October Number Is...

So we ACTUALLY receieved our official number yesterday....but I was behind on checking my email, and received it as we were running out the door to Growth Group.  Needless to say, I did not have time to post it right then.  So sorry for the one day delay ;) but I'm here now!

Without making you wait painfully long, here is our official October number:

We are very excited with all the movement in the last month, but even more excited to hear that the Ethiopian courts have reopened again!  We have a LOT of families who have been waiting a LONG time for this moment in time and are eagerly awaiting their turn through the courts (as nerve-wracking as it will be). 

For those of you who don't know, each family will actually be assigned TWO court dates.  The first one is for the birth family and the second one is for the adoptive family.  They usually are a week to two weeks apart, and the second court date is the one adoptive families have to travel for (at least one parent).  During this court appointment, the judge asks you a series of questions about your knowledge of the child you are adopting, confirms that you have met the child, and reminds you that this is an irrevocable decision (yay!).  As long as both court dates go well, this is what makes an adopted child a legal part of your family and grants you custody, YAY!!!  (Although adoptive families need to go home and wait for a child's visa to be processed before returning to take them home forever.)

We have families from our agency scheduled with court dates in October, November, and some still waiting to hear of their scheduled date.  Because of that, it sounds like the EARLIEST that anyone would be traveling to take their children home would be November (and that's everything going REALLY smooth...and if you know international adoption, that is not always the case) and clearing out some more beds in Hannah's Hope.  So it sounds like October (and maybe even November) will probably be a pretty slow month for referrals.  But my guess is that December is going to be EXCITING! =D

The good news (the OTHER good news) is that with the holidays rapidly approaching, us waiting families have lot of things to distract us over the next couple months.  But I would encourage you to keep these families who are awaiting court and final travel in your prayers.  This is a stressful, yet very exciting time for them and I know that EACH of them longs to have their child(ren) home for Christmas.

Okay....enough dreaming for me!  Off to make my Lil Man some breakfast!