Good Stuff

I realized that I never shared some of the positive news about the situation in Ethiopia. I am so appreciative to all of you who have prayed for us, signed the petition, and encouraged us during this time of uncertainty. We received a positive e-mail last Thursday from AGCI. Here is some of what was mentioned in the e-mail. I put some of the words in bold print.

At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa. Our staff believe this to be around 800 cases they are working at full force to complete with no restrictions on the number of cases processed each day. This is great news! We are thrilled to hear these drastic changes do not seem to be going into full effect.

We are also pleased to report that for new cases moving forward; it appears the original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5 cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers, the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to assist with family preservation in Ethiopia.

I had a chance to talk with our case worked today and she was very positive. At this time we still don't know how the changes will affect our adoption. We don't know how long the wait will be and we really never did. We do know that there are many people and groups advocating for adoption and looking out for the best interest of the children of Ethiopia. The focus appears to be on making sure every adoption is ethical and not on the number of adoptions that are processed each day. This is good news and we really couldn't ask for anything else at this time.

In other good news, we had our first adoption fellowship meeting last weekend. Two other families from our area joined us at the park for fun and fellowship. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but it was so much fun. So far we have five families on our e-mail list and I am excited to see this group grow. If you live in North Louisiana and have adopted, are in the process of adopting, or just want to know more about adoption we would love for you to join our group. We plan to meet once a month to just hang out and get to know each other. It is nothing formal. I am so excited to meet other families in our area who share our heart for adoption.

These pics have nothing to do with my post, but I just had to throw in a couple of pics of my cuties. Sawyer thinks Kraft Mac and Cheese is good stuff! Too good to just use one fork. This kid cracks me up.

His little brother thinks eating popsicles and playing outside in this wonderful warm weather is good stuff. I have to agree with him.

Also, one more piece of good news that I have not shared on our blog yet is that Justin and I get to go on a mission trip this summer. We are going to the Dominican Republic with our church and I could not be more excited about it. I have not been on a mission trip since college, and I am so ready. God worked out all the details, including finances and my in-laws being able to keep the kiddos, so that we could both go. I really thought it would be impossible, but I forgot that nothing is impossible when God is involved. The trip will be in July so I will be sure to post all about it.

I hope your week is full of good stuff!