We moved again! Yeah! This part of the whole adoption process is actually kinda fun. Every time your numbers move, you get to have a little mini celebration. It's feels like when I was pregnant and I would count down each week, but this time I'm not growing larger each week, I sleep through the night, I can paint my own toenails, and I don't feel nauseated. I know that day will come when it will become excruciatingly difficult. I can't even imagine how hard it will be after we see a picture of our child and then have to wait months to get him. A year ago at this time, it would only take a matter of weeks between getting a picture and bringing home your child, but now it is a matter of months. From what it sounds like, according to our agency and an agency that our friends are using, each child is now required to have more paperwork. Things like birth certificates, which are not at all standard in ET, death certificates for parents, which is really not standard, and a bunch of other paperwork. The problem is, is that "the other paperwork" is different for each case. In one case they may require 8 certain pieces of paper and then the next case may require 10 different pieces of paper. It seems weird to think that there is no due process or no list of paperwork that applies to each adoption, but that's just the way it is there. Agencies are trying to gather the correct papers before going to court, but it sounds like a real moving target. I feel bad for the agencies, because I know they are trying really hard to get it all right and when they don't, they get a lot of fingers pointing at them. I can only imagine that they celebrate with successful adoptions and their hearts hurt when things go wrong. You can all remind me of this if my adoption doesn't go smoothly with paperwork and court and I feel tempted to throw our agency under the bus. I'm sure I'll be there one of these days.
So, speaking of being there one of these days, we will be THERE, in Ethiopia, one of these days. I'm hopeful, that we will get matched sometime before the courts close in September and that we travel sometime before the end of the year. Since, we will now have to travel twice, we are talking $8,000 to $12,000 for airline tickets, depending on what time of year we go. So far, we have saved enough for our snacks in the airport and taxi fares, so we have a ways to go. With it feeling like we are getting a little closer, we are thinking of ways to raise some more money. Our very generous friends have offered their house to hold a garage sale on the Old North End garage sale day, where people come out by the hoards. However, we don't have that much to sell, yet. That is where you come in. If you were planning on bringing some old furniture or garage sale material to the Goodwill over the course of the next few months, then we would love to take it off your hands and try to sell it at the garage sale on the 2nd Sat. of June. Well, this is plenty long, so I'll wrap it up. Have a good one!
P.S. - the picture is of a platter of Ethiopian food from our local Ethiopian restaurant. YUM
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