March 3, 2013

OUR JOURNEY TO BEING OUR SON HOME

Well I've told some stories about the month our son stayed with us, now let me tell you about our adoption journey.  First let me say, that one of the hardest things I've done was for us all to go to the airport on 1/15/2013, knowing that our wonderful 30 days with this sweet boy was up and he now had to return to the orphanage.  It was a very emotional time for all the host families and boys who were returning back to Ethiopia.  When the time came for him to board his plane it was a very tearful good-bye.  Watching him cry & as he walked thru security looking back at us every few minutes and waving was emotional.  My 6 year old grandaughter, Sierra, was there along with some of my other grandchildren and she just sobbed as he left.  I know her seeing her nonnie, my husband, her mama & aunt Tracy crying added to the emotion for her. 

I am glad we are now on the process of getting him home. All of our paperwork is complete & ready to be mailed to AWAA (our adoption agency).    It's a tremendous amount of work & papers to fill out, collect, notorized, etc.  They don't make it easy & having seen my son & daughter-in-law go through it with their adoption and now us, I truly believe it could be made easier.  Governments need to realize these are children waiting to be loved and given a home and families waiting to give them that love.    Some of the paperwork is definetly necessary to screen the wrong kind of people out, but much of it is just ridiculous.  We are now waiting for our son to get his 5th & final clearance.  That's a major priority of prayer.  Without that, they will not be able to give us our courtdate for our first trip to Ethiopia.

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