Saturday, August 14, 2010

Paperwork and Setbacks

Ok! so here we go. The paper trail has started. We have selected All God's Children as our adoption agency (inspired by this family) and we are thrilled with our decision. We have been officially approved to start the process, had our orientation call and met with our in home study agency, Catholic Charities. We have filled out lots of paperwork and our dossier will be on it's way to us Monday. During our orientation call I asked " how long is the wait?" unable to answer the question exactly they gave a general range of 5-10 months after the dossier has been completed. So of course, knowing that our child is alive and waiting on us in Africa, we are very impatient to get her home. Stuart and I have been working on all of this together but I have been amazed at his speed. (example) We brought home the paperwork from Catholic Charities and I stayed up until midnight working on my part of the paperwork. (and I didn't even finish) and he told me the next day that he had finished already. I was jealous but very excited. He obviously feels the same way about having our daughter join us as quickly as possible. So here I am feeling really good about how fast we are moving and BAM! All God's Children calls and said the paperwork has changed in Ethiopia and the wait will now be 12-18 months from when we finish our dossier. To say that I'm dissappointed and sad is an understatement. So I am venting at 4:10 am ( I've been up since 2:20). I have heard that there will be many setbacks along the road but this one hurts. I want my daughter home with us , now!!! My mind is filled with questions: How old is she now? (She could be anywhere from 6 months-2 1/2 yrs.based on our parameters). Is she still with her family? Does she have enough to eat? Is there anybody to comfort her when she cries? Now, this is where my faith has to be strong. I will trust God and know that he is taking care of her until she is home. I know that her journey is hard but that he will be with her every step of the way. I know that this is "HIS" plan and I have to trust his wisdom. So I pray, pray, pray for my sweet baby!