In the wise words of Joe Dirt

We've gotta keep on keepin' on. 

Well, the good news is that court gave MOWA a date of November 5 (tomorrow) to issue their recommendation.

 

And that’s where the good news stops.

 

MOWA told us that they won’t be issuing their recommendation tomorrow.

 

Since they closed down for 2 weeks, they’re still working on cases from October 20th.

 

OCTOBER 20th.

 

They told the team in Ethiopia, they likely won’t get to our case until next week.

 

BEST case scenario is we get our recommendation letter and court date by mid-week next week.

 

Likely scenario is we get our recommendation letter and court date by the end of the week.

 

Worst case scenario is we get our recommendation letter and court date the following week.

Yup. 

 

All we can do is keep trusting and keep hoping and keep on keepin' on. 

 

We're inching our way there. Slowly but surely. ❤️

  

  

Where to begin….

I honestly have spent a big portion of my time just staring at the screen, wondering what to say.

 

First of all, know that 99.9999999% of adoption processes are not like ours. (I’m not sure how KC and I feel being the rare exception.)

 

For whatever reason, MOWA and the Ethiopian courts don’t follow the “normal” processes and procedures with us.

 

We have no clue why. By all accounts, we should have had our file reviewed today and should have received our court date.

 

But instead, the courts issued a separate court date of October 10^th for MOWA to review our file (again)  to issue their recommendation – positive or negative.

 

That means we would not receive a court date until the week of the 13^th.

 

KC and I are at the point where we are no longer sad, but angry. There is no logical reason why Bertie should not have already been home. There’s no logical reason why we should not have been given a court date today.

 

We entered into this stage of the process with several families, and our file has consistently been re-done, delayed, and turned back.

Again, this makes absolutely no sense  to anyone - us or our agency. Our agency has no idea why "the change in process".

I wanted to wait before typing up a post because there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us, so the time difference can get a bit frustrating in instances like this. 

Guys, I'm going to be transparent with you. We do not know what another 'no' from MOWA and the courts would mean. We do not know if we could "lose" Bertie because they are not "content" with our file and what it contains. 

Friends, this is MORE than just us "waiting on God" or "trusting in His timing". 

KC and I both strongly feel like we're in the middle of a battle; a spiritual battle. 

In Ephesians 6:12-13 we're told that:

[Our] struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

There comes a time when we are called to do more; when we're called pray and fast and seek Him out. 

That does not mean that prayer and fasting will immediately remedy the situation. Many times, it will be hard fought. 

Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 

But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 

-Daniel 10:12-13

For 21 days, Daniels prayers were fought. Daniel kept praying. He held on to faith that He would come through, and He did. 

KC and I are not giving up. We are, again, asking for your prayers. 

But if you feel led, we are asking you to take it a step further and fast for Bertie as well. 

 

  

  

And if not….

We’re tired. Things feel a bit muddled.

 

·         Trying to get that last piece needed for the dossier

·         Praying we get it in the mail to Little Rock by next Tuesday or Wednesday

·         Praying we get a mid-October court date

·         Trying to get everything ready for school starting on Monday

·         Trying to plan for being gone during the school year (and likely over Thanksgiving)

·         Trying to slowly start buying Christmas gifts so we don’t have to worry once we get back

·         Trying to ignore the rude and insensitive remarks made about our family and the decisions we make with God’s leading

·         Life

 

Right now, that’s kind of where we’re at and how we’re feeling.

 

We’re trying to keep ourselves occupied by doing some things around the house.

 

It’s hard to keep your mind distracted sometimes. But we’re trying.

 

We found out this week that we could get a court date given to us during the “closing”. Apparently, the judges are the only ones out during the rainy season. The clerks are still there working.

 

So there’s a chance we could be given our date before the courts officially open.

 

However… (are you expecting those from us now? Haha!)

 

Our sweet coordinator who, bless her, has had to deliver a lot of bad news to us recently, told us that right now they are scheduling couples with positive letters in mid-October into late October.

 

That’s for those who are “paper ready” right now.

 

Unfortunately, that’s not us.

 

Hence (always a fun word), the likelihood of us getting an October court date is looking slim. At this rate, it’s more likely to be early November.

Our friends received word that they are scheduled for October 16. So we may not travel together after all. 

 

………………………………………………………………………

 

I think sometimes you just get to a place that you hear more, for lack of a better word, crappy news and you just stare at those words, sigh, and then kind of purse your lips.

 

And you have to be careful because you don’t want to turn into this “hope for the best, but expect the worst” kind of person.

 

Trust me.

 

That was the beat I followed and it wasn’t pleasant.

 

So while you’re staring at those words glaring back at you, you summon everything you can and utter a small moan.

 

He knows. He understands all the pain, frustration, and weariness that is contained in that moan.

 

And you know what?

 

Despite all the crappiness and chaos, He is still good. He is for me.

 

And He is still worth it.

 

Did you catch that?

 

HE. IS. STILL. WORTH. IT.

 

I want to be open with you guys; I promised I would be through this blog.

 

I want to be real and honest and talk about the ups and downs of adoption, life, my walk with Him.

 

BUT I always, always want to make sure you understand that line.

 

Things may not ever go the way that I want them to. We’ll face battles and trials; and we’ll feel like fireballs are heading straight for us.

 

And in that particular moment, life might feel like it pretty much bites the big one; things might just suck.

 

But it’s only for a season, and HE IS STILL WORTH IT. All of it.

 

We are not naïve.

 

We are not weak.

 

We are not grasping at straws.

 

We are putting our trust and hope in something greater than ourselves.

 

While in this moment things may seem messy and chaotic to me, they aren’t to Him.

 

So yes, today might feel a bit crappy. But He is still worth anything that may get thrown my way.

 

And friends, looking back through time, I know we’re in good company.

  

 

 

Where We Are…

I’m sure you may have figured out by now, that there are a lot of ups and downs in adoption land. Many times it seems like there are more downs than ups.

 

 

· Court in Ethiopia is backed up.

· We still don’t have a date for the          birth relative interview.

· We still don’t have enough to make the trip.

· We’ll likely miss the first day of second grade for Caedmon and the first day of Kindergarten for Oliver.

· If we don’t get a court date before August, we’ll have to wait until October to see her.

· That’s 4 months away.

· We’ll miss her birthday.

 

 

It’s been 12 days since we were submitted to court. It can take up to 4 weeks to be given a birth relative court date. Then, we need a letter of recommendation from the MOWCYA which can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. After we receive that letter, we’ll wait to be given OUR court date.

 

More waiting.

 

Last week was rough. Actually, so far this week has been too.  I am upset. Tired. Worried. Ready to be there.

 

I’m doing my best to stay hopeful, but to be completely honest, we are. Worn. Out. And as much as I know God is here beside me and I know that He has it all under control, I’m feeling a littleincredibly impatient and cantankerous right now. This momma is ready to see her girl and bring her home.

 

I’d prefer that this post not turn into a pity party, so I’m going to leave it at that. Haha! We still have some hurdles to clear, and we’re praying we can clear them sooner rather than later. We’ve trusted Him this far, and we aren’t going to stop now.

 

So for now, I’m just here. Waiting. It’s hard, but we’ve waited before. But please bear with me the next few weeks as we wait for news.

 

Thank you all for your prayers. We sure could use them.  ❤️

 

 

 

*I sometimes feel selfish for feeling like this. Our story is unique to us, and presents its own challenges to our family. But I know there are adoptive families out there who are going through hard (and harder) times than we are right now. That doesn’t diminish how we’re feeling, but I know that despite our ups and downs, there are families who have experienced what we have. And they survived.

 

Today, many families are in D.C. to plead with our government to help get their children in the Democratic Republic of Congo home. They’ve been legally adopted and cleared court, however the Congolese government will not issue exit visas.

 

Some of these families have been waiting more than a year to bring their little ones home. Please, pray for these families as well. Adoption is hard. But our little kiddos are SO worth the hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PAIR Letter? Check!!

Hello friends!

 

Well, good news! We were submitted to court on Friday! Our agency went ahead and submitted us without our PAIR letter since they knew we’d get it in the next day or so.

 

And guess what was in the mailbox on Friday afternoon? You guessed it. Our letter. This gives up preliminary approval for Bertie to migrate to the US and become a citizen. 

I dropped it in the mail to our agency yesterday afternoon. They will get it authenticated and sent to Ethiopia for our court file. 

 

Per our agency, court has been a little backed up lately, but they hope to get us a birth relative court date within the next 1-4 weeks. We’re praying hard that it’s sooner. We’re quickly approaching the court closures for the rainy season.

 

As soon as we the court date has been completed, we’ll be waiting on a recommendation letter from the Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA). As soon as the team has that letter, we’ll be submitted for a court date. Those will generally come within 1-3 weeks!

 

Please continue to pray for us. We still aren’t where we need to be financially due to crazy airfare prices doubling for the summer season. We had planned to save at least 6,500 by the end of June – and we’re there. But after running numbers for each of our 3 travel options (2 trips, up to a 4 week trip, or up to a 6 week trip), we realized we’d need almost double. This was not poor planning on our part. We continued to check airfare all throughout the spring. And it hovered around 1100-1600 per ticket.

 

When we looked earlier this month, we had definitely had sticker shock. KC and I are not big travelers, so we didn't realize what the summer months will do to ticket prices. Haha!

Apparently, the summer airfare hike is hitting many adoptive families hard. We're all scrambling for any help we can get, and most organizations are just out of funds at this point. 

 

We’re budgeting as best as we can for the next month to allow for us to add extra to our travel savings account. Even with all the uncertainty, we’re not stressing out too bad because we’ve prayed continually for His guidance on this. We’re oddly at peace and we know that He will meet us where we are. We know that’s from Him because we should not be this calm at this point. Haha!

 

I’m thankful for His presence to help calm my spirit when the things of this world try to steal my joy. We are blessed in more ways than we realize, and I try to dwell on those things instead.  :)

Soon. It'll all be over soon. ❤️