This seems consistent with this crazy adoption journey thus far. Somehow good news always seems to be followed by bad news. After celebrating the birth certificate news on Tuesday, we learned we still can't bring Luke home. It's been hard to put all the pieces together and it's still not a clear picture but after talking to many people... our adoption agency, the US Embassy, and several other adoptive families who are in our shoes, this is what we understand:
In order to get Luke out of Ethiopia, we need his Ethiopian passport and a visa from the US. In order to get his passport, we need approval from MOWA. MOWA, for reasons unknown to us, is not giving approval for the passports right now. There are approximately twenty other families who are in the same predicament as us. Some of these families have already taken custody of their children in Ethiopia and they are now not able to leave!
Our adoption agency and the US Embassy in Ethiopia have said they have never seen anything like this before. We have been told that the judge in Ethiopia had the head of MOWA thrown in jail for not carrying out his court decrees! Up until now, the Ethiopian adoption process has been mostly predictable and they have acted according to their adoption laws. No one knows why the adoption climate has suddenly changed.
We aren't exactly sure where to go from here. We have reached out to our congressmen to see if they will advocate on our behalf. The US Embassy is advocating for us and trying to find a solution.
Our hearts are breaking not only for our son but for the 4 million + orphans in Ethiopia who need loving homes.
Thank you for continuing to pray!!
Friday, May 19, 2017
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Luke Ericson Fritzler
Our oldest son's name! We no longer have to call him "L".
Luke means "light giver " or "from light". And we chose Ericson as his middle name after my dad-- grandson of Eric. I will write more later about his name, but for now I wanted you to know you can call him Luke. :)
Luke means "light giver " or "from light". And we chose Ericson as his middle name after my dad-- grandson of Eric. I will write more later about his name, but for now I wanted you to know you can call him Luke. :)
BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!!
Psalm 118:24
The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
I read this verse yesterday morning and had a feeling God was working behind the scenes in ways we couldn't see yet and sure enough...
Happy news today! We received a copy of L's birth certificate. This is a HUGE answer to prayer. We still don't even know how the staff was able to obtain it. We think they may have had to go through different channels than usual because of the recent adoption suspension in Ethiopia. They aren't sure if it's going to be difficult to obtain his passport yet, but hopefully not. Once we have his birth certificate and passport we will be ready to plan our trip back to Ethiopia to pick him up!
Thank you for praying!!!!!
Monday, May 1, 2017
Stuck
We wish we had good news but not yet.
Ethiopia has essentially closed their adoption program. They are saying it's a temporary suspension. We are in limbo for now. L is legally ours according to their court system but the branch of their government that issues birth certificates to allow adopted children out of the country has stopped issuing paperwork. For the time being L is stuck in Ethiopia. To be honest, the more information we receive the more bleak our situation looks. We wish we had a better understanding of what's going on, but it seems pretty complicated.
Our adoption agency and the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and other organizations are going to bat for us, but we have no idea what the outcome will be or how long this process will take.
Emotionally this is definitely a trying time. We thought the hard part was over. We left Ethiopia believing we would be back in 4-6 weeks to pick up our son. But now we're back to waiting with a lot of unknowns. We were so close. If we had received the court decree just 4 days sooner, we would have squeaked through just before the adoption suspension. After 3 and half years, it came down to 4 DAYS.
It doesn't make sense to us, but we are confident that God is in control. None of this surprises Him. He has allowed it for reasons we may never know. And we are going to trust Him to fight for L, to fight for our family, and to fight for so many hurting, needy orphans in Africa.
The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14
For now, we hold our peace.
Ethiopia has essentially closed their adoption program. They are saying it's a temporary suspension. We are in limbo for now. L is legally ours according to their court system but the branch of their government that issues birth certificates to allow adopted children out of the country has stopped issuing paperwork. For the time being L is stuck in Ethiopia. To be honest, the more information we receive the more bleak our situation looks. We wish we had a better understanding of what's going on, but it seems pretty complicated.
Our adoption agency and the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and other organizations are going to bat for us, but we have no idea what the outcome will be or how long this process will take.
Emotionally this is definitely a trying time. We thought the hard part was over. We left Ethiopia believing we would be back in 4-6 weeks to pick up our son. But now we're back to waiting with a lot of unknowns. We were so close. If we had received the court decree just 4 days sooner, we would have squeaked through just before the adoption suspension. After 3 and half years, it came down to 4 DAYS.
It doesn't make sense to us, but we are confident that God is in control. None of this surprises Him. He has allowed it for reasons we may never know. And we are going to trust Him to fight for L, to fight for our family, and to fight for so many hurting, needy orphans in Africa.
The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14
For now, we hold our peace.
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