Memorial Weekend

I think I have started this post about 8million times.... and there isn't a good intro, so i'm just going to start.

For a while Clint and I have been feeling a little uneasy about the way things are going with the Ethiopia program (not Gladney, but the program as a whole)...and it's been more me than Clint. Each month we have a conference call with Gladney and learn the most updated wait times and travel times, etc... and get the low-down on how the ET program is going.
Most months have just been the same. They have left me wondering what's next. If the wait will start to decrease or if the government will start to process cases at a faster rate as they were when we first started this process.... all questions, no answers.

This past Thursday we had another conference call. On this call we learned that the average wait time for a referral of an infant is 13.5 months. It was also told to us that the wait for a court date AFTER you receive your referral is about 4-6 months (4-5 weeks is what it was when we started).

It was the beginning of a lot of praying, talking, weighing out the facts, the "what-if's", etc....
All weekend we did this.

We decided that looking into other programs was the direction we needed to go.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to talk to a very nice lady with One World Adoption Services out of Georgia.
We learned about their DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) program and what it's all about.

I was shocked after listening to her talk about the poverty level in the Congo and then after doing my own research, it was clear that the NEED for families for these children is great (just as it is in all of Africa).

So.........

Our family has made the decision to switch from Ethiopia to the DRC!

We are really excited, overwhelmed, giddy, nervous...etc...
but we know that God has a plan for everything we do. We are ALL God's children...and when we were called to adopt, God did not put boundaries on that. There were no restrictions.
So this is where we are being led.

We are still "requesting" a baby girl and are open for more than one child. Interesting thing about the DRC is that you can adopt two children and they dont have to be siblings.
So we'll see what God has in store for our family!

We are overjoyed right now.

I sure hope that all my 23 readers stay with us through this journey!!!!

Love,
Kathleen