Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
--- Mark Twain
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
--- Mark Twain
Our dossier is in Ethiopia! Wahoo! In the whole scheme of things, it is a small step...but with two years of no progress, every little step forward means so very much to us!
Now our dossier, the bundle of painstaking
ly prepared paperwork including police clearances, letters of reference, birth certificates, medical evaluations, etc., all of this will be translated into Amharic and then sent to a number of government entities, including an adoption committee who will hopefully approve our right to adopt. If we are deemed acceptable, then a court date will be scheduled--generally within two months. At the court date, a judge will either award us parental rights of the girls...or most likely fail us due to missing paperwork.
It is uncommon to "pass court" on the first try--most pass on the second or third court date. The culprit is usually a missing letter from one of the governmental agencies that is required to provide input to the case. The letter generally appears and as long as everything else looks good, then at the second or third court date, SHAZAM, you become Ade and Abo (Mom and Dad in Tigrinya, the prevalent language spoken in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea). The Embassy date is then scheduled for one to two months after the court date, and this is when parents normally travel to pick up their new child/ren. The Embassy date is when the U.S. Embassy issues your child/ren their travel visa to go home.
So for our adoption budget we have factored in one trip to Ethiopia for the Embassy date to bring the girls home. Not that we actually have a budget seeing as a delightful man in Uganda decided to bilk us, and a number of other families, out of all the money we had set aside previously for the adoption...but I digress...that is a blog for another day.
Anyways, as Africa is prone to do, She has thrown another speed bump in our way to make things slightly more difficult. There was news yesterday out of Ethiopia that a new rule will require parents to be present at the first court hearing, after which the Embassy date will be scheduled 8 to 12 weeks later. So, this essentially means that we will now have to budget in TWO trips to Ethiopia. Hmmm.
The positives are that we are able to meet the girls and get to know them--and allow them to get used to the idea of us--before we're dragging them onto a plane to a different world. Seeing them before the court hearing also allows them to receive an R-3 visa, which allows them to be U.S. citizens the minute they touch ground in the U.S. That is a nice perk!
We also will get another glimpse of the country of their birth, and that is a wonderful opportunity.
The sad drawbacks are the obvious financial difficulties (at least an extra $4K), but also that this requires more time away from work--which could be even more of an OUCH should this all transpire during fire season. Fire season is one of our hopes for actually PAYING off the adoption bills! So not only will it cost more, but it will leave a dent in the paycheck that we count on to get us through the year and pay for such extras as...extensive court and agency fees! Ah, well, we've been through much worse.
Another drawback: after finally meeting our daughters, and becoming their parents, we will have to leave them. That will not be easy.
Colt is in Boise and we haven't discussed it much yet, but I am choosing to look at the new requirement as another chance for Discovery--a chance to make Mark Twain (and, I am sure, my mother and my Kenyan brother Francis) proud and throw off the bowlines and follow the African trade winds. It will be a chance to meet my daughters earlier, and an opportunity to be with them at the exact moment that a judge [hopefully] blesses us with the awesome gift of becoming their forever parents.
So, it might not be all that bad...
Now our dossier, the bundle of painstaking
ly prepared paperwork including police clearances, letters of reference, birth certificates, medical evaluations, etc., all of this will be translated into Amharic and then sent to a number of government entities, including an adoption committee who will hopefully approve our right to adopt. If we are deemed acceptable, then a court date will be scheduled--generally within two months. At the court date, a judge will either award us parental rights of the girls...or most likely fail us due to missing paperwork.It is uncommon to "pass court" on the first try--most pass on the second or third court date. The culprit is usually a missing letter from one of the governmental agencies that is required to provide input to the case. The letter generally appears and as long as everything else looks good, then at the second or third court date, SHAZAM, you become Ade and Abo (Mom and Dad in Tigrinya, the prevalent language spoken in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea). The Embassy date is then scheduled for one to two months after the court date, and this is when parents normally travel to pick up their new child/ren. The Embassy date is when the U.S. Embassy issues your child/ren their travel visa to go home.
So for our adoption budget we have factored in one trip to Ethiopia for the Embassy date to bring the girls home. Not that we actually have a budget seeing as a delightful man in Uganda decided to bilk us, and a number of other families, out of all the money we had set aside previously for the adoption...but I digress...that is a blog for another day.
Anyways, as Africa is prone to do, She has thrown another speed bump in our way to make things slightly more difficult. There was news yesterday out of Ethiopia that a new rule will require parents to be present at the first court hearing, after which the Embassy date will be scheduled 8 to 12 weeks later. So, this essentially means that we will now have to budget in TWO trips to Ethiopia. Hmmm.
The positives are that we are able to meet the girls and get to know them--and allow them to get used to the idea of us--before we're dragging them onto a plane to a different world. Seeing them before the court hearing also allows them to receive an R-3 visa, which allows them to be U.S. citizens the minute they touch ground in the U.S. That is a nice perk!
We also will get another glimpse of the country of their birth, and that is a wonderful opportunity.
The sad drawbacks are the obvious financial difficulties (at least an extra $4K), but also that this requires more time away from work--which could be even more of an OUCH should this all transpire during fire season. Fire season is one of our hopes for actually PAYING off the adoption bills! So not only will it cost more, but it will leave a dent in the paycheck that we count on to get us through the year and pay for such extras as...extensive court and agency fees! Ah, well, we've been through much worse.
Another drawback: after finally meeting our daughters, and becoming their parents, we will have to leave them. That will not be easy.
Colt is in Boise and we haven't discussed it much yet, but I am choosing to look at the new requirement as another chance for Discovery--a chance to make Mark Twain (and, I am sure, my mother and my Kenyan brother Francis) proud and throw off the bowlines and follow the African trade winds. It will be a chance to meet my daughters earlier, and an opportunity to be with them at the exact moment that a judge [hopefully] blesses us with the awesome gift of becoming their forever parents.
So, it might not be all that bad...
I know that all this is happening for a reason and you will eventually be able to give the girls the most amazing and loving home EVER! I am continuing to send you all good thoughts so you will soon have the girls as part of your forever family.
ReplyDeleteJoan
This Blog is so awesome!! Thanks for including us. We will keep you in our prayers always. And we will be here to help in any way we can!! We love you guys.
ReplyDeleteCathy Anderson
...And I can see you writing it all with your wonderful smile that I know and love!!!! We miss you all so much it hurts like 8 stitches! (Tirzah)
ReplyDeleteAnd these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good...sometimes hind sight is always 20/20 right? Sending all our prayers and love.
Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. I am so excited for you. I will be sending my prayers your way, that all runs smoothly from here on out.
ReplyDelete