31 out of 33...almost there!

After spreading out all our paperwork on the living room floor yesterday, it looks like we are only missing 2 of the 33 papers required for our dossier! After we get those, it will be off to the bank for one more mass notary signing session. Then we will get our paperwork authenticated and sealed and sent with a courier service to DC. After that, it is sent to Ethiopia for translation and we will begin waiting for Ethiopian approval and then our referral. We have heard that once the dossier is submitted, it will be anywhere from 6 to 16 months until we are home with our children. Thanks for praying with us!

Approved!

We had just been mulling over the next installment of "Interesting Facts", but it looks like you are in luck as we have some MUCH more exciting news. Today we got the following in the mail: "It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan(s)." Our Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition has been approved by the US Citizenship and Imigration Services! Next step, compile the documents for our dossier and keep this train a-rollin'.

Monday Morning Excitement

Well, good news...the fingerprinting is officially over. It went pretty well. Good, not great, as some might say. Here's the story. On Friday afternoon, I (Jon) went to the assigned location to have my biometrics (just a fancy word for fingerprints) taken. The office was empty, so I had no wait. The friendly fingerprint guy filled out my paperwork, scanned my fingers on the fingerprint machine, had me fill out a comment card about how my experience had been, and I was done. Ten minutes, tops. No problems whatsoever.

Ok, fast forward to Monday morning. I'm at work, sitting at my desk, checking my email, messing with a spreadsheet...the usual Monday morning stuff. And I get a phone call from my lovely wife.

"Hey, how did your fingerprinting go this morning?"
"Baby! I passed out!"
"You what??? You passed out??? At the fingerprint place???"
"Yup."

It turns out that if you have fingerprints that are hard for the machine to read, you might be standing there for a while. After the friendly fingerprint guy has no luck, then the friendly fingerprint gal gets to try (apparently she is better at it). And if you lock your knees while standing at the fingerprint machine for an extended period of time, you will, in fact, pass out. Fortunately, the friendly fingerprint folks are quick on their feet and can catch a suddenly unconcious individual before they even hit the floor.

After a few more tries (and remembering not to lock her knees), Joy's fingerprints were successfully captured without further incident. I'm guessing that the fingerprint folks, not to mention the waiting room full of people, probably had a pretty good story to tell when they got home. Who would've expected such an exciting Monday morning?