The Timeline

This one is for all the friends and family who are asking the big 'When' question. The real answer is, anything can happen and we don't really know when it will. But here is a general timeline as I see it.

Homestudy and collection of documentation -- a few months
Ours began in April and is almost done now.

Ontario Ministry Approval -- about 12 weeks. Dossier is then sent to Ethiopia for review/approval -- (I hope it's there by Christmas)

Referral-- This is where the real waiting begins...hopefully within six months (so maybe by June 2009) we'll get our baby's photo and a very limited amount of information.

Final Wait--The baby undergoes a final medical and then we have to wait for either Canadian Citizenship or a Permanent Resident Visa. We have the choice between which one we apply for, and at this point, there is no clear advantage in time between the two. This process can take between 2 and 6 months. Our baby will be under 12 months old when we first see his/her picture. However, due to the process, our little one could be up to 18 months old by the time we bring him/her home.

So if all goes well, we will be traveling to Ethiopia around the fall of 2009!!! (I've put the year in bold because people keep asking me when we'll be booking flights. It really is a long process!) It seems far away, but we are keeping busy and actually I think it will be easier on Katie and Nate when they are a little older, as we will likely be gone at least a week.

Homestudy is Almost Done!!!!

I don't feel like we're so 'at the beginning' anymore. I had lots of fun putting together our picture pages today, and our SW told us she would have everything written up by the end of the week. We still have to get our stuff notarized and review our homestudy with Kim. But it will be a relief to send everything in! Then we're done our part and it's out of our hands. After that I'll try to forget about the process for a while and focus on getting things ready at home. We haven't decided how to arrange rooms yet. Right now Katie and Nate have their own rooms, and we have a guest room. I think whatever age the baby is, he/she will be in our room for the first few months at least. Then we'll see where all the kids end up once everything has settled.

Mike and I picked up this beautiful artwork at the Caribbean/African Festival last weekend. It was made by an artist from Uganda. The same booth also had a variety of different work completed by artists from East African countries.

We also saw some amazing quilts, but these were not on sale. They will be available to buy, however, at the Quilts of East Africa Exhibition from October 20-25, 2008 at Ailsa Craig. There will be a Taste of Africa Evening on October 25. For more info, go to garnet@cotton-by-post.com or (519)293-3499.