#15

There are a lot of numbers in this process...from the number of times you put finger to ink for various government agencies to the number of months you're chasing paper and then the number of weeks waiting for approvals. This is all to get on the wait list, where we are now.

Our current relevant numbers are: #1.5 (months waiting for a referral) and #15 (our place on the unofficial list).

So children...today's number is the number 15, meaning two families ahead of us received "the call" with their referrals and have now moved on to the next list (congratulations!!!), which we won't discuss yet because that is a whole new waiting game with its own batch of numbers.

We're so excited for the families who have moved on and are now waiting for court dates. That's a great place to be...having a picture and records of your new baby. It's pins & needles the rest of the way, now that you know the child matched with your family, but it's that much closer to bringing them home.

The other interesting and important thing to note for those reading who are not adopting, is the rainy season in Ethiopia. This is a difficult time in the country and one that causes most businesses to close from the end of August through the beginning of October. Unfortunately, this includes the government offices and courts - which in turn puts an abrupt halt on families waiting on a court approval in order to travel & pick up their child(ren).

When we researched the different countries that we were approved for (Nepal, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia), this little item of "closing during the rainy season" popped off the paper like you wouldn't believe! And then the more we researched Ethiopia, and Addis Ababa specifically, our response grew to of course they close for rainy season. So now we wait. We're very excited to have moved up two notches before things come to a standstill during rainy season. Hopefully our #15 will pick up its pace as we get through October/November.