dossier sent off

This past week was busy with adoption work.

• Monday I visited the doctor's office to get our final physical forms
• Tuesday had our final documents notarized
• Wednesday took most of the documents to be certified at the Williamson County Clerk of Courts
• Thursday had a few documents certified at the Davidson County Clerk of Courts and then went to the Secretary of State to have all the documents (21 in all) authenticated and...
• Friday I mailed them to America World!

All those documents are called our Dossier and it has taken since June to complete it all. The dossier should arrive there on Tuesday where our family coordinator will look it over and then send it to the US Secretary of State for more authentication and then to the Rwandan Embassy. 10-14 days later, we should receive our approval from the Embassy and our dossier can go to Rwanda. It feel great to have that part finished and be that much closer to bringing our son home.

Garage Sale Success

Our garage sale took place last Saturday. It has been raining for about 2 weeks here in the Nashville area and Saturday was not exception. But rain did not keep away those die hard garage salers and we sold a lot of stuff. We could have not done it without the help of all of you who made generous donations... so Thank You! Also, the Albrecht family really made it happen- they are incredible friends to us. The profits from the garage sale came just in time as we should send off our dossier soon!

I-171H

We received our approval from USCIS today! The US gives us permission to adopt. We have been waiting for this in order to complete our paperwork for our Dossier. Now it is time to get busy with the last bit of paperwork and then to the county clerk and secretary of state for certification. This is exciting news!

2 weeks to garage sale

Our garage sale / bake sale is going to be on Saturday, September 19 at the Albrecht's house (331 Sterling Park Terrace in Fieldstone Farms). We are beginning to collect items from family and friends and trying to organize it so we don't have so much to do right before the sale. We welcome more- garage sale items, baked goods and drinks! Thanks everyone.

fellowship 686

This weekend we attended Fellowship 686.  It is a Nashville based community of families who have adopted (or adopting or thinking about adopting) children from Africa.  It was INCREDIBLE to see all of these children from Africa grafted into families from Nashville.  It made our adoption feel so real.  Most of the families have adopted from Ethiopia, but we met some who are adopting from Uganda and another couple just ahead of us in the Rwanda process!  We are so thankful to be able to be part of a group like this as we prepare to bring our son home.

Fellowship 686 comes from God's promise in Psalm 68:6 - To set the solitary in families....

reconciliation

We caught the documentary on PBS a couple of weeks ago called As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda.  It is an excellent film and has given us insight into the healing and struggles going on in Rwanda today.

about rwanda

Here is a good map of Africa showing Rwanda.  Also, here is what America World says about Rwanda.

Rwanda is a verdant and beautiful country, often referred to as "the Land of a Thousand Hills" and "the Switzerland of Africa."  Rwanda is about the size of Vermont, but hosts a population of about 10 million; its population density is the highest of any country in Africa and currently has one of the world's highest birth rates.  Unfortunately, UNICEF estimates that there are nearly one million orphans and vulnerable children:  children are primarily orphaned due to poverty.

Originally, Rwanda was colonized by Germany in the 1880's and fell to Belgian rule after World War I.  The primary educational force in the country was the Roman Catholic Church throughout the Belgian rule, which came to a peaceful, but rather abrupt end when independence was declared in 1962.  Landlocked and bordered by Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the majority of its inhabitants are subsistence farmers.  

As with all African nations, Rwanda has diversity in languages and cultures, yet unlike its neighbors it is primarily home to only two ethnic groups (Tutsi and Hutu).  The national language of Rwanda is Kinyarwanda.  

Rwanda is well known to many Americans because of the tragic events that unfolded there in the spring of 1994.  Rwandans today struggle to recover not just from that singular event, but from a legacy of 60 years of intermittent war.

Life expectancy in years: 45

Annual per capita GNI U.S. dollars: $250.00

Total number of orphans: 820,000

Education:
Children completing primary school: Male – 43%; Female – 49% 
Children enrolled in secondary school: Male – 15%; Female – 13%

Number of physicians per 100,000 people: 5