First Major Hiccup in the Adoption Process

Today we received some terribly frustrating news that we are trying to see as a positive opportunity. Effective immediately The Ethiopian government says we have to take TWO trips to Ethiopia in order to bring our kids home. This is the current process in Haiti and some other countries as well. I am not sure if it will make the process any longer. I don't think it will, just more expensive. At this point there are a lot of questions and DOVE, our adoption agency, is trying to meet with the powers that be to get answers this next week. I will let you know when we know.

Apparently there have been couples who were adopting from Ethiopia who got there and picked up their children and then left them because they changed their minds!!! WHAT??!!?? Are you kidding me. My heart is aching for those kids. I can't even comprehend. Somehow I would love to stand in front of those couples and let them look me in the eyes and have them explain to me why and how. I want them to know that their sad decision has not just affected the children that they left behind, but other orphans who were waiting for a bed and EVERY family who is in the adoption process or will enter it in the future. I can only imagine they struggled with their decision, but I can not even fathom.

So, the opportunities...we will get to go and meet our children and spend time with them in Ethiopia. The hard part will be to leave them. Of course we could go live there for a few months until all the process is done, but that isn't a real viable option. The other potential opportunity is that, if some extra crazy miracle happens that we get a bunch of extra money, we could take our kids (Kynzi and Karston) with us to Ethiopia to meet their siblings and experience their culture. It costs between $2,500-$3,000 per ticket to get there, so adding four more tickets doesn't seem possible, but I believe in a God who doesn't know the word impossible. So, who knows? So we pray and we offer our hearts and our futures into the hands of God. We pray for our future kids and their birth parents. We are asking God to watch over them, to love them, to protect them.

I was not ready for the onslaught of emotions this has suddenly evoked in me as I type these words. Wow.

I will update you as soon as we know anything. Thank you for your prayers.

No, this is just a pic I found online.