Drumroll please!

This is definitely the biggest update we've had so far! And we're so excited to share our news. It still feels a little unreal, so as I write this, I'm not 100% sure when I will publish it.

Are you ready??? Drumroll......


We have a referral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her name is Elizabeth (she spells it Elisabeth), she's 1 year and 9 months... and she's perfect! What we know about her so far is that she was abandoned and she was found in the market, and was given the name Elizabeth. Right now, we think we'll keep her name because it's an American name, and it means "God's promise" *and* it's my middle name and Kaitlyn's middle name :) We haven't decided on a middle name yet. Alexis and Kaitlyn think he middle name should be Alexis :p

We do have a picture, but aren't able to publish it publicly, so it can't go on Facebook or the blog, but if you'd like to see her, let me know and I can send you an email or Facebook message... or if you see me out and about, I have it on my cell phone :)

So for the last 3 days I've been running around like a crazy person trying to get all of our paperwork done, copies, scanned, emailed, etc. I've also been checking my email like a crazy person... thank goodness for smartphones!

"What's next?" is the question we are getting the most after telling family and friends about Elizabeth. The answer is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork... and waiting. Right now we're getting the last pieces of our dossier ready to go and then we'll be waiting on our fingerprinting (for immigration- we've done 2 sets of fingerprints already, for FBI and GBI) appointment, which should happen in the next month or so. And then we'll have to get the dossier translated into French and when that's done we'll send it all done to the Congo. Once they have everything down there, they'll submit it to court, which takes a couple weeks. After we pass court there is a 1 month waiting period for appeals (this is when birth parents/family can make an appeal). At the end of that month, assuming no appeals have been made, we'll apply for a visa and passport for Elizabeth and then we can travel!
We are hoping, praying and crossing all fingers and toes that this will go as smoothly as possible and we'll be able to travel before the end of this year. Obviously we want our daughter home as soon as possible, and if her adoption is complete in 2012 we'd definitely be eligible for the tax credit, which would be amazing!

After we finish the paperchase race, we'll be working on fundraising, hardcore. Traveling to the Congo isn't cheap, so we still have a long way to go!