Still Waiting!
posted on 12/22/2007
Well, we are still waiting! Waiting to see the sweet little face of our newest addition to the Harpold family!
This time last year, we were excitedly filling out our application to be accepted into the ET program with AW. Fully expecting to have at least received a referral by now!
The really disheartning issue here is that not only do we not have a referral yet but we can't even get straight answers on when we will. Every person we speak with gives us different answers and reasons as to why it hasn't happened yet. First, we were told that ALL focus was on getting the new transition house up and running after the long court closure. That's done. Second, we found out through someone else that referrals had been stopped, not even a phone call from our agency about that one, so after confirming this, we were told that the in country rep, Girmachew, who is by the way, doing the job of at least 5 people, and that is being generous, was working on getting court appts for the two groups who had received referrals already and then he would be making travel arrangements for them before he would be turning his attention towards referrals again. The first group of families have been through court, waiting on travel news, prayerfully, Girmachew has requested the second groups court dates now. Third, we were told that no referrals would be given until the transition house had room for more children. How many children does the home hold? That's another question we can't seem to get a straight answer about either! Is it 10, 16, 18 or 20? Who and or what determines when it is full?? If there are 20 spaces, why not fill them? Now we are entering the holiday season and our agency is closing from Dec. 24nd - Jan. 1st. so no answers until 2008! As you can see by our ticker on the home page, we have now been waiting for 5 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days! I don't guess we will make the timeline we were given in the beginning which was a referral in 3-6 months! How much longer will we wait? ONLY GOD KNOWS!!
So...........What are we to do? We have paid our money, waited in line month after month (we are supposedly 1st in line for a single infant girl) voiced our concerns, cried a million tears because our hands are tied, asked a million times "Why?, why don't things ever happen like they are supposed too?", answered a million times, "No, we still haven't heard anything", so, now what? Can you tell me when we will be getting a referral??
We did receive some positive news. We (the ET families) will have a FT Africa Program Director beginning January 2nd. Her name is Duni and she is Ethiopian! This should make communicating with the in country staff a little easier! When we were accepted into the program, there were approx 10 families in process. There are now 130+ and we are FINALLY getting a FT person dedicated to the ET program. Our previous Asst Program Director has recently gotten married and will be leaving AW the beginning of the year. We are praying that Duni will bring some much needed communication to the program and maybe we will feel more "in the loop" of things.
So....here's my answer. PRAYER! The only thing that makes any sense and the only thing that I can really count on! Though some days I find myself unable to even voice a prayer about the adoption process anymore, God knows my heart and I will continue to cry out to Him because I KNOW He is Faithful to see us through this!
I have resigned myself to really SEEK God over the next couple of weeks and LISTEN for the answers to the many questions we have. What is the right thing to do? What is God trying to teach me? Why do I need to know these things? How will I use what I have learned?
It makes me wonder what is in store for us this coming year!
