DTE

We have just passed another mile marker! DTE - in "adoption speak" is Date To Ethiopia. This date, September 24 represents the date that our dossier was sent to Ethiopia. We received confirmation that our dossier arrived in Ethiopia on Friday (October 1).

We now begin our official waiting period. What this means is that the placement process is now underway in Ethiopia. Our agency now begins work on taking our paperwork and matching us with "baby sister". This process could take anywhere between 1 and 11 months. When we are matched with a little girl (this is called a referral) we will be notified and given all known information about her. After we accept a referral we will have a few weeks to prepare for our first trip to Ethiopia which will be a week long and include; court appearances, a few hours a day interacting with "baby sister", and some cultural experiences and side trips. We then come back home and wait for 1-2 months until paperwork in Ethiopia is completed and made official. Then back on the plane for a 4 day to Ethiopia to get a visa and bring home our daughter!!! As you might imagine, the excitement level in our house is quickly rising!

God has been teaching us so much through this process and we are so grateful for the lessons we have learned! Praise be to Him.

Dossier is in the Mail!!

Today marks one big step closer for us to bringing baby sister home. In the adoption world it is called coming to the end of the "paper pregnancy". We have officially finished our dossier with all of the paperwork needed to satisfy one local home study agency, one national adoption agency and two federal governments. After an overnight trip to our agency in Virginia and a brief few days there for final inspection, our dossier should arrive in Ethiopia in a couple of weeks!! Six months of paperwork documenting every facet of our lives...and now we wait.

Please pray with us that we would continue to see God's amazing sovereignty and provision through this journey.

Cup of joe?

As you might imagine, the process of an international adoption is very costly. Completing the list of certified documents, finishing our home study, paying our adoption agency and for 2 trips half way around the world is something that seems next to impossible. However, we believe that the God who placed this desire in our hearts is big enough to provide for the completion of the dream. We have already seen God provide money in ways that we had not expected!

If you are a coffee drinker or know one, you know how fun it is to sample new coffee. Here is a great opportunity to buy fair trade coffee from around the world that will help support our adoption! We would love your continued prayers for God's provision and timing as we seek to "bring baby sister home".

So, have a cup of joe and pass the link on! http://www.justlovecoffee.com/thepfeifers

Papers, papers everywhere!!

If you have ever gone through an international adoption you know about the pile of paperwork that is required to satisfy two governments as well as an adoption agency and home study agency. Well we are just a few days away from finalizing our dossier and sending it to our agency. This is a big mile marker and we are so excited to be closing in on the end of the paper chase.

Where it started

If you are reading this you most likely know it is because we want nothing more that to bring "baby sister" home through the avenue of adoption. Some of you may not know exactly why we are pursuing adoption, so hopefully this post will bring everyone up to speed. I guess this story starts way before I came into the picture. When Liz was a child God put a very special dream in her heart. This dream was to one day adopt a child. Several years later Liz and I met in college through mutual friends and began dating a few months later. During the course of the next 2 years before we got married, Liz shared her dream with me. I fell in love with the dream and we have shared that dream since. After we got married the next big question was, "when" would we pursue this adoption. Five years later God blessed us with an amazing gift named Ashton, he is our joy! After we brought Ashton home and began life as a family of 3 we were even more convinced of our dream to add to our family through adoption. God led us to an adoption agency and we moved forward with a journey that we were sure would bring us a little girl from El Salvador a year and a half later. In God's infinite wisdom and sovereignty, 3 years later we came to the realization that God had something different for us.

In February of 2010 after seeking much wisdom from others and praying for clarity, we decided to withdraw from the El Salvador program and to enter a new program on the other side of the world in Ethiopia. This meant many things for us. It meant starting over on our paperwork, losing money spent on the first program, losing the last 3 years, but most of all it meant following a mantra that has become so dear to me - "GOD IS GOD and I am not". This is so comforting and exciting to us because we know that God is in control.

So we again, began chasing paperwork, approvals, home studies and the laundry list of things needed to satisfy two different governments. That was five months ago and I am happy to say that we are almost done. We have just a couple of documents to finish and then our dossier will be sent to Ethiopia.

We have an amazing group of people who are part of our lives. And as part of our lives, we want you to be a part of this journey as well. We will update this blog with any news of progress to keep you up-to-date and would ask you to pray for us and for the beautiful little girl somewhere in Ethiopia who will by God's grace become our "baby sister".

Brian