So, what does this mean? It means another expensive trip and that we will go down for a court hearing to commit in person for our adoption to be finalized, we'll spend a few days with our child, then we will leave and 1 or both of us will return to pick up the baby 6-12 weeks later.
Pro's:
-We will meet our child earlier and will get to experience more of Ethiopia
-This process ensures that families will follow through with their adoptions (Apparantly the reasoning for this change is because over the last 6 months, 47 families decided not to follow through with their adoption after it was already finalized in court in Ethiopia)
Con's:
-Another EXPENSIVE trip
-We have to leave our child
I won't lie, Thursday was a rough day for me after hearing this because the questions of, "How are we going to afford this?" flooded my mind along with "How am I going to leave my baby?" But after talking with Mark we've just decided we cannot worry about these things, God paved the way for us to start this process and easily finance it to this point and although the Devil is creeping in to try and discourage us from following God's word, we won't allow him to win. So, in closing I'd like to leave you with this verse, because if you can believe it, there are people who actually told me that this new travel requirement should be reason for Mark and I to "back out" of this process. I, for one, do NOT believe that is what is happening, because scripture tells me differently:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27, NIV)
P.S. Our baby shower is today.... I'm looking forward to just being excited about our adoption and celebrating with friends since it's been a hard week with adoption "stuff". Looking forward to seeing so many people that I love!
