Good News

I spoke with our agency's Ethiopia director yesterday who just returned from visiting their programs in Ethiopia. She told me that they were in the process of putting together referral paperwork for a group of children--including baby girls!! She expected to have the paperwork within "ohhhhh, the next week"!!!

I know better than to get my hopes up too much in international adoption, but this is about as sure of a thing as I've gotten in the last year in terms of an impending referral. I honestly am having a really hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that this is truly going to happen. I have been in a state of limbo in which my mind has tried to convince my heart that this adoption is never going to happen, that we will never have a daughter from Ethiopia, that we might as well withdraw. True. With this news, my heart is starting to soften and I am beginning to believe again and I cannot wait to hear all the news!

I expressed my concerns about the lag in referrals for the last few months--assuring her that I'm not eager to get a referral if children aren't already in care, but my issue lies in kids being in care for longer than necessary due to a slow down in putting together paperwork. I hope our daughter and other children have not been waiting in the care centers for very long. She said she thought they were behind on paperwork for the last few months which was the reason for the slow down in referrals...ugh. Of course, I know there is a lot going on there on many different fronts, so I cannot judge, but my heart hurts for any child staying an extra day without their family to love on them.

I'm oddly less anxious with this news than I was not knowing any news. I am not fixated on my phone and feel much more peace. I am not a good "no info" waiter.

Of course, I'll be keeping everyone posted as soon as our phone rings!