It's GOOD News!

I was so glad to look in my inbox yesterday to see GOOD NEWS in regards to ETHIOPIAN Adoptions!!! ♥ Below is information we received from our Adoption Agency

"§ MOWA posted a notice indicating as of March 10th they would be reducing the number of adoptions processed through their office to 5 cases a day.

§ Within days of this announcement, the director of MOWA and several other staff members from the ministry have been terminated.

At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa.

Also, it appears the original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5 cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers, the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to assist with family preservation in Ethiopia. This plan was acknowledged in the recent posting by the US State Department this morning at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html. We understand the US Department of State cannot issue a formal statement without MOWA issuing a retraction. Presently, MOWA is concentrating on processing the current adoptions and the new staff is not focused on numbers, but doing their jobs. "

Regardless of the changes happening with Ethiopian Adoptions - there have been SO many families still getting referrals, court dates, meeting their children, bringing them home... It's just TOTALLY ENCOURAGING!!

We are having a BLAST celebrating Referrals, Court Dates. Friends trips to meet their babies, and the HOMECOMING of their children... Now it is all starting to feel SUPER CLOSE and VERY REAL for our FAMILY!! This is REALLY gonna happen! ...WE are REALLY gonna be PARENTS Again!! ♥

...our CRAZY family could very easily be 'UNOFFICIALLY'

On the waitlist for ONE little girl TWO and UNDER...

There is a family in front of us on the waitlist that we are not 100% sure has received their referral yet... SO, the WHOLE idea that we are #1 is REEEEAALLY some SERIOUS POSITIVE thinking on our part... We've always tried to look at this optimistically - this is NO exception. :)

But... we could easily be 'UNOFFICIALLY'