Fork.

The road to international adoption is a bumpy one with lots of twists and turns (yes, we knew the road was like this when we started this process). There are quite a few large potholes (careful not to fall in), and some forks too. Well, we have come to another fork in the road.
The first fork happened in August and it consisted of the Zambia program being put on hold and us changing to Ethiopia. We learned about the second fork yesterday while we were at the Colorado Secretary of State Office trying to get our last documents for the dossier certified. We were all set to send our dossier on Friday. We had some problems at the SOS office and I needed to call Love Basket to see if they could email us the forms we need to get certified because the person who notarized it did not have the correct stamp format. When I called Love Basket our adoption supervisor told us that she was just sending out an email to the families in the Ethiopia program to let them know that they had not been getting referrals as quickly or as frequently as they were expecting and they did not know when they would be getting the next set of referrals. She also went on to say that if something does not change, they would have to look at putting the Ethiopia program on hold for a while until they could figure it out. Well, as you can imagine, we were quite upset. We have been so very, very close to being done with all the paperwork. I have our dossier in an envelope ready to send in. There were tears yesterday, lots and lots of tears. Tears of frustration, not tears of throwing in the towel on our Ethiopian adoption. Our daughter is still there, somewhere in Ethiopia.
Last night, we made the decision of contracting with a new adoption agency and filled out our information for that agency online last night. Thank goodness this new agency will take our home study. We have to take a few steps back. This new agency will have to approve us into their program and we will have to fill out their application information, but then hopefully we will be able to send in our dossier soon. For now, we are enjoying the scenery the new fork has lead us too. Yes, the road to international adoption is one of the bumpiest roads I have ever traveled, but it is filled with kind people, dreams of our Ethiopian child, views of foreign lands, and shaped by God's very own hand.

Community

One thing I have seen throughout this process is the amazing Ethiopian adoption community. I have gotten many many emails and comments from other families who are in the process of adopting or who have finished. These people are so kind and welcoming and ready to answer questions and calm concerns. This last weekend, we were able to meet Josh, Amy and Silas Bottomly who have adopted from Ethiopia, and Kevin and Laurie who are just starting the process. It was so great to meet the Bottomlys as I have been following their blog for the last few months...Silas is just a cute as can be. We are also starting to meet this community of families adopting from Ethiopia who live in Colorado. Kevin and Laurie are adopting a little girl as well...I can't wait for our daughters to be able to meet each other one day. It was just a great time to connect and talk about Ethiopia and adoption.

So much to be thankful for...

Wishing you and yours all the joy and kindness
this Thanksgiving 2007.
Blessings!

Ethiopia in Budget Traveler

A friend of mine sent me this article from Budget Traveler (thank you, Melanie).

Enjoy.

Sacred Africa

We just got an email from Jennifer at Hope's Promise saying that our home study has been sent on for state foreign review and three notarized studies were sent on to Love Basket!

We also received the final dossier packet today from Love Basket...I'm ready to work my backside off this week to get the dossier ready to be sent out right after Thanksgiving. Yay!!!

If you have a chance, please visit the Lander's blog, they are in Sierra Leon for their first trip to meet their twins, Zeke and Kora. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Time Magazine :: Aids in Africa

When you have a few minutes...check this interactive TIME article out. It is a photojournalistic look at the effects of AIDS in Africa. It also examines the issue of AIDS drugs and how to break the culture of silence. It is not the easiest thing to look at or take in, but this is the reality.

TIME Magazine AIDS in Africa