We have officially accepted the referral of our 11 1/2 month old son! CHI (our agency) has confirmed receipt of our acceptance paperwork and final adoption fee payment!
And since many of you have asked, the following are some expectations our agency has set about what comes next:
* It may take from 5 - 8 weeks to hear when our court date has been set (that would be mid December - mid January).
* The court date we receive will be an additional 4 - 6 weeks from the date we get notice of it (so, late January to mid February). We will NOT travel to Ethiopia for court; that takes place before we get there. IF we pass court the first time (dependent on proper paperwork being submitted, surviving birth parents showing up at court, no power outages to delay court, etc., etc.), we would officially be the legal parents of our new son by the end of the court day. If there's a problem with any paperwork, etc., a new date is usually scheduled within 2 weeks.
* Once we've officially passed court, we wait for an embassy appointment in Ethiopia (wherein we receive paperwork to legally bring our new son back to the U.S.). This appointment date is the trigger for when we get to travel to Ethiopia. Embassy appointments can be up to 4 weeks from the date you pass court (which could be any time in the month of March, maybe late February).
SOOOOO, to recap: Given all the uncertainties and "what ifs" listed above . . . worse case scenario, we won't travel to pick up our son until late March. Best case scenario would be late February, early March.
The continued wait is maddening, of course, but there's a more "real" element to it now. Before, when we were waiting for this open-ended, abstact idea of a referral, it was so much harder to grab onto anything tangible. Now we have a face, a name, a heart, little lips, beautiful eyes, a SOUL to focus on as we count down the weeks.
Thank you to everyone for your phone calls, emails, blog comments and FB postings! It's wonderul to share our excitement and we both truly appreciate the love and support we've received!
More to come . . .
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Thank you for spelling out the details of the "next step"! I was curious what the approximate timelines were looking like. :)
ReplyDeleteHere's to strength and endurance in your next leg of waiting!
Hugs to you both,
Tegan and Greg