Tuesday, May 25, 2010

the dotted line



We signed a referral today!!!

While our hearts were still healing, God took our hands and led us to a beautiful little 13-month-old boy. This all happened much more quickly than we expected, but we are THRILLED and so thankful to God for bringing us to this point.

In a previous post I mentioned a government agency closure that was holding up paperwork on most of YWAM's waiting children. Most... but not all. Our little guy is all ready to go, just waiting for us! Our dossier is already in Ethiopia, so when the referral documents arrive in the next week or two everything will be in place for the in-country agency staff to request our court date. Here's a tentative look at how long things may take from here on out (# of weeks listed is how long each step will take, not how many weeks from now until we complete that step):

1-2 weeks: referral documents arrive in Ethiopia
2-4 weeks: receive assigned court date
4-6 weeks: travel for court date
4-12 weeks: return for embassy appointment and to bring home our boy!

The Ethiopian court system shuts down for 1-2 months beginning in mid-August, so we are praying that our court date will be assigned for sometime in July. That is a best-case scenario, with a more likely scenario being a court date in late September or early October after the re-opening. We are trying to remind ourselves that we're dealing with the government of a developing country and therefore anything could happen... but we're also hoping and praying that this little boy will be in our arms SOON!

Thank you for all your prayers for us in this process, especially over the past few weeks. The only explanation we have for this awesome new development is that many, many, many people have been praying. Thank you, and thank God!

10 comments:

  1. Wow!!! So happy to read this and so happy for your family!

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  2. Praise God! We will continue to pray.

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  3. Congratulations!! We will pray for speed!
    Love you! The Pendergrafts

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  4. SO HAPPY for you guys! We will be praying with you that everything from here goes as quickly as possible.

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  5. yay! We're so excited for your family and will be praying for smooth sailing. Arie will have a little cousin his age! :-)

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  6. GOOD NEWS!! This is something to celebrate, Haley. May God grant you grace in the waiting.

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  7. You guys are the ones who got "Baby Boy EB's" referral! Yay!! I noticed that he was wearing a WSU onesie in his older pics -- as a Coug myself, that endeared him to me just a tad. ;) What a lucky boy to have two big brothers to run around after!

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  8. Love, Love, Love it! So excited for you and praying for a court date before the closure...
    Amen!

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  9. I am so happy for you guys. I noticed when your little guy was taken of the WC list - I will be praying for a quick court date.
    Blessings,
    Kameron
    www.theshadrickslove.com

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