let me explain

i wanted to give a little explanation for why it seemed like we were so close to a referral before christmas and yet still haven't received one.

every child who is going to be referred to an adoption agency to be referred on to prospective adoptive parents must have proper paperwork. this paperwork is the evidence that shows the child is truly available for adoption and has not been trafficked or unethically removed from his/her birthparents.

in the past, the ethiopian government was satisfied with a lesser amount of paperwork. however, as accusations of wrongdoing have become more prevalant, the government has added additional paperwork requirements. this paperwork must be gathered by local social workers, not adoption agencies. and the problem is, ethiopia is a third world country with a fragile infrastructure and drastically fewer resources than the united states. so some orphanages may only have one social worker gathering paperwork for many children. that social worker may have to travel out to a village to get information. that social worker may have to dine with a local official several times just to get him to sign a particular document. there are many cultural and logistical variables making the paperwork process in ethiopia very slow right now.

i also know that some social workers are currently having to backtrack on paperwork for children who have already been referred. in mid-december, around the time we heard we were next for unrelated children, the ethiopian government began requiring death certificates for deceased birth parents to be included in referral paperwork (meaning, a referral can't be made without this paperwork). there are some cases right now of children whose referrals were made before that new paperwork requirement went into effect, but whose cases now can't be heard in court until that paperwork is gathered. thus, social workers are having to balance gathering paperwork for those "old" cases with gathering paperwork for children waiting to be referred. and, of course, with all of that you run into the cultural and logistical variables i already mentioned.

i would ask you to pray specifically for those gathering paperwork affecting our case. our agency was told in december that paperwork for 4 toddlers was "forthcoming," but it hasn't arrived yet. please pray it comes within the next 3 weeks. we would like to give jamie's brother the good news by phone before he deploys to afghanistan for a year. but also, please pray for the overall paperwork gathering process in ethiopia. this paperwork is protecting vulnerable children (it is a good thing), but the inefficiency of the process is keeping children in orphanages -- and without families -- far too long.

and as an aside to all of that, i feel a need to say that despite all the slow-downs and all the shattering of expectations, we would not do this any other way. we have been so blessed by adoption and feel confident in saying that God isn't done building our family through this miracle. he has given us such grace and patience and sustenence throughout this process, so please don't pity us and wonder if we regret making the decision to do this. in fact, the way we see it, the only decision we ever had the option of making was the decision to be obedient or disobedient to God calling us to something greater and bigger than anything we could've dreamed for ourselves.