The conference call did happen on Tuesday but I have been so busy getting ready for Princess Belle's birthday parties(yes, I did say parties,plural!) that I haven't had time to post.
So here is the news. We learned that our wait time has increased AGAIN! It is now 7-9 months,which means we shouldn't be expecting a referral until July at the earliest. So now we are looking at July, August or September for a referral and traveling November, December or January.(Hopefully) So you are asking "What is the hold up?" There are two factors in play for our situation. 1. The lack of power has slowed everything down. Government Agency s don't have generators and they only have power 2-3 business days. 2. There aren't that many children in our daughters age range in the orphanages. With Ethiopian adoption becoming popular a lot of children are being adopted as babies.
The good news is that our agency has signed on another orphanage. That makes the count 3.
Please continue to pray. We are confident in the Lord and know He has it under control but the wait is still difficult.

Sorry I was unable to post any updates after the conference call on Thursday. The reason was is that there was no conference call. It had to be rescheduled until today,Tuesday. The reason... You aren't going to believe this but... No electricity in Virginia where are agency is located!(bad storms swept through the area!) Power problems in Ethiopia and now in Virginia. I feel like God is trying to tell me something. He is more powerful than anything! that despite our lack of control he is in control. He doesn't need electricity to do His thing. He is still working even if the lights are not!
So, we are looking forward to this afternoon! Oh,the forecast for our area-Thunderstorms! I have my cell phone charged!

I wanted to give an update. This is what our understanding of our situation is right now. Originally we were given a 3-6 month window to get our referral for our daughter and then a 3-7 month window. At 7 months that would put us into July. And if we received a referral then we would need to be given a court date and the date would have to be before the courts in Ethiopia close down in August until October, which is very unlikely because as of late it has been taking over a month for families to receive a court date. So where does that leave us? Well, it looks like we won't be traveling to Ethiopia until after October. We could still get our referral this summer but not travel until after the courts open back up in the Fall. Praise God that most days "it is well with our souls." We are understanding that God is using this time for all of us to grow. We know there is a reason why our daughter needs to be in Ethiopia right now.
On Thursday all of the waiting families(those with their Dossiers in Ethiopia) were invited to a conference call. Duni will update us on her trip to Ethiopia and we will receive any new information. Hopefully she will tell us we can all go get our children!(Ha,Ha) God tells us to hope,right?!

We are so blessed!

God has given our family such wonderful friends and family. Thank you to all of you that have been praying for us, fasting for us and loving us! We are so blessed that we have brothers and sisters in Christ that are willing to listen to us when we need someone to voice our concerns and to rejoice with us when good things happen. The adoption process has been up and down. At times I (Heather) feel a little insane, but you my dear friends have shown me that there are even friends for the insane!
We have never felt so loved.

Thank you.

God has used the Chapman family to inspire and encourage so many of us in the adoption community. We mourn with them today. Maria was 5 and the youngest Chapman.


In Remembrance of Maria Sue Chapman

Dear America World Families,
Our agency grieves with you as we mourn the loss of Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter, Maria Sue. It was an honor for our agency to have assisted the Chapman family as they brought such a precious life home. I use the word precious because this tragic event has reminded us all of how precious life truly is. We join you in prayer that the Lord of this Universe, who holds the whole world in His hands would be as close as possible to the Chapman family during this time of mourning.

We would like to give the Chapman family something formally in rememberance of Maria on behalf of America World and our families. What better way than to give to the agency the Chapmans created to bring more precious lives home like Maria? So, at this time, we encourage all of you to give to Shaohannah's Hope. They have created a special fund in memory of her called the Maria's Miracle Fund.

Christ as our Comforter,
America World Adoption

Power outages in Ethiopia

Here is a little insight into the power outages in Ethiopia. I got this from an article on Ethioblog.

Power Outages Slated For Ethiopia Capital On Low Water Levels


ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)--The Ethiopian capital faces a lengthy power outage until next month because of reduced water levels in the country's hydro- electric plants, a state-owned generator said Monday.

Addis Ababa, a city of 5 million, will have no power for up to three days a week, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation said in a statement.

"Power rationing will continue until June. Climate change, which is inflicting a great damage worldwide, is the main cause of the poor performance of seasonal rains in Ethiopia," state media quoted Water Minister Asfaw Dingamo as saying.


Please pray for the families that are farther along in this process than us. A few have had court dates reassigned 3 times because of this and there are more than a hand full of families waiting on court dates.

There isn't much to update for us personally. But this week there were two federal holidays so courts were closed those days. It seems like every other week there is some holiday.(not really) I think they like to celebrate in Ethiopia! Who doesn't?! So of course that slows some things down a bit.
And this week we received this email.
In an effort to conserve energy there have been power outages in Addis Ababa, where all power is turned off for certain periods of time. Due to this, communication with Duni while she is in Ethiopia has been very challenging. Emails and even phone calls have become very limited. Because of this, we are asking families to please be patient and understanding knowing that we are trying to do all that we can to relay important information.
So there is a glimpse into the bumps in the road of an Ethiopian adoption.