The Setliffe Family

Good News

We got an email yesterday that AWAA accepted our financial statement & have officially approved us for adoption. We are really excited to be on our way. The intake coordinator said that they have mailed our official packet of dossier documents and we should be receiving them in 7-10 days. At that point we have to fill out some agreements & send in our initial payment (no word yet on how much that is....). Once they've received those things we will begin our homestudy & our dossier (paperwork).

I talked to Matt on the phone last night & it was such a sweet conversation. We are so joyful about this adoption. We have no idea where all the money is going to come from or how we'll get through all of the details, but we have such a peace knowing that this is exactly where God wants our family to be. We've been looking into/praying/talking about adoption since we met. But we never knew where we'd adopt from. El Salvador is such a perfect fit for us! We're too young for China. Too poor for Russia. Not married long enough for Haiti. Not sure enough about the processes with African countries yet. Too poor for Guatamala. This is just the perfect fit!! I'm trying to get my hands on everything El Salvador out there w/o a whole lot of luck. Most things are about travel to the country. But I guess that would be better than nothing! I was looking at an adoption website yesterday & saw that Mary Beth Chapman (Steven Curtis Chapman's wife) just recently traveled to El Salvador to meet with the government--they're really trying to simplify the process & bring in more American families. There were a few pictures on there of older kids in the orphanges. They were the most BEAUTIFUL kids. I can't wait to learn more about this country & eventually travel there to get our baby! Matt & I really want to bring our baby's culture into our home & eventually travel to their homelands. So exciting!! I have such a love & respect of hispanic culture.

Below are some pictures of El Salvador that our family coordinator Christi took on a recent trip. I have joined an online group of other AWAA families adopting from El Salvador. It's been really awesome emailing with them & realizing that we're not alone in this long process. Anyways, here are a few pictures from that website.

the orphanage (I'm guessing where our baby will be???)

Another pic of the orphanage

And another....

I'm guessing this is Christi--with a boy at the orphanage--isn't he cute??

A Catholic church in town

The coast...so beautiful!

I think this is San Salvador??

the beach...I wish I was there now!! It's so peaceful looking!