Not the Update I Wanted to Share

We know that many of you are anticipating our court date and our travel ALMOST as much as we are! We have literally been stalking our mailbox all week for our approval letter that was supposed to come any time now. I kid you not, I went to the mailbox three times yesterday just to make sure, and Jeffrey has been running home on his lunch break every day to check.

We don't know if it is because of the Easter holiday or some other reason, but it still hasn't come yet. Once we receive the letter, we scan it and email it to our adoption agency and within a week, we should have a court date. A week after that, we should be in Ethiopia.

So yes, although we are disappointed that the letter hasn't come, this is all really exciting news, and we can't wait to hold Zane in our arms and legally become his parents.

Because we know so many of our friends and family pray for us daily and are invested in our adoption, we don't want to keep you out of the loop from what is happening. The last two weeks have been absolutely devastating, and we haven't been able to tell you all what is going on because we were trying to process it ourselves and trying to find more information before we received a lot of questions that we didn't know how to answer. Guys, I have been physically sick over this and we have both been emotional wrecks the last two weeks but this week especially. There are still a lot of unknowns, but we wanted to give you the information we do have.

Two weeks ago, we received news that the transition home that Zane is currently living in will be closing permanently May 31st. This news shocked us as we knew we would probably meet Zane and pass court before then, but we wouldn't probably clear the Embassy before then. The home he is currently living in is a privately owned home and is just great for him and for us. They send us monthly emails with pictures, health updates, emotional and developmental updates. There is a doctor there, a psychologist there, and a better ration of nannies to children than government orphanages. We had many questions the biggest one being WHERE WILL HE BE MOVING TO? Sadly, all the kids are being split up and will be moving back to the first orphanage they were placed in. Because Zane is from a region far from where he lives now and a region that is currently experiencing a lot of unrest, they would most likely place him to an orphanage he has never been in. We knew right away that this was not good for him because he would be experiencing a lot of trauma and then a few weeks later experience more trauma as he comes home with us. When you take a child out of their environment and place them somewhere where they don't know the people, the routine, or the place that is trauma.

OUR PLAN: After processing this new information, we decided that we would go to court and legally become Zane's parents and then before the home closed, I would fly back to Ethiopia after my school year ended and before the home closed and take custody of Zane early and wait for our approval through the US Embassy. This would mean I would probably be in Ethiopia 2-3weeks longer than we expected. We were going to have to find a place for Zane and I to stay, but we would avoid the transition to the government orphanage and begin attachment and bonding with me.

No worries we had a plan in place. It was going to cost us more money of course for me to stay in country, but we would figure it out and make it work. This was the best scenario we could come up with and we knew that it was short term, so we could do it.

Well....

Last week our plans were destroyed, and we were completely devastated with the news we received from the Ethiopian government.  Click Here if you want to read the Department of States official notice, but I will summarize it for you. The government branch in charge of adoptions has decided to suspend all adoptions in the country. They are saying it is temporarily, but we have no idea how long this could really last. I don't want to tell you how long some suspensions have lasted in the past. I can't speak it or type it. We need this branch of government to sign off on one more form in order for the US Embassy to gives us clearance. So what this means is that we can still go and pass court and become Zane's parents, but they have no idea when he will be allowed to leave the country. He is stuck in Ethiopia.

OUR PLAN: We feel helpless. Right now we are praying A LOT, and waiting for more news. We are so sickened by this news as we were so close, and we were sure he was coming home within the next month or so. We ask that you keep us in your prayers.

If you are praying this is what you can pray for:

1. MOWCYA LIFTS THE SUSPENSION AND ADOPTION CASES START MOVING
2. ZANE'S PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
3. ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WHO ARE EFFECTED BY THIS
4. WISDOM FOR US TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS AND  FOR PEACE

We will keep you updated as we find out more info. I am not going to lie, I am really struggling with this and I don't understand it. The one thing that I find peace in is knowing that God loves Zane far more than Jeffrey and I ever could and I am trusting him with my baby.

Love you.




Comments

  1. I am gutted for you. But you will get through this. I'm not sure why this is happening right now, but I'm confident there's a reason. I love you all. Prayers for the three of you to be together soon!

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