"Next Steps" Call

Last Wednesday night, we had a call with our case manager to talk about what the next leg of our adoption journey will look like. She went over the details of the first trip, second trip, and the requirements of Ethiopian Court/ US Embassy that could possibly slow us down in between.

Adoption is truly a miracle, you guys. There are so many hoops to jump through and random pieces of paperwork/ people that have to be involved in bringing every single child home. The reason it takes so long is that there is a lot of details to be taken care of in an ethical adoption! I would much rather it take a bit longer and have peace of mind that our son is legally and rightfully ours, though. I'm so thankful for our agency's sound reputation!

For now, we are waiting on a birth certificate for our son to be created (which may take up to 6 weeks) and our dossier + Israel's paperwork to be merged and translated, then ALL of that submitted to Ethiopian court, where we will land on a stack of other family's paperwork and eventually get a court date.

We have NO idea when we will travel, and although we can make guesses, it really doesn't help with planning at all because there is absolutely no way to know until it is official. Our guesses were initially that we would travel on our first trip in January or February, but our case manager suggested March for our first trip (she was also just guessing). So we will see. I've been stalking other adoptive family's timelines and trying to guess according to their stories, but honestly the Ethiopian program has changed so much over the last year that you really cannot compare two families at all. Our case manager estimated that Israel would be home in 5-8 months from referral (so late spring/summer??) I haven't really seen that long of a process except in rare cases with AGCI families, the trend I've seen is about 4-6 months. Again, there is no way to know until its official. There can be MANY roadblocks and fire-y hoops ahead for us.

So, will you be our prayer warriors? Will you join with us in praying for a speedy court date, a quick process, and for things to be in order for our son to come home? He is so small right now, and I hate thinking about the time that is ticking away while he is in Ethiopia away from us. We miss him! I know that sounds silly because we haven't met him, but our hearts just ache for this sweet boy with crazy hair and big brown eyes that has our hearts wrapped around his tiny brown fingers. We can't wait for him to be with us forever.

And beyond our specific prayer requests regarding timelines, please join us in praying for God's glory to be given through this process, as we have much waiting ahead. We don't want to portray God's blessing and grace in a negative light- we want to praise Him even in the hard wait.

Thanks again for walking beside us, and for praying for us as we move forward.