Another Bend in the Road

Well, if you've been following along, you know about the time crunch we are facing. The Ethiopian courts close for 2 months starting in August, and because they are closed, the referrals (matching a family with a child) stop too because they can't be processed through closed courts. The previous cut-off date for referrals was June 15. It was averaging 8 months to be matched with a child, and we cross into our 8th month on June 2. Hence, the crunch.

We received an email today that referrals that are made after June 1 will probably not make it through before courts close. (Add to the mix that most people on the top of "the List" are currently entering into their 9th month of waiting.) And it doesn't look like we'll make it through before court closes.

We are #31 on "the List". 8 people in front of us are waiting for sibling groups or older kids. That puts us at about #23 in line for an infant (remembering that the list only represents about 40% of the people signed on with CHSFS). Looking at trends, there should be a batch of referrals next week (but not 23 of them!), but they seem to come about once a month, and if that's the case, this would be the last batch before court closure.

So it doesn't look like we'll be traveling in Aug. or Sept. as it had seemed the last time we talked to our specialist.

They have decided to do something new this year. They will continue to give out referrals during court closure to those folks who want them. "Why wouldn't you want one?" you may ask. Well, it means a prolonged time between referral and traveling to get your little one. It means you sit for longer knowing the child you have been matched with. You sit on one side of the globe while a little baby sits in an orphanage on the other side of the globe...a little baby that is supposed to be (and eventually will be) in your home. You sit and wait while a child that will eventually join your family grows up in the care center. And all you can do is look at the one picture you've received that's now tacked to your refrigerator. (Just a little emotional glimpse there...as to why people wouldn't want to have a referral during court closures).

What will happen is that any referral that is accepted during court closure will be turned into the registrar and put on a waiting list in the order of when they are received to be heard once the courts reopen. These will hopefully be heard in the fall, and people will travel by the end of the year to bring the children home. Or you can choose to wait to get a referral after courts reopen, have it processed late fall, and travel at the beginning of 2009.

So, we continue to sit, with the "rules" of the game changing yet again, but knowing full well that God is in charge and that His timing makes perfect sense. In that we can find peace.

We continue to pray for the little girl that will some day join our family!