I've never been a patient person...ask anyone who knows me. So any of you who know how international adoption works know that this is going to be a challenge for me! They don't call it the "waitlist" for nuthin'! :)
When you send your dossier in and it is approved, you get a number. Basically, this is the number you are in "line" for the referral of a child. And you wait...and wait...and wait...the last time I saw an "unofficial" waitlist for our agency, the last number for a girl was in the 80's and the last number in line for a boy was in the 60's...that means that potentially 60-80 people are in line before you. Before the announcement that MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) in Ethiopia was going to be reducing the number of daily referrals from 40/50 to 5 the wait time was about 8-10 months on average. By the way, they aren't just processing 5 referrals for your agency per day...they are processing 5 referrals period...that means from all of the other agencies requesting referrals for the adoption of an Ethiopian child. You can see...waiting and patience are kind of a pre-requisite for an international adoption. This is something I chose to willingly face...my aversion to waiting...and let me tell ya' it's already a challenge! And I'm not even on the list yet!
Well if you aren't even on the waitlist yet, why is it a challenge you may ask?? Well, we have been waiting for our FDL letter (Favorable Determination letter) to arrive in the mail so that we can send in our dossier. This is a letter that says that you are favorably determined adoptive parents that have permission to bring your adopted child into the U.S. as a citizen of the U.S. We went to get our fingerprints taken on the 30th of March for this letter. They say it is about a 4 week wait to get the letter once finger printed. I was good with that!
Today marks the 3 week date. I've been anxiously awaiting the mailman everyday since Saturday...and I was NOT a happy camper when he so ungraciously left my mailbox EMPTY yesterday! So, as you can see, I will be needing a covering of prayer for patience for the waitlist wait and anything else that comes my way. With international adoption, you never know...EVERYTHING is uncertain! Uncertainty...something else I struggle with. Thank you in advance for your prayers!
I do not want to completely discredit the mailman. He has brought me some happy things of late. Like the Christmas Gift Thank You letter from my Compassion sponsored child in Ghana, Africa. We sponsor three boys. 1 in Ghana and 2 in the Dominican Republic. These boys are one of the reasons we looked into international adoption.
If you can believe this, my Ghana child (a 10-yr old boy) told me in his thank you: "you are the hit of my dreams, the cornerstone of my world and treasure of sweetness. Thank you for your love and care." Would you like to know what I sent him for Christmas? $20...yep, that's it. Would you like to know what he received for $20? A bath towel, a pair of socks, and material to make a new shirt and pants (trousers, as he called them)...and I'm the cornerstone of his world...WOW.
Perspective...necessary medicine for when you are complaining and anxious about waiting a few weeks. Please Lord, send me more perspective in the coming days. I will need it!
If you would like some perspective of your own, check out the Compassion website here: http://www.compassion.com
1 comment:
We've been waiting since 3/31 for our letter too.... feel your pain.
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