Big news from Ethiopia and time for a YARD SALE!!!

So as of last week, our adoption process has potentially changed. The adoption "world" was a bit shocked last week when news broke that Ethiopia has become a "two trip adoption country".

So here is what that means:

*Before last week: When the time comes for us to receive a referral (November or sooner, is what we have been told) we would review the information, photos, medical info about a child (MACY!) and then accept or decline the referral. We then sign over our Power of Attorney to the WACAP (our agency) representative in Addis, Ethiopia. That person then goes to court on our behalf and then Macy legally becomes a Humphrey. This all happens before we have actually ever laid hands on her. Then the WACAP people book an embassy appointment for us, and we travel to Addis, pick up Macy, go to our embassy appointment, and fly home. Easy as that.

*Now: We will accept our referral, and then be required to travel to Addis to visit with Macy for several days, attend court, fly home WITHOUT OUR BABY, wait for the embassy appointment to be scheduled, then fly back in 6 to 8 weeks for the embassy appointment and to bring Miss Macy Humphrey home.

"Why", you may ask, is this change happening? Apparently some not-so-ethical agencies (NOT ours) have been matching parents with children while providing false information. Once they pass court and travel to pick up their child, they discover the child is younger/older than what they were told, or has some kind of disability that they were not aware of. The parents are then refusing to take the child back home with them, and this of course, is hard on everyone involved.

So, this could be a good thing for one reason:

We will get to see Macy before she becomes our child. However, because we have a really good agency, we weren't really worried about any "surprises".

This totally stinks for several reasons:

1) MONEY! A second trip is going to cost us up to another $5,000. And unless I find a mysterious orchard of money trees, I just don't know where that money is going to come from. But God isn't worried with such trivial things such as money. He WILL provide, as He always does, so I am not going to stress about it. If he can provide the initial $18,000 to $25,000, then He can surely send another 5 grand our way.

2) I am going to leave my other three kiddos at home for another week. This is honestly stressing me out a lot more than the money is. When we traveled last year on a business trip without Aidan and Hannah, I just about had a panic attack on the plane. I DO NOT like traveling without my children. Heck, I don't even like driving on the interstate downtown without them. It just stresses me out knowing that something could happen and me not be with them. But luckily they have a WONDERFUL Nana who is willing to keep them for us as we travel to Africa. Another option is that only one parent has to travel for the second trip. I could go, and Jason stay home with the kids. But I just don't see him being okay with the mother of his children traveling half way across the world without him. (Or him staying here to hold down the fort with 3 kids - ha ha!) We will see.

3) When we travel the first time, we are then going to have to LEAVE Macy behind to come home. The thought of this hurts my heart. Here she has either been abandoned or relinquished by her biological family, been living in an orphanage, and then her new Mommy and Daddy are going to walk out the door and not come back for a couple of months. How totally confusing and heartbreaking for a child! Ugh! I don't even want to think about it. (And I am probably going to need some kind of drugs because I will be pretty emotional having to leave her there after spending a whole week with her in my arms.)

So here's the deal. The adoption folks in Ethiopia are trying to reverse this new law, and to convince the Ethiopian government that the country should stay a "one trip" adoption country. They understand that requiring two trips will keep a lot of potential adoptive parents from choosing to adopt from their country. (Only one trip is a BIG reason why we chose Ethiopia!) There are nearly FIVE MILLION ORPHANS in Ethiopia. These kids need homes! ASAP!!! Making it harder on families to adopt them is not going to be a good thing! All of these things are what keeps running through my head. BUT - my heart is reminding me that this change in procedure did not take God by surprise. He knew that we were going to decide to adopt last August, and He KNEW that we were going to hit some bumps in the road. He's in control, and it will all work out. And like I told Jason, if Aidan, Hannah, or Houston were stranded somewhere on the other side of the world, we would take as many trips as it took to get them home to us. And we will do the same with Macy. And if changing Ethiopia to a "two visit country" is going to make some agencies have to become more ethical and follow the proper procedures when matching orphans with their forever families, then I am all for it!

Now, YARD SALE NEWS!!!!!!

So, since may be needing an extra $5,000 to travel twice, we need to raise some more money! Before we heard this news, we hadn't raised enough $ to complete the adoption and travel once, much less twice! I am hoping for another AWESOME turnout for our spring yard sale. But WE NEED YOUR STUFF!!!!! If you are spring cleaning, give us a call and we will come haul away your junk. If you aren't spring cleaning - then start! We have already gotten some GREAT contributions, but we need more!



WHEN: Friday and Saturday, April 23rd and 24th, 8am to Noon

WHERE: My Mom's house in Riverchase Subdivision (near Jack Anderson Elementary)

WHAT YOU CAN DO: donate stuff, bake stuff for the Bake Sale (this was a HUGE money-maker last time, I couldn't believe it!), and COME SHOP!!!

So mark your calendars! And PLEASE let me know if there is anything you can bake for the sale, or if you have anything at all to contribute to the yard sale! Thanks!