It's Time to Be Honest

I know I promised to be a better blogger the last time I posted and I obviously have not lived up to that.  Honestly, it's in part because I haven't known how to express my feelings over the last couple of months.  They have been some of the hardest we've endured since deciding to pursue international adoption.  None of the news coming out of Ethiopia is good or optimistic.  Time lines are being lengthened significantly and in the most recent update we learned that no infants have been adopted out of Ethiopia for some time.  Meaning that the little progress that is being made towards adoptions is with older children and for us that means that we are not moving up the list at all.  About a month ago, I talked with the Holt Ethiopia office in Oregon and at that time we learned that we are sitting at approximately 80 out of 120 waiting families--talk about disheartening.  So needless to say, Matt and I have felt very helpless lately; questioning what is going on and why; and recently wondering what options we have.

First of all let me try to explain what we know about what is happening in Ethiopia to delay things so much.  It all started last summer when the Ministry of Women and Child fired their director.  Shortly after that adoptions stopped completely.  They discovered that a lot of short cuts were being taken with adoptions including not always notifying appropriate family members of an upcoming adoption.  They have since added more processes to ensure that appropriate people are notified as well as other bureaucracy that I don't totally understand.  It seems like the changes they are now including are for the better, but unfortunately it is slowing things down a lot and waiting children and waiting families are caught in the middle.

This last weekend, Matt and I were talking about the adoption and feeling discouraged-unable to answer each other's questions or calm each others' fears.  We decided that enough was enough; it was time to meet with our social worker, Bonnie to find out if she knew more of what was happening in Ethiopia and to get some answers on what our options are.  We met with her this morning and I'm happy to report that we feel more optimistic than we have for a while.  Not because they were able to give us better news regarding Ethiopia, but because we do have options.  I'm not going to write about our options now, sorry.  Matt and I are seeking the advice of our families and praying about what decision to make and which direction to go.  I am going to ask you all for your prayers again as well.  We have a big, important decision to make and it's scary.  We want to make sure that we are making a wise decision and not making a decision based on our current emotions.  So please pray with us as we seek wisdom.  Pray for our child wherever he/she may be.  Pray for patience.  Thank you friends.