Africa Time

We thought that we would be receiving some court papers last week, so I have been waiting to post an adoption update until I had something new to write about. But the papers still have not come. Ugh. Africa time. In talking to other parents adopting from Africa and reading their blogs, a reoccurring theme is how much longer everything takes than originally estimated. I have been told that when Americans try to move through bureaucracy in-country, they are often given estimates of when documents will be ready. Then when they return at that time, or on that date, and the documents inevitably aren't ready, the explanation for the delay is "This is Africa." Things just move more slowly there. I understand that. I knew this process would slow down dramatically once we sent our dossier in. I also know that when we are in-country we should expect major delays. What I don't understand is why our lawyer, who deals with Americans, doesn't just give us deadlines that he can meet. If he knows documents will take at least two weeks, but will probably take longer, why not estimate a month? Then, if they are done in two or even three weeks, we would be surprised and happy. Instead, we are left wondering why our paperwork is taking so long! Or, our agency could interpret his timelines for us, and add the extra time.

The thing that frustrates me the most about this, is that I had been waiting quite patiently. I knew that everything I was waiting for was far off. Then, I found out that I might get paperwork, and suddenly, I HAVE to have it. The funny thing is, I'm actually doing really well in my overall attempt to trust that God will take care of this and that it will happen eventually. But boy do I want that paperwork.

This particular paperwork doesn't speed anything up or slow it down, since we do not yet have a baby identified. We do want to have it in place before that occurs though. At the beginning of this month, Isaac told our agency he would have a referral for us by about the end of the month. I am not holding my breath. If getting a few pages of paperwork takes this long, then I am betting the referral will also be delayed.

Please continue to pray for Isaac's search (speed, speed, speed), and our patience. Also, we recently applied for some adoption grants, and got some very good signals (asking for more information, calling our agency and making "positive sounding" statements to them) that we may receive some help, so we would appreciate prayers for God's financial provision as well.

Thank you all for praying and for supporting us on this journey!