We've been in a bit of a whirlwind this week with lots of
adoption action. In the middle of the
week, we heard that Baby A's birthmother had contacted the orphanage director
(the newspaper ad must have been effective), and they went with her to court on
Wednesday, where she gave her consent for the adoption. Additionally, the
staff in Ethiopia contacted the Ministry of Women's Affairs and found out that
they had completed and sent their approval letter to the judge. We were delighted
with all this news and thought we'd be in a good position come next Monday
(July 15), when the next hearing was scheduled.
Then the next day (Thursday), we got a call saying that the judge had issued us
a court date! So, we’ve got our marching orders…on Friday July 26th,
we get to stand before the judge, and declare our intent to adopt our daughter.
During this first trip, we'll spend time with our girl; appear in court; travel
four hours south of the capital to the smaller town where she was born; and potentially
visit with her birthmother. The adoption will be considered final once
we've appeared in court (FYI- as far as we know, the courts will close for the
rainy season sometime around the beginning of August, so we're very grateful to
get our hearing in before that time). Then we'll return home (sans baby,
ugh!!). The US Embassy in Ethiopia (which does not close for rainy
season) will complete some details for immigration/passport/birth certificate,
and call us back over for an appointment with them roughly 4-6 weeks
later. We'll go back for our
second trip to appear for that interview and bring our baby home (perhaps the
beginning of September).
So once again, we could use your prayers:
- for safe travel
- for the logistics of lodging/transportation/documentation/court appearance to run smoothly
- for energy, patience, and health for Ryan’s parents who will be caring for our kids while we’re away
- for safety, health, peace and security for the kids…this is, by far, the longest that we’ve ever been away
- for our first moments and hours and days with Anna to be washed over with an extra measure of grace
- for our peace and sanity on a really hard day in a couple weeks when we'll have to board a plane and leave our daughter behind while we fly back to a home and a family that will seem a little empty for the next few weeks
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