2011: USCIS Biometrics Appointment
January 11th, 2012: I171H mailed from USCIS, should be here any day!
January 14th, 2012: Receive I171H in the mail
January 26th, 2012: Dossier sent to Ethiopia
Januray 30th, 2012: Day of fasting and prayer for M. A friend of ours who was on the mission trip with Jason felt clearly we were to fast and pray for M on this day. What a great day it turned out to be… we were notified that M’s paperwork was completed and he was ready for the official referral! Unfortunately, we were $2,700 short on our referral fee and not sure what to do. Mind you we have unexpectedly had to come up with nearly $20,000 in 3 months! We were thrilled when Jason opened the mail right after we received word of M’s referral, and he found a long over due freelance check for $3,000. God is rarely early, but never late! Praise Jesus!
January 31st, 2012: Accepted M’s referral and FedEx’d it to CHI.
February 2nd, 2012: Referral Documents sent to Ethiopia, but the courts are closed until February 26th for “training”, so we have to wait to be submitted to court.
March 15th, 2012: Submitted to court.
March 27th, 2012: Received April 24th Court Date
April 24th, 2012: Passed court! Now we wait for Markon’s ET Certificate and passport, then eventually his Visa from the U.S. Embassy in Addis. Hope to have Markon home in 8 weeks!
May 14th, 2012: Birth Certificate done
May 29th, 2012: Markon’s passport done
Week of June 4th, 2012:Markon’s Visa Medical Exam completed
June 12th, 2012: Submitted to the US Embassy for our Visa; received “acceptance email” at 3:30 am PST and received a second email at 6:30 am PST explaining that they have completed the review of our I600 and are now beginning the I604 (Orphan Status Investigation)
June 20th, 2012: Received Clearance to travel from USE
July 2nd, 2012: Embassy Date
July 4th, 2012: Forever Home!!!