NEXT STEP IN THE PROCESS!

On Saturday we received our Homeland Security clearance for adoption. This is what we have been waiting for! Some people wait up to 6 weeks for this... ours came in just 12 days. So we are thankful. Thank you especially for praying! We took Bethlehem to Seattle Sunday night to an Ethiopian restaurant to celebreate and had quite a time of it! She is so fun to watch when she gets to go have Ethiopian food! :)

Receiving the I-171H papers from Homeland Security is the last step on our side in order to receive a referral for miss "T." Thank you for your continued prayers for the referral and for God's perfect timing in all of this!

We love you,
Jim, Jaci & Bethlehem 

Homeland Security Done!
So this morning we headed up to Tukwila for our 8:00 am biometrics appointment at Homeland Security. Traffic was great... the appointment went smoothly... and we are thankful to be done with yet one more little "hoop." This is basically a finger printing appointment. From the adoption blogs it appears we will get a response anywhere from one week to six weeks from now. At that point we expect to get the official referral for little miss "T." We are in a big waiting period right now... but there is lots to do as we work at the church and at home so we are ready for our first trip to Ethiopia... perhaps in March or April. Please pray for us to use this time well, and for God's protection and preparation of miss "T." Thank you! We love you! Jim & Jaci  

Finally a date we can look forward to!
For the past month or so we have been on hold... or should I say waiting to hear something we can share. We finally have a new date to look forward to... we have our biometrics appointment up at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Department of Homeland Security) in Tukwila. On Jan. 15 we are to go there and have our fingerprints and photos taken. It's the final step (that we know about anyway) before we are able to recieve our "referral" from Children's House International for our daughter. We hope that about a week or so after Jan. 15 to have the referral... then we should receive a date to travel to Ethiopia and meet "T." Thank you for keeping us in your prayers even during these long slow periods of waiting. And please pray for our daughter's protection from all evil in Ethiopia. Please pray God is preparing her heart to come be in our family. Thank you! Jim & Jaci