Even baby steps move you forward the tiniest bit. And for that I am thankful. We found out today that the courts did not open on Monday like we'd hoped they would, but they are going to open on October 8. Last year it took 10 days for the courts to start giving out court dates. If that is any indication of how things will go this year, we won't hear anything before October 17. We are praying (and we would love you to join us in prayer!) that we find out by the end of next week (Oct 12) when we need to be in Ethiopia.
And this is a good opportunity to explain what this means. For this adoption, we have to travel twice to Ethiopia. Our first trip will be for court (hopefully in October). On this trip, we will travel to Harar (7 hours from Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia) to visit the twins in the care center they have been living in since we found out about them in March. After we visit with them for a few days, we will travel back to Addis Ababa for our court hearing. At this court hearing we will legally become the parents of the twins and we will be able to post pictures online after that! :)
After we go for court, the adoption agency will need to submit our court documents to the US Embassy in Ethiopia. The US Embassy will then review our case and invite us to come back for our Embassy hearing. At that point (it will probably be 3 months after court, but we are praying that it only takes 2 months!) we will travel for the second time to bring our twins home.
We are so grateful for this journey even though it has not been what we expected because it feels like it is taking forever. But, we trust and know that God has a plan for our family. And as my Mom keeps saying, "They'll be home before you know it!" Once we get those sweet babies into our arms, I just know the long wait will melt away. They are worth the wait. God chose them special for our family - just like He chose Michael and Liliana for our family - and any wait is worth having them in our forever family. We are truly blessed.
And this is a good opportunity to explain what this means. For this adoption, we have to travel twice to Ethiopia. Our first trip will be for court (hopefully in October). On this trip, we will travel to Harar (7 hours from Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia) to visit the twins in the care center they have been living in since we found out about them in March. After we visit with them for a few days, we will travel back to Addis Ababa for our court hearing. At this court hearing we will legally become the parents of the twins and we will be able to post pictures online after that! :)
After we go for court, the adoption agency will need to submit our court documents to the US Embassy in Ethiopia. The US Embassy will then review our case and invite us to come back for our Embassy hearing. At that point (it will probably be 3 months after court, but we are praying that it only takes 2 months!) we will travel for the second time to bring our twins home.
We are so grateful for this journey even though it has not been what we expected because it feels like it is taking forever. But, we trust and know that God has a plan for our family. And as my Mom keeps saying, "They'll be home before you know it!" Once we get those sweet babies into our arms, I just know the long wait will melt away. They are worth the wait. God chose them special for our family - just like He chose Michael and Liliana for our family - and any wait is worth having them in our forever family. We are truly blessed.
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