Our Challenges

I am going to try and explain where we are at and what is happening.

One of the preliminary tests done before embassy is a report done by the embassy doctor. When she saw Obsi and examined him, she determined he was 16 and ordered a bone scan. This is new for the embassy doctor to be doing this. After reading the bone scan, the embassy doctor said he was 18. The US only allows children under 16 to be adopted.

I spent time on the phone with our agency director, Sue, yesterday. Sue explained to me how Obsi cannot be 18. Five years ago, Mr. Strawn from MI, was starting up an orphanage in K, which is in western Ethiopia, and went about looking for boys that were 7-8 years old that needed a place to live. He took all these boys to the K orphanage. Now, five years later, Sue is trying to find them a family to call their own. 7/8 plus 5 equals 12/13. If he is 18, he was brought into the orphanage at the age of 13. I doubt Mr. Strawn confused a 13 yr old for a 7/8 yr old!

Obsi is tall and lanky with no muscle definition. If he were 18, he would have muscle definition.

So, yesterday, our paperwork was all submitted to embassy. Paperwork can only be submitted two weeks before a potential embassy date. Our agency's adoptive parents are seen on Thursdays, at 3:30 every other week. This month those dates are July 1st, 15th, and 30th. Our date is July 15th.

In that pack of paperwork are various documents that include things like the birth certificate which shows him to be 13, the court document of the adoption, our I600 (petition to classify orphan as immediate relative) and DS 230 (application for visa). Before the embassy gets these papers, they don't know anything about us. They sift through all the paperwork and either give us an appointment or deny us an appointment, OR, we may be able to rectify what is missing or inaccurate. For instance, if our homestudy shows we are approved for a child between the ages of 10 and 14, and Obsi's birth certificate shows he is 15, then we need to get an addendum for our homestudy.

Our paperwork is in their hands. We are praying for the Lord's favor on us! Because of the holiday, the embassy has a half day today, Friday, and is closed on Monday. They may have looked at our paperwork yesterday or maybe Friday morning. If not, it won't get looked at until Tuesday.

I will be watching my emails very closely! My hope is that I do not hear from Sue. Sue thinks we will slide through with no problems. There is another boy and another family in this same situation. This is all beyond human intervention at this point. We serve a huge God!

We have also been working with our Congressman's office. I am still not clear on their role in this but Sue says they have an ability to help us if we get into a pickle. Linda, at Congressman Petri's office is doing much work to investigate adoptions and the US embassy's job. They were very reluctant to call our agency so Sue called them. Sue has done this before in other countries when there were problems. Linda, knows nothing about what they can do, thus all her work trying to figure it out.

God's role:

11 months ago, when I booked our campsite, for our annual trek to Door County's Peninsula State Park, there happened to be a site open in Weborg. We always looked at Weborg and had a huge desire to camp there but it was never available. I tried for a few days to get an electric site, but to no avail. Finally, one day, all that was open was a site in Weborg. I booked it.

With all this adoption stuff going on, and it being 2/3 weeks away from our trip to Ethiopia, I had to bring my computer to stay connected. I need cell phone coverage. All the years we have camped at this park, we have always had a site in another area of the park, Tennison Bay. There is no cell phone coverage and definitely no free/public wi-fi. So, on Tuesday night, when we got here, I opened up my computer, and to my surprise, there was wi-fi available from the local marina in town. And, there was cell phone coverage! That is not just coincidence!!! Weborg is a camping are that is closest to the park entrance and closest to town. The Lord knew just where we needed to be.

My cell phone is only ringing when the Congressman's office calls. It just amazes me!!!

Our trust is in the Lord at this point. We all understand this. Our whole family is lifting it up to the Lord. My boys continue to ask if we will get Obsi. Even though we have never met him in person, he is part of our family. We love him as our son.