Delays

Every prospective adoptive parent should know that there will inevitably be delays in your process. Prepare yourself for them. You are not in control of the timing of the Ethiopian government, the orphanage, the US government, your state or even your social worker.

We have had some delays. Some big and some small. We expected it. I was doing fine with it, so I thought. But last week came a big delay. And here is why it hit me so hard : it's unknown, but we have a photo. Before, the delays we just a part of the process. They made our wait for a photo longer. They made it so we had to adjust our "anticipated arrival" date back - a few times. Before, it just affected the process. It was more theoretical and "out there" but not now.

Now I have a photo. Now I call him my son. Now it is hard.

Our paperwork is at a standstill. We are just waiting for some official in Ethiopia to give us a green light to file our paperwork. Then more waiting, but at least we would be moving forward. Right now, our adoption is not moving forward.

I am not mad at anyone. Not the Ethiopian government, not our agency. I truly believe we are all working together to give our son a new family and we hope it is us, and we hope it is soon. I am more sad than anything. I am sad that I can't hold him as soon as I had hoped. I want him to know that Jesus and Erik and I all feel the same way about him. "I will not leave you orphaned," Jesus said, "I am coming to you." (John 14:18) I think about him all the time and about how he is laying in his crib. He doesn't know it, but he is waiting for us. And we are waiting for him. And we are coming.

We are learning patience big time. In the book we are reading it says,

"While you are waiting, spend time cultivating the spiritual disciplines you'll need as parents. After all, you'll be waiting again someday. It might be on a Friday night when you don't know where your rebel child is at 3 in the morning. It might be in a hospital waiting room as you flip through magazines waiting to hear from the doctors if the transplant was successful. It might be as you sit by the phone, hoping to hear from the battlefield where your baby is serving as a soldier. Learn to pray with dependence. Pray together as you wait for the protection of your child. Pray for his future salvation. Pray for your own wisdom to lead your child toward godliness." (Adopted for Life, Russell Moore)

Keep praying for us as we wait...