We've had a few ups and downs lately that I want to share with you. Several weeks ago our case worker for our agency, Natalie, called to check in on us. Prior to this phone call, we knew (as do you from reading this blog) that Ethiopian adoptions have slowed down A LOT. We went from initially being told it'd be 18 months start to finish to now we are on the waiting list for an average of 24 months or so.
During the call Natalie walked us through our timeline based upon the families that applied before us and the processing rate in Ethiopian. She told me that as long as things continue to progress the same as they currently are, we are looking at up to 18 more months of waiting. UGH didn't really cover our thoughts. That was like 5 punches in the stomach. Clearly, this was our down that I referred to initially.
After a few days of prayer we have tried to come to terms with what that will look like for us. As Josh stated, this whole adoption was God's idea and it's been on His terms the whole time. We shouldn't get so ahead of ourselves and just wait on Him.
Fast forward a few more weeks to last Thursday (the 13th and my birthday!). We left for Nashville, TN to an adoption/foster conference, Empowering to Connect, put on by Show Hope and Focus on the Family. Life changing would be the words to describe what we heard there. The speakers were so knowledgeable and experienced. It all began basically by saying we are all called on this journey and have the tendency to believe that if we love our adopted/fostered child enough, things will be okay. But sadly that isn't the case.
These "children from hard places" have developed so differently from our biological children in terms of their brain functions and therefore it dominates their behavior. I have been under the false illusion that if we adopt a child young enough then they won't remember all the bad stuff. WRONG. I cannot begin to explain all that we heard in 48 hours but to sum it up, there is hope and there are answers although the road may not be straight. God has called us to this and He will equip us if we ask. And we truly feel like this conference was a HUGE step toward that.
We met two families also adopting from Ethiopia that we connected with and will keep in touch with. My favorite quote from the weekend was: The adoption journey is meant to sanctify and change us as parents. -Amy Monroe
Please keep praying with us.
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