We are still waiting on our fingerprints to come back and then we will be ready to send in to the Secretary of State. We have some GREAT news and some not so good news to share.
The GREAT news is God continues to work through people to make this Adoption possible! GOD IS GOOD! :) He has blessed us with so much! We had a very helpful donation to the adoption this past weekend from a dear family and we are just so overwhelmed and grateful! Words cannot even describe how thankful we are to everyone who has stuck by our side and have been praying for us, helping with fundraisers and ideas and donating time and money!! We give all the Glory to God, without Him none of this would be possible!
Also, looking forward to see what God has planned, as he has opened up the opportunity for me (Elizabeth) to begin a second job on the weekends.
Ok, so the not so good news is an e-mail that we received from the adoption agency. I am just going to copy and paste most of the email to the blog so you can read it...
After
watching the referral trends over the last few months, we see the need
to amend the wait times as some families are starting to surpass the 24
month mark of waiting. The wait times are increasing from 18-24 months
to 24-30 months for a male or female infant or toddler. We do
not have as many families requesting children four years and older and
thus the wait for those families will likely be shorter than the current
wait times.
Paperwork,
specifically the clearance, is still the main contributor for the
slowdown in the Ethiopia program. If we have a child in the transition
home who is completely paper-ready, but does not have a clearance, we
need to wait on that final document before referring the child to a
family. Unfortunately, the clearance process is still one that is
intensive and can be drawn out over many, many months; the final
clearance could take one month or 1+ years to obtain. Unfortunately,
this is a process that we are not permitted to manipulate and is
contingent on the governmental bodies in Ethiopia.
It is hard to think we are going to have to wait EVEN longer to bring home our child, but we know God has a plan. We ask that you please pray for patience for us and for the Ethiopian government to speed up their process someway, somehow! Thanks! :)
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" Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:1-5
