Just Breath!

This week I was seeking answers.  I think it is probably because I was tired of telling all of our friends and family over the holidays that, "I don't know why it is taking so long."  I made a 2 phone calls and an email before I got the information that satisfied my brain (at least for the time being).  Often, I have heard myself and from others that they get vague answers to their(adopting families) questions.  It is very frustrating, but I also understand that the agency does not want to give families false hope.  I wasn't settling with vague answers this week.  Enough is enough!  So, I dug until I got some sense of what is going on in our agency, the orphanages they work with, the Ethiopian Court system, and the U.S. Embassy.  I got enough to sustain me for now.

So I will try to explain to the best of my ability.  One issue that families who are adopting older children are dealing with is a change in the culture of the region in which our agency has an orphanage.  They are seeing many families give up infants while keeping a child who is 3 years old to help out.  There has also been a shift in the age ranges that adopting families are requesting.  In the past when a child older than 2 years was referred to our agency they often went on a waiting list.  The orphanages knew this and tried not to refer this age because they didn't want the children to wait.  Now there are more families willing to adopt this age so there aren't waiting children anymore.  As a result our agency has let the orphanage directors know that there are families available for older children now.  Finally, the slow down in the entire process has come from the Ethiopian Courts asking for more documentation than ever, the U.S. Embassy making requests for documentation that the agencies can't anticipate, and the Ethiopian government actually deciding to slow down the process by allowing only so many approvals go out per day.

So with all that, we were told that instead of expecting the wait to be 0-3 months we should expect the wait to be 12 months.  Yikes!  All I have to say is at least we have a general idea and live our lives accordingly.  Thank goodness we have already put in half that time, because tomorrow we are officially 6 months on the waiting list.

That is it in a nutshell!

So, we are looking towards the summer for some action!  We appreciate everyone's concern and prayers.  Please keep them coming!

Love,

DMM & MTM