Every Road has It's Thorn

Do you remember as a kid taking a long road trip with your family? Sitting in the car. Trying to keep yourself occupied with coloring, Gameboy, or maybe just sleeping. Knowing after what felt like forever, that you were still nowhere near the final destination. And, in the back of your mind you could sense that your Dad/Mom/Driver was also not quite sure when in the world you would get there. Do you remember what you wanted to ask? The words raced through your mind over and over, but you were well aware that by asking a huge whirlwind of crazy emotions would stream through out the car that would include both of your parents and any siblings. That in asking, the entire trip would be pushed to the brink of insanity with the possibility that the trip would now actually take longer!!

Hold onto that memory for a second. The frustration.. the restlessness... the uncertainty.... Yeah.. all of that is where Chels and I are right now on our path to add to our family through adoption. Each start of a new day is the turn of a corner with the hope our final destination awaits. Needless to say, things have been really hard.. crazy hard... borderline exhaustingly hard!!

Okay. Now that you have that picture let's talk news. Over the last month or two, the overall perception of international adoption within Ethiopia has changed. It is beginning to appear as though international adoptions out of Ethiopia are coming to a near standstill, with very little movement through the courts.  Now, this is simply our interpretation of the news coming from a variety of adoption sources. However, it is becoming quite obvious to us the the adoption climate has changed negatively, and that we truly anticipate a very, very long road ahead.

We relationship with our adoption agency is currently on hold while we consider all of our options from this point out. This hold was the agency's doing.. not ours. But we are taking this as an opportunity to gain strength, and keep our hearts focused on our baby coming to us this year.

So, we're keeping the car moving along this long road trip. And hope beyond hope that you all stay along for the ride. We've appreciated your company and support more than you know! And to help pass the time.. I'm thinking of a word that begins with the letter... B! Yes or No questions only! :)

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I'm going to leave space above for daddy ;) to chat about whatever he'd like to talk about. In the meantime, I'm tellin' it like it is! I don't know what he's going to share - something brilliant I am sure. So I'll leave that to him ... on a sidenote, I cannot believe we haven't blogged since February 19th! I really have no idea how that happened. Well, I guess I do. Life has just been going full speed ahead. I think, thinking back, we thought surely in 2-3 weeks we would have more to blog about, more to say. Surely. And yet, it's one of those situations where a lot is going on, but yet nothing is happening - does that even make sense? (I feel like all the moms I know are nodding right now.)

I got a call tonight from my alma mater, a Sophomore currently attending - probably doing the same work-school program I did. Anyway, I found myself talking about majors (she asked) and how really, school should not just prepare you to work in "your field" (we all know why that's in quotes - ha!) but also for life in general, because really, truthfully so many of us don't end up "working" in the field (major) in which we studied & graduated. (I know! Cover your ears! I didn't just say that! ;) ) And while I was talking I found myself trailing off (in my head) because it's a theme within adoption that comes up a lot. The common phrase or saying seems to be,

there's no straight line to adoption.

That one little line says so much. And couldn't be more true. There's no straight path to a lot of things. Rarely do we start out where we end up where we are going. Which is usually a good thing because really, wouldn't all of our lives be a little boring ... a little predictable ... if we had all the answers all the time. If we were the ones in charge of every move on the board game. If we knew that we could throw a "rock" every time & beat every 'paper, scissors, rock' opponent in our path. (Which of course isn't true because a rock doesn't win every time - but seriously, you get the point.) Don't you think there would be things that would be missing? I just don't think life is meant to be lived that way. As one of my friends so wisely said,

Great to just open our hearts & minds & follow the path as it unfolds in front of us.

I couldn't agree more.

Maybe you'll open your hearts with us. I can't tell you where this road is headed or what to expect along the way, but I can tell you we are coming at it with an open mind & an open heart and only hope you'll do the same.