In the past couple of months there has been a lot going on in Ethiopia and in the Ethiopian adoption system that have had lots of things at a bit of a standstill (orphanage license renewals, agency license renewals, changes in how some paperwork is done, MOWA officials visiting the US resulting in a slow down of the oh-so-important letters that they process for finalization of an adoption). Mostly this applies to families who already have referrals. Waiting, at that point (once you've seen your child's face) becomes an entirely new and different struggle and there have been lots of families in our agency in that predicament with no movement detected.
Our agency actually has had a backlog of families who received their referrals in late November, December, January and February who hadn't been granted court dates. By the way, it's probably best that we weren't one of those families; I don't really think that we are going to do well in this second (waiting for a court date after referral) and third parts (waiting for an Embassy date after we've been to court) of our adoption; the part(s) that begin once we have a referral. In fact, I've been praying that while all of this slow down has been going on, that once it picks up, it REALLY picks up.
Anyway, the greatest part of today's post is that on our agency's Facebook page earlier this week (I believe it was on Monday), we all agreed that we should come together and pray BOLDLY for movement THIS WEEK and I can't even begin to tell you how exciting it's been to see MULTIPLE families, since then, finally receive word that they have court dates, preliminary hearing dates, etc. On Wednesday alone, THREE families not only got their court dates but had to be packed and on a plane within 48 hours of that long-awaited phone call. They are Ethiopia-bound as we speak. God is good.
In addition, during these days of praying specifically for movement, our placing agency's three-year license renewal was issued and many of the orphanages also went through the relicensing procedures (which does slow down referrals).
The GREAT news from the month of February is that 5 children were placed with their forever families. Even more exciting is that all five children are children who are typically considered hard to place; 2 HIV+ children and one sibling set of three.
And, so, to wrap up this already too long post, even though our family hasn't moved an inch since last month, I'm feeling very encouraged and hopeful that it is only a matter of time; His time. And resting in His promises.......
"but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:31
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