Clickety, clack

As I wrote nearly a month ago, adoption is the king of roller coaster rides. We were climbing that big hill, clickety, clack, clickety clack. Just as we were about to reach the crest and plunge down gaining speed, it seems the roller coaster broke. We are stuck.

The adoption coordinator at Hope called today. When she got the list of families who had been filed for court and did not see our names she called their staff in ET. Apparently the paperwork they received from AWOP was incomplete and so we did NOT get filed for court after all.

This means that we will have to wait through the court closure which goes from mid-Aug to October 1. Our paperwork can be filed during this time but we will not get a date until after they open back up on October 1. So our earliest likely travel would be end of November but mid-end of December is likely too.

While the fact that we weren’t even filed was unexpected, having to wait through the closures is not a complete surprise. Yes, of course, we are disappointed. But as always I know that God’s timing is best. There have been so many times in my life that I complained about missing something or the timing of something only to be able to look back months later and say “Duh! Thanks God.”

So I’m looking for the positive in the situation:

• The kids will get to spend more time with their grandma.
• Airline tickets will be cheaper.
• Rainy season, and the mud that goes with it, will be over.
• It will be beautiful and green in Ethiopia (or so I’ve heard).
• We have friends who are missionaries in South Africa. Mark spent some time with them on his trip in April and he really wants to take me there on the way. But they won’t be home until this fall. Now maybe we can go see them.
• Maybe we’ll get to travel with other friends who probably won’t be traveling before courts close - like Jen who is still waiting on a referral, or Becky or Jodi (although I’ll pray they get court dates before closure).
• The kids will be well settled in their new school.
• Maybe we’ll actually have time to take a quick family vacation to CA this summer.

I’m sure I’ll think of more things and I’ll come back and add them on the list.

Added 7/12 - More time to learn some Amharic