Change is a happenin'

I'm emotionally and physically worn out. For the last two days I have purged our house of every toy or child item that hasn't been touched in 2 weeks and man did it feel good. Or not. "I'm too old for this" my back is screaming. In reality - our local consignment sale is next week and for the first time ever, I'm actually working on it earlier than the night before. Go me.

In today's news: Ethiopia has now decided to make their adoption process a two-tripper. Some other countries have had this in place for some time but we were getting out easy. When we started last year the process was - you wait forever, you get your kiddos picture and history, a month or so later you went to court and prayed to pass, if you passed, you would get to travel a month or so later to pick up said kiddo.

Then last month, after CBS came out with a 2 min. expose on corrupt Ethiopian adoptions (based on an Australian puff peace which has already been investigated and found to be seriously flawed), and idiot Americans tried to smuggle Haitian babies across country lines (seriously, were they not thinking at all???) ---- the US Embassy started doing long investigations before issuing exit visas. And they started limiting appts. to 10 per month, per agency. So you pass court - then wait 2-3 months before being able to get an appt. to pick up your kiddo. And seriously, I understand the investigation aspect and agree it is a good thing to make sure children aren't being stolen from their parents. But why not before you are the legal parents of that child??? Wouldn't that be the best time to make sure the adoption is legit??

So after today: you wait forever, you get your child's picture and history, a month or so later, both parents have to travel to Ethiopia to attend court and verify that yes, they do want to love and care for this child. Then, you travel home, without your baby ..... and wait 2-3 months for the US Embassy to decide that yes, the adoption is legit and you can go back and get the child.

The upside - we will get to see Olivia, hold Olivia, kiss Olivia about 3-4 months earlier than we would have otherwise. Which is awesome. Another upside is that it looks like because we will have seen our child before court, it allows you to come home on another type of Visa. One which will make her officially a US citizen upon entrance to the country. Which means we will not have to go through the long process of paying to have her re-adopted. Which was a whole other paperwork hassle after you get home.

The downside - coming home without her. And knowing that she is in an orphanage. Being cared for by other women. Without you. That sucks. Another downside - the $4-5000 extra that a second trip will require. That sucks too. (Sorry for the language but there is just no other way to explain how I feel about it.)

BUT - that's a lot of change going on in 6 months. So who knows what the next year will hold as we wait? And while I stress about not having the money.... how are we going to get the money.... having to leave her behind after seeing her.... I read these passages this morning:

Psalm 20:4-5 "May he give you the desire of your heart. May he make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests."

If God can design drops of rain into a rainbow, and the changing color of the leaves - I'm sure He's got this under control too.