Hey everyone,

Just thought I’d update everyone on the adoption status since I get lots of emails and texts asking.

We are still on hold with the US embassy in Addis. Nati is legally ours but we are not allowed to bring him to the US until the embassy approves an immigrant visa, that is what we are waiting for.

At the end of Nov, the embassy issued an alert that there have been instances or rumors of unethical adoption practices in Ethiopia and that they had decided to implement more in depth case investigations prior to visa issuance. We found out the day before Thanksgiving that our case had been selected for investigation. At the time we did not know what this entailed or how long it would take, only that we had the misfortune of being the randomly selected case from our particular agency. There are 26 agencies doing adoptions from Ethiopia, and we have been told that ours is absolutely not one of those suspected of questionable practices. What this entails is that some families somewhere in the country considering offering their child up for adoption (because of sickness, income etc etc) had been reported to have been coaxed that last step by bribes.

The embassy therefore decided to do more in depth checking into how these kids came into the system before sending them off with their new families. Our agency obviously has to undergo the same scrutiny as everyone else, and barring any red flags or question marks, random cases had to be selected. There are two types of investigation, paper and physical. Paper investigations check that all docs are in order, all names match etc and only take a week or two. Physical investigations actually send embassy staff out to the child’s village and find out from any surviving family exactly how the child was offered for adoption and these take longer, between 1-2 months. Guess which type we are 

We were set to travel for embassy on Dec 7th, that fell through. We have waited, hoping and praying that this would be resolved for the Dec 21st embassy date, but since I’m writing this from work, we are obviously not on our way to KCI. As of yesterday, our case was still not finished. The embassy said they would notify Bethany when complete and offer the “invitation to travel”. Until then, we wait. The hardest thing to accept is absolutely no answers as to how far they are from the embassy. Too many inquiries about particular cases could bring suspicion, so it is best to stay out of the way and wait for them to reply. We completely agree with the system and the precautionary measures that the embassy is conducting but are really struggling with the fact that we already have the birth certificate and passport and we were only a five minute appointment and a rubber stamp away from having him home for Christmas. Just ain’t fair.

Even though this all sucks, there are some consolations. Our schedules now run two weeks at a time between missing one embassy date and waiting for the cutoff for the next. Two week periods go pretty quick and we are learning to wait gracefully. Nati still has his best bud Samuel at Shalom so they can still hang for a while longer as his parents travel at the end of January. I also paid for a swingset to be built at the orphanage, so the kids have something new to play on. Since all five of us are planning to go get him, hopefully if we go in January, plane tickets won’t be outrageous like they have been the last couple of weeks. We have credit from the five cancelled ones Dec 7th and if we had gone this week, difference would have been another $ 800 per ticket, that’s $ 4,000 not planned for. The next embassy date is Jan 4th and we would leave on Dec 30th , my birthday, so now we count down the days until then. I think Christmas falls in there somewhere ‘cause you wouldn’t know it from our house. We thought we were going to be gone now, so this year, no lights, no tree, not much holiday spirit, just packed suitcases, donated kids clothes and general chaos.

From past experience, these physical investigations take 1-2 months and it will have been a month next week since we were notified. If ours gets resolved soon, we could go Dec 30th back Jan 6th or two weeks later, or two weeks later, or two weeks later and so on and so on. We just don’t know.

That in essence is what is going on with our case.

From day one kneeling at the stage, this adoption was our Father’s idea, He put everything in motion, He prepared us for it, spiritually, physically and financially. Although everything has been quick and smooth so far, we have followed His schedule and His timing. This hiccup is also part of His plan and I am reminded that He is in complete control.

We are blessed to have such great friends who truly care and are concerned enough to want to be up to date. We know that you guys are as excited for Nati to be here as much as we are (well almost). They are still processing embassy visa’s so that is good news and it’s one less month of Kansas winter he’ll have to endure so it’s not all bad.

Keep praying for us and that no loneliness or “where’s my dad” feelings enter Nati’s heart as he continues to see others leave the orphanage.

Not sure how often we’ll bump into each other over the next few weeks, so everyone have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll let everyone know when we hear something positive.

Step by step
Love

Jeff & Becky