Ethiopian Adoption Time Continuum

Here is my feeble attempt to create a timeline using Paint.





We are currently where the red X is.

As you can see, we have a long way to go. Whether it's good news or not, from "Dossier to Ethiopia" to "Embassy Date" all we can do is wait. Now picture 2-3 months in between each marker. Roughly 9 months (or more).

That's right. Once our Dossier is sent we have roughly 3 or so months to get a referral, then 3 or so months (sometimes longer) to pass court. Once we pass court our child is officially ours. That must mean we can go pick them up, right? Not so fast. Now we have to get our I-600 from processed and approved and then get an Embassy date. Once we have a date set then we can plan on traveling to pick up our little one. We've been advised to book flexible tickets because Embassy dates can change.

Between "Embassy Date" and "Our little one is home!" is a month or two of frantic travel arrangements and preparations to go pick up a baby half way around the world. I won't even talk about the list of things we'll need to bring with us. I have a feeling we will be paying the fee to check extra bags on our flight...

Even though we have a long wait ahead of us, we are excited because we're almost done with the paperwork. We're almost ready to wait! Yea!

Hey, wait a minute....