Dossier to Ethiopia - the waiting officially begins

Today marks our “Dossier to Ethiopia” date – or DTE in international adoption lingo. This also marks the official start of the “wait.” Up until now, we have completed dozens of government forms, had our lives, finances, home and family scrutinized. We have filled out forms, secured notary signatures and paid dozens of fees. But we have not yet been “waiting.” As of today, we are officially “waiting.”

Outside the AWAA Transition
Home in Addis Ababa

It also struck me that it was just over a year ago, on a trip to Ethiopia, that I visited the transition home for adopted children for America World, our adoption agency. On that visit I was impressed with the facilities and care for dozens of orphan children who were awaiting their adoptions. Rows of little beds reminded me of an illustration out of Snow White. As I entered the compound, I met a pair of 12 year old boys were playing checkers on a homemade board using bottle caps for pieces. They were eager to say hello and wanted to know if I was there to adopt a baby or would our family consider an older child. The children were in good health. They had good medical care at the facility. It clearly was in a better place than many of the stories I had heard from some adoptive families about the orphanages they had visited.

That visit was a marker at the beginning of our journey toward adoption. Now a year later, we have finally received word that our dossier is in Ethiopia – and we can officially begin “waiting.”

Family at Tikal

Last week, our whole family travelled to Guatemala to spend Easter week with Becky’s brother Jeff, who is working with the microfinance group Kiva here in Guatemala (I say here, because I am still in Guatemala conducting research for my PhD while Becky and the boys have returned home). This was the boys’ first time to travel outside of the country. Our trip was amazing – we were able to see so many things in the country: participate in the ministry of Hope Renewed in Guatemala City, visit picturesque Lake Attitlan, witness the Good Friday processions in the city of Antigua, and witness the sunrise on Easter over the jungle from atop a temple in the Mayan ruins of Tikal. It was incredible.

One of our stops with Hope Renewed was at an orphanage. We visited in part because our friend Jason has a son living at the orphanage. Jason founded Hope Renewed in part because of many trips to Guatemala during their own adoption processes. They have two adopted children from Guatemala living with them in Chicago. A third child, now 14, remains in Guatemala, however, because international adoptions from Guatemala were outlawed some 5 years ago. As a result, hundreds and hundreds of children in Guatemala and foreign adoptive families are “stuck.”

Uncle Jeff at the orphanage in Guatemala

As we visited the orphanage, we met dozens of children, eager to play and to be hugged. As we walked around their very well kept facility, I could not help but wonder if our child is already in a place like this. As we wait for the red tape of adoption bureaucracy to slowly unwind, is he or she sitting in a room, surrounded by others, longing for a family? Perhaps our child has not yet been born.

Waiting on a child who might be anywhere from birth to 5 years old makes for an interesting mind game of preparation.

Having our DTE date in hand is a wonderful step. Now we wait and pray.

Thanks for joining us in the wait and the journey.