one week down!

Yes, we have been waiting for one week. I know, I know... doesn't sound like a big deal, but believe me, counting the wait in weeks seems far better than counting it in days (and yes, I have been counting the days since we first got news that we are "waiting")!

So, for the benefit of those not going through the adoption process themselves (I know that my fellow adoptive parents are all painfully aware of each and every step in this process), I thought I'd write a brief "what happens now."

At this point we are waiting for a referral - i.e. waiting to be matched with a child in Ethiopia. We were able to provide our agency with some information about our gender and age preferences, as well as certain preferences regarding the child's health, but we do not get to choose a particular child. As of today, our agency expects that we will receive a referral within 3-5 months. Based on forensic blogging (love that term!), we're figuring it's going to be closer to the 4-5 month mark.

Once we receive our referral, we will have an opportunity to review some information about the child before accepting (or, in the very rare case, denying) the referral.

After we accept a referral, our agency will apply for a court date in Ethiopia so that we can formally adopt our child. We hope that we will get a court date within a month of accepting the referral, but it seems that lately the timeframes are less consistent (see: forensic blogging). We will not go to Ethiopia for the court date - a representative from our agency will participate in the adoption hearing on our behalf. If all goes well, the child will officially be ours after the court date and we can prepare for our trip to Ethiopia (typically within a few weeks to a month following a successful court date).

Unfortunately, the courts seem to be a bit overwhelmed by the surge in adoptions over the past year or so, and we have noticed that many families are experiencing new challenges and not making it through court on the first try. So, we may have to sit through a few court dates before the adoption is complete in Ethiopia. More waiting....

So... if things go smoothly (and we have no real reason to think that they will), we might be able to travel to Ethiopia this summer. But there's a caveat: the Ethiopian courts close for the rainy season (typically late Aug. to early Oct.), so if we don't make it through the courts before they close for this period, we will have to wait until the courts reopen in October to finish the process. Yup, this could be a loooooong "pregnancy!"

Ryan and I have already placed our bets on a referral date (Ryan being the more optimistic one). Anyone want to take a shot?