Next Steps

A few people have asked me if Sunshine will be coming home on this first trip. The answer is a very sad, no. You have to take two trips in order to adopt from Ethiopia. The first one is to pass the Ethiopia court system. That is also the trip that you usually meet your child for the first time. It is usually between 5-6 days long. Some families extend that time. I WISH we could but the Army is calling and she can be pretty stingy with her time. Trying to be grateful that they are letting Pete go at all on such short notice but God has blessed Pete with a very gracious Commander. So our trip will be 5 days long. Court is usually a really short process, like 5-10 minutes kind of short and then the Judge tells us if we passed or didn't pass. If we pass, GREAT!!! I will finally shout to the world our daughter's name and proudly show off her pictures. If we don't pass, that will mean another court trip for us until we pass. Most families are passing court at this point.

So, after we pass, we then start collecting our post court paperwork (Sunshine's new birth certificate, passport, etc...) By we, I mean the Ethiopian government and our agency. As soon as we collect all the needed documents, our case will be sent to the American Embassy who will then look through everything and make sure it is accurate. At that point they will schedule a birth family interview in our case. If the child is abandoned it works a little differently but for our case we will more than likely have a birth family interview. As soon as the birth family interviews, our Embassy will CLEAR us, which means, WE CAN GO AND PICK HER UP!!!! That whole process takes about 8-12 weeks right now. It has taken much shorter than that time frame and much longer but that is about typical. So we are looking at about 2-3 months before seeing our kiddo again. :( However, the next time we see her, she will be coming home.

I just wanted to give you guys a little more information because it can be confusing. It is hard to believe we are here in this place right now. I am still trying to wrap my brain around it all. However I have a neat God story that must be shared. When we lost Shai, I wanted to grow our family through natural means at that time rather than adoption. Pete was faithful and a strong leader and he truly felt that adoption was our next step. It was hard to trust but through prayer and Pete's loving leadership, I felt that he was right. However, I was very concerned about the time frame in adoption. I prayed, asking God that if He wanted us to adopt, would He make it like a pregnancy and have it last right at 9 months. I also said that if that was not the best than I would still trust His ways. So, fast forward and I started looking at our time frame. If we bring home Sunshine when the time frame says we will then it will have been 9 months from start to finish! God is good! All the time! And hey, my pants still fit! :) Those are the small details that remind me that God is not silent or distant. He is very near and active and yes I would say that even when it would not have fit my time table. My life verse is

Isaiah 55: 8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."