9 Months Waiting & Update

Wow.. time flies, but how I wish E was home with us. Last year I was SURE she’d be home for this Christmas. Now I pray that she’s home by next Christmas.

Referral/”the List”

The “Referral Clocks” for our agency are moving, but not very fast for girls right now. They are still referring little girls to couples who submitted their dossiers in September of 2009… so they are about 13 (almost 14) months out for referrals. Since we are on HOLD status, we won’t get our referral until probably August next year, when Faith is 6 months old, but at the rate things are going, our delay won’t be too much more than if we were still on “the list.”

Court Hearings/Embassy Appointments

Our Agency has reported that the time from court to embassy appointments are now between 4 – 6 weeks. Last year is was 8-12 weeks, so things are moving in the right direction. They also reported that they are now scheduling both court appointments on the same day (biological family and adoptive family); one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This should speed things up as well as sometimes these hearings were days or weeks apart. 

Acacia Village

Other awesome news is that CWA has finally opened Acacia Village, which will house up to 250 orphaned children who are waiting to go home with their forever family. CWA reports that they love their new space and there are plans for expansion that will allow CWA families and missionaries to stay there as well. Christian World Foundation is still taking donations for this awesome project. Check out this link if you want to learn more http://www.acaciavillage.org/

What’s Next?

We have touched base with our home study provider who will have to do our Home Study Update once Faith is born. We will then need to apply for an extension to the USCIS for our paperwork and fingerprints (they will expire before we complete our adoption process). We are hoping they grant us this extension. Otherwise, we will have to resubmit all of our paperwork and fingerprints to the tune of $890.00.

When will you have E home?

Our hope is that we could get our referral in August or September and then perhaps travel at least once by the end of the year. To complete our adoption by the end of next year would be such a blessing, especially since the Adoption Tax Credit expires at the end of 2011.

The Courts will most likely be closed next year for the rainy season (usually from August until October) when we get our referral, so we will have to wait for a court hearing date until after the courts reopen. But, if we would get our referral, then have our court date by late October… there could certainly be a chance to have E home by Christmas next year. How cool would that be?

But, if I’ve said it once, I’m sure I’ve said it a million times—I’m not in control of the timing of things. So we will continue to wait patiently for our little angel.

Thanks again for all of your support and prayers during our detour!

"Love is never tired of waiting." 1 Corinthians 13:4