Another tough day ...

Somehow, I was just a little bit prepared for the possible disappointment today. And yet it is still remarkably painful and disheartening. Around 9:30 am, Duni called to let me know that the judge did not review our case today and so we must wait until November 7. Evidently, when a judge agrees to an appeal, they are agreeing to add additional paperwork to their already heavy workload that day. When the judge saw that our regularly scheduled court date was only 8 days away, she waived off our case until next week rather than take on the extra paperwork today. That 8 day delay now means that our travel dates will get bumped back an additional week because of the Thanksgiving holiday. So instead of travelling Nov 15, we can't travel until Nov 28, which happens to be the day after Thanksgiving and one of the busiest travel days of the year. Sigh ....

Our dear friends, the Hutchinsons, are also in the same situation. We were all looking forward to having our children home for Thanksgiving.

Once I was home from work and able to check the chat group, I discovered a wave of disappointments today. Several families with court dates today, did not pass court because letters of recommendation from MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) did not arrive on time. So their court dates were re-scheduled in December (about a one month delay) and a few other families in line right after them, were also bumped back. A kind of ripple effect I guess.

I am reminded of the many times we were told before we even started this journey that international adoption can be an extremely difficult journey with lots of bumps and jolts along the way. We certainly have been experiencing that lately.

At this point, we will travel to bring our sons home 6 MONTHS after referral. That is an exceptionally long time (I think it is the longest wait yet within our agency for ET adoption - and it's a record I never wanted to achieve). But again, the situation is out of our hands and I am absolutely confident that our adoption agency has been stellar in working on our behalf to try to expedite things. It just hasn't worked out that way.

And yet, when we are finally able to close this chapter and bring our sons home, in hindsight, I still would have chosen this journey regardless of the difficulties. The outcome is just to precious and valuable - two little boys will be woven into our family forever.