Long awaited update

Sorry for the non existence on this blog for so long. There were some changes that we just didn't feel we wanted to put online until they were sorted out.
During the time of our adoption classes, we discovered that Ghana is, in some cases, is issuing a 2 year interim adoption whereas we would not have the adoption final until after this time period is up. This was a concern with the tax deduction being extended until 2011 but not indefinitely. We also needed time to figure out what other issues this might cause. We also discovered that fact that because the US Embassy is doing a lot more with the orphan investigations (often DNA testing) after the Ghana decree has been issued but before the visa home will be issued, two trips are mandatory (unless you want to move in for a while over there!).  We became increasingly frustrated with our agency for having to find out a lot of this on our own and few of our questions being answered. We decided to "start over" and research whether or not we should pursue Ghana or another country, and/or continue with our agency or move to another. 
So for a couple weeks we agonized. Up until that point we had done everything so quickly and efficiently to keep everything moving forward and now the ball was in our court in order to proceed. Certain paperwork couldn't be filed at that point without knowing which country, and certain paperwork couldn't be done without knowing which agency! As like before, one almost can't be decided without the other. Knowing which one to chose first is the hardest part. I spent more hours than anyone possibly can researching all of the above deeper than any possible human ever has--at least Glenn is convinced of that. We narrowed it down to 3 countries and in the end Ghana won out for various reasons. I'm not sure we were convinced before, but after this long process, we are assured Ghana has found us and this is the country our kids are in. A funny quick story....after we officially made the decision and were sitting around the kitchen as a family discussing it, Freddie Adu came up. He was the young soccer player that came over here to play and got a lot of media attention. We weren't sure where he came from and so we googled it. He was from Ghana! Ha! that nailed it, we had made the right decision...if a great soccer player could come from there (okay, so only if you know how much we as a family love soccer will this make you smile. We will certainly be okay too though if neither of our kids ends up playing soccer)!
We did end up switching agencies for various reasons and are still negotiating our initial large fee and pending the outcome, I may or may not reveal the details.
The great news now~ our home study has been approved by Colorado, the government has acknowledged our I600a application has been received (the "previsa" form that will give us permission to bring orphans into the US), and we have officially sent in our DOSSIER (the country paperwork and last paperwork step!). The Dossier had something like 25 notarized pages and contains our life! This is huge because now we have again done everything we can and it's in others hands. We now play the waiting game.....we could get our referrals (matching with kids) anytime and once that happens court will be scheduled and we could be traveling within weeks. The referral part is really unknown though. Could happen soon or we could wait 6 months+. It all depends on whether children in the age ranges we desire are available or when they will become so. The contacts in Ghana do not know what we desire in order to keep the process more ethical (agencies don't want others 'shopping' for certain kids). From what I've heard and read, this seems to be the hardest part....the waiting now. I admit, I feel more peace than ever and am not anxious. Maybe that's because I know we need more money to keep things rolling, maybe that's because I keep thinking of all the things I need to do before to prepare (bedrooms, getting caught up on current kids scrapbooks!, accumulating more vacation time at work, etc). But then I think about the situation our kids could be in right now, and it tears at my heart. I know God's timing is perfect and so I'm dwelling on that for now.