One Month Mark!

Well, we hit the one month mark today. We are thankful a month has past, but regret to share that the wait has been extended for many families including ours. Best case scenereo, Garrett and I would have received a referral in August, but after researching a little further, we may not even have a referral by November.
This is what I have gathered so far...
As the popularity of international adoption (Africa specifically) grows, more and more adoption agencies are starting up programs on the continent, including in the country of Ethiopia. These programs provide a greater chance of survival for 7+ million children in the country, as well as giving them and their families the hope that they will be placed in loving homes throughout the world.
Agencies are finding that families are more willing to relinguish their children now than ever. The AIDS epedimic continues to spread at a devestating rate throughout Africa. Many of these families are saddened by the loss of relinquishing their children, but have released them with great hope and trust in the families they are being given to. This is due primarily, to the reputations of the agencies placing them in homes where they have an opporutnity to thrive. The more established the program, the more it's reputation spreads by word of mouth throughout the villages and cities in Ethiopia. It is encourging news for much of the country, as they desperately need homes and families for their orphan population.
The Ethiopian government has been working on streamlining the adoption process and it has improved greatly. That said, the more programs that run, the more paperwork for the court to process. While our program has been working in Ethiopia for well over 5 years now, others are just starting up and are adding, in heaps, to the stack of paperwork that is piling up on the desks of court workers. The saddest part about this is that the number of children needing homes is growing and they are having to wait longer to come home to their families.
Throw into the mix the yearly Ethiopian court closure (the entire month of August!) and you have a very delayed referral date as well as a longer wait for travel.
All of that explaination to say that it is a fairly safe bet that we will not have our baby in our arms until early spring of next year.
A moment of silence.....
Yes, we know. We were bummed too, but we trust in the timing of it. There is a lot to do before we bring our baby home and we will be watching for the referrals of other families and be excited for them while were are in the wait.
Please pray for the children though. It is when I stop and think about them that I begin to feel despair. To be a small child without a home, just waiting for paperwork to come through in order to meet a new family.... that thought is almost more than I can bear. It is those children, and the millions of others waiting, that I am asking you to pray for. For their safety, their families (biological and adoptive), and their future.
We'll keep you updated.
Beth