First Bad Day in Ethiopia

We are sorry to be posting about something negative since our trip up until now has been nothing less than amazing. We will have more about that later, but right now we would really appreciate your prayers.

Today started on an exciting note as we headed to court to legally be granted custody of the children. We met a number of other adoptive families, but as the morning wore on and the waiting room full of people slowly emptied we started to think there might be a problem. It turns out there was. For some reason, the judge refused to see us. We were told that our adoption file is currently closed and will not reopen until we receive our MOWYCA letter. For the past few months, many families have successfully passed court without the letter and have received it a month or two later. Apparently the government has changed their policy without warning and we are the first to experience this.

We are still trying to pull some strings and maybe get the letter hurried along, but even that is looking a bit unlikely. We are scheduled to fly back on Saturday, but we may need to extend our stay in order to go to court next week. Unfortunately, we may just have to return home without going to court and come back after the court has received the MOWYCA letter, which may not be for a couple of months still. Please pray for a successful day tomorrow as we try to get the letter that we need. Thanks.