Still Waiting…
At the end of June, we received notification that our dossier had been received in Ethiopia. This was obviously welcome news because the sooner the documents are processed in Ethiopia, the sooner we can get a court date, which is the necessary step before we can get a travel date (generally 6-8 weeks after court approval) and actually meet Little Girl and bring her home. Although probably a long-shot, our hope has been to have a court date assigned before August.
August is a key month because that’s when the courts traditionally close in Addis Ababa. And for good reason – it’s the rainy season. The courts usually remain closed during August and September. So, if we don’t get a court date before they close up shop in August, that would mean it’s a very good chance we won’t get one until October. That would mean Little Girl might not even be home before Christmas.
Needless to say, that’s a lot of waiting.
On Wednesday of last week, we discovered that some families whose dossiers had been received in Ethiopia just a few weeks before ours had been assigned court dates – for next week! This was very encouraging and it was difficult not to get too excited because it was starting to look like there was a very real possibility that we were going to get a court date before the rainy season closures.
Of course, they say the adoption process is a roller coaster. And that’s what we’re learing from our experience. We found out on Thursday of this past week that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) in Ethiopia was taking a two week break…effective immediately. Apparently, they’re addressing staffing needs. What staffing needs? I have no idea. But here’s where the MOWA closing affects us: they write letters of recommendation for the prospective adoptive families. So while MOWA isn’t part of the court system, the courts cannot process adoption cases without these letters. To our understanding, this has essentially put a freeze on the scheduling of all new adoption cases.
So that’s where we are. We’re still waiting. We’re still relying on God to continue to orchestrate all of this and weave our family together in a way that only He can.
But while we wait, we have a Garage Sale to get ready for. All of the money from the sale will go directly towards our efforts to bring Little Girl home – whenever that is! I’ll post more information about the Garage Sale very, very soon. Stay tuned!
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