We are on the waiting list!

Hi everyone. Sorry it has been awhile, things have been pretty busy around here. Our Dossier was processed and sent to Ethiopia on 2/27/09. That is the official date that we were placed on the waiting list, it is also called DTE which means date to Ethiopia. Our Dossier was delivered in Ethiopia on 3/4/09. So, We are officially "paper pregnant"!! Yeah!! We are so excited to finally be on the wait list. There are roughly around 60 families ahead of us on the list. Our agency estimates 9-11 mo's before we receive a referral, however, we know that it is all in God's perfect timing and could be longer or shorter. We are trying not to have any expectations as we are well aware that anything can happen. We met w/our local Ethiopia group this past Saturday, and had a great time talking w/all the families and seeing the children. One family that just got back from picking their child up about a month ago was very helpful and advised us to start getting items needed for our packing list as something to do while we are waiting. I started looking at some of the people's packing lists who have gone before us and I am grateful for this advice, as the lists are huge!! There are so many things that you need to take w/you, tons of outfits, blankets, supplies for the baby, meds for the baby and us, yada yada!! So, I am going to slowly gather stuff on a monthly basis that way when we receive our referral, I won't have to do it all at once. Well, I hope everything is going well for all of you and hopefully it won't be so long until our next post.