WAIT LIST!!!

As of this week, we are officially on the wait list!!!!

I spent the earlier part of this week in Southern California for my grandfather's funeral.  We have had a rough couple of months between the passing of Jonathan's dad and my grandpa so close together, but God has given us little reminders of His goodness on the hardest days.  You may remember that our home study was finalized and we got our Gladney approval on the day Jonathan's dad passed away.  On Tuesday, I left my phone in the car during my grandpa's service.  It was a wonderful service with full military honors in recognition of his combined 41 years in the United States Air Force and California Air National Guard, but it was very hard to get through.  When I got back in the rental car to make the drive from Riverside National Cemetery back to my grandparents' house in Los Angeles, I saw the email from our caseworker letting us know that we were officially on the wait list.  The timing couldn't have been better.

So, everyone keeps asking us the same questions...how much longer does this take?  When will you have your child home?  The best answer I can give you is...I have no idea!!  A few months ago, the average wait time for a referral of a healthy infant was 8 or 9 months.  Our agency then had a 3 month hold on referrals, pushing the current wait time to about a year.  Now that they have begun issuing referrals again, the are estimating that the wait time will drop back down to what it was in a few months. There is however a bit of restructuring going on within the Ethiopia government regarding how they process adoption cases.  Depending on how that plays out, there is the potential for more delays.  The other factor that comes into play is that we are open to some special needs, which could shorten our wait depending on what the needs are of the children that come into Gladney's care and what the families ahead of us on the list are open to.  In other words, next month a child may come along that has a need that no one else ahead of us is open to, or Gladney could go 6 months or more without any special needs children coming into their care.  So, our guess is as good as yours when it comes to when we will get our referral.  Please pray for patience and sanity for me.  :)  Regardless of how long this takes though...we are one step closer!!!