No good news today.

Our court date has been rescheduled for March 26th. 2 weeks from today. I won't go into all the details, as this is not a private blog and my thoughts on the subject are not very positive and uplifting at the moment.
Also the Ethiopian government is making some big changes in the adoption program, we are unsure as of yet how this will effect us, if at all. Bethany is doing their best to get information to us, but it is all new to them as well.
I can go into more detail when I'm in a better frame of mind, but for now that's all I got.

Court Date

We finally got our court date. March 12th. One week from today. I'm relieved that the wait for the court date to come won't be nearly as long as the wait for the court date to be assigned was! Now all we need is for all the papers to be filled out properly and all the proper people to show up when they need to. Some friends of mine were given the same court date. We have been hoping through this whole process that we would get to travel at the same time to pick up our children, and it's looking more and more like a possibility! If all goes well and court is passed the first time then I should be heading to Ethiopia the end of April or beginning of May.

Update

We did get an update yesterday. Elijah is doing well. He has gained almost half a pound, which puts him in the 5% range for his age. He is starting to sit, almost on his own. He loves to be hugged and touched the update says. This makes me happy. It means his nanny is hugging him and touching him. Two things that we know are so important for infant development and often times are lacking in an institutionalized setting. Although he is still tiny, he looks so much healthier and looks very happy in these new pictures.
Still no news on a court date. It seems to be taking forever, but I take comfort in knowing that Bethany is extra careful to follow all the proper steps and not cut corners in the process. There are some agencies that do what it takes to get the kids here quickly, but sometimes use questionable means to do so. I keep reminding myself that in the long run it's better that things are taking so long.

March 1

It's a new month. A new update should be on its way, hopefully including new pictures again. I thought for sure we would have a court date by now. In fact we were told it would take a lot less time than it has taken. I know all time lines in adoption are estimates and are subjective and are based on things out of our control, and even sometimes out of our agency's control, but that doesn't make it any easier. It's been emotionally difficult for me lately. I'm in an "I hate adoption and everything about it" mood. Which isn't actually true, but it is how I feel. I hate that this process takes so long and is completely out of my control. I hate that somewhere a mother had to give up a baby that she couldn't care for. I hate that she is required to appear in court to give him up again,(as though it wasn't painful enough for her the first time), I hate that there is a sweet baby boy in an orphanage on the other side of the world, that I can't hold and comfort. I hate what he is finally home he is going to be grieving the loss of everything he has known up to this point in his life.
I think those that have gone through or are going through an adoption will understand what I mean. I don't really hate adoption, and I'm so thrilled to be adding Elijah to our family, I'm just overwhelmed lately with the negative aspects of adoption. The things that we don't always see and feel and think about when we make the decision to adopt or hear of others adopting. Would I do it again? Absolutely.