Adoption Alert

I picked this picture to start off this entry for many reasons! I feel that 
this picture reflects my view about life and our adoption process. 
The ocean, just like life, ebbs and flows with constant movement. 
Despite obstacles you have to keep moving forward. Storms, although
in life they are hard to prepare for it, provide a time where we realize
our strength in times of hardship or when we are challenged.
The rainbow...a reminder of just how beautiful life and nature can be.
Again only through the presence of storms can we see the rainbow...
and appreciate the wonderful life and opportunities that we have
been given. 

 
So you may ask what is the news that has caused so much emotion!

We found out a few days ago, and we are still trying to wrap our
brains around this, that Ethiopia has now required that families make
two trips to Ethiopia to complete the adoption. This will require more
time away from home and our jobs, as well as causing a huge financial
impact on our family. It would be nice to think that we could just travel
around while waiting for the embassy appointments but we are also
not independently wealthy ( : So here we fit, still moving forward, trying
to figure out how to make our dream come true. We had prepared
ourselves to deal with delays involved in the adoption process, but
this new requirement in travel was unexpected to say the least. 

So you might have some questions...as do we! Over the next couple
of weeks we hope to hear clarification. 

Why did they implement this sudden change? This is what we have

been told: "We have been informed that this sudden and swift change
to the Ethiopian adoption process appears to be the result of families
abandoning their children in Ethiopia after obtaining legal custody
and the negative media attention that essentially blamed the
Ethiopian government."  

Why two trips? 
The first trip is when you are granted custody with the second trip
being for the purpose of processing the US Embassy documents
and obtaining a visa for our child.

So to keep our hearts light and happy we found these videos which

brought tears to our eyes and joy to our hearts. I hope you enjoy

them as much as we did!

I ask that you all keep us and all the families adopting from
Ethiopia in your thoughts and prayers! Thank you!