Not Today

Our caseworker called a little while ago and said that Belay had gone to court but that MOWA has not entered their opinion yet. MOWA has not requested any additional paperwork, however, so we are taking that as a good sign. I think they are simply swamped due to the scheduled power outages and more people adopting from Ethiopia. It was ironic, because I had an Ethiopian Cultural Awareness training today with AWAA. At the end, Duni, the Director of the Ethiopian program at AWAA, stated the same things. Last year, the number of adoptions from Ethiopia doubled. We don't really have a new court date. Our file is considered open with the courts. Other matters regarding our case have been heard in court, so it is just a matter of the judge receiving MOWA's opinion. While we're ready to travel to Ethiopia now (okay, not literally--I don't even have a packing list yet), we're trusting God's perfect timing. I'm so thankful that He sees the big picture and we don't have to worry. Please continue to pray for us, Isaac, and our case. We will update you the minute that we receive the good news.

Delays

Well, we just got a call from Natalie. I was hoping that she would call today, even though it is a holiday, so that we could know if we passed court or not. Prior to the court date (the day before court), the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) has to write their opinion on our case. Due to the extreme drought (Ethiopia uses primarily hydroelectricity), there have been scheduled power outages in Ethiopia. MOWA did not have electricity on Friday or today, so they were not able to write their opinion on our case. Natalie said that MOWA would work on writing their opinion of our case tomorrow. Wednesday is a holiday in Ethiopia, so our court date is rescheduled for this Thursday, May 29. Please keep us in your prayers. Ethiopia is eight hours ahead of us, so hopefully we'll know something before lunch on Thursday. We'll keep you updated. Blessings!

3 Months, 2 Weeks and 3 Days and We Have a Court Date!!!!

Oh, what sweet words we heard this morning. We heard on Friday that our file had been submitted for a court date. Just a little while ago, we received a message from Natalie saying that we have a court date for May 26th. Please keep us, Isaac, and other involved in the court hearing in your prayers. We are so ready to hold our little man. Yesterday was so tough.