Red Light...Green Light

Anticipation continues to build as we await the precious phone call revealing the details of our child. Unlike a pregnancy, the physical aspects and approximate due date is missing...however, we are still experiencing the excitement and apprehensiveness that comes with being expectant parents. Although it's hard to imagine right now, we know the day is coming sooner than later.

As mentioned in the last update, there have been some delays within the Ethiopian government as it relates to adoptions. Official (as official as anything in a third world country can be) word came a few weeks ago that the agency that writes the approval letters for court will be reducing the number of letters per day to 5 (that's from 40-50 per day). The reasoning that this was changed is not known, however other areas of the government did not agree with this change and replaced all of the workers in that specific department. Recently, we received word that they are now processing around 20 letters per day...which is good news, but not 40-50 as before. Some of the background is due to illegal/unethical adoptions taking place and the need for more investigative and thorough work - which we are 100% in favor of as long as it doesn't make the process cumbersome and so long that the children are directly affected. We are not getting too worked up about all of this because we know that it will probably change again.

As we are already 8 months into the referral waiting process, the time since our entire adoption process started is 17 months...which seems like an eternity. However, it really has passed quickly. I'm afraid that the closer we get, the slower time will move. People are always asking us if we have any updates or if anything new is going on ~ and we keep giving the same response...not yet. The day is coming though, that we will be able to share specific details of our little guy. Details like how much hair he has, how old he is, and of course how beautiful he is! Please continue to be in prayer for the entire Ethiopian adoption process, the orphaned children in this world, and patience for all of the adoptive parents.