Two Months Later - Still No News

K's residence for now

Last Thursday marked two months since we met K in Ethiopia. For those who haven't followed our story, our original court date was scheduled for December 16. After our family's arrival in Ethiopia in December, we were informed that our court date would be canceled due to a missing letter from the regional authorities in the south stating that K was eligible for adoption. Funny thing about this letter - the regional authorities made the rule, yet are not writing the letters. Of course this defies logic! But hey, this is how things go when it comes to international adoption. You can ask a thousand questions and get no answer. So you try to control your emotions and not ask. Sounds simple. Shut up and wait.

I ignored my own advice last week. I broke down and emailed our agency to see if they knew anything. Nope. Nothing. Not a darn thing. All not surprising. The most frustrating aspect of our situation is that we simply can't make any plans or commitments more than a few weeks out. This just sucks! Here I was thinking K would be home by April or May at the very latest. We would then have a great summer adjusting to each other and our new family situation. Now I am hoping he is here by the start of the new school year. He will be 5 then.

And to add to the fun, we have the joy of updating our USCIS (immigration) paperwork and home study because they expire soon. This means more social worker visits and many more sets of fingerprints for both Steve and me. Good times!

As I have said before, this adoption is much more difficult than our first one. Adoptions from Ethiopia have slowed down tremendously over the last two years. The rules have changed and continue to change every few months with little to no warning. At this point, I can only cross my fingers and toes and hope that everything will work out in the end. At the same time, I can appreciate the fact that they are trying to manage a set of very complicated processes and to make sure everything stays aboveboard. It's just difficult not knowing when things might start moving forward.

I have to say, I am pretty calm about the situation. Must be the new me. The old me would have come unglued a long time ago. It's hard for Lily and Semira though. They want to know when their brother is coming home. I only wish I knew.