We are mommy and daddy times 2! On Tuesday we received the call from our agency that we have received the MOWA letter, which was the last document needed for the legal process. We have officially passed court and we are the legal parents of Jack and Hayley! Yaaaahooooooo!
No, we don’t have a date yet as to when the kids will be home. We have to wait….again…but we are feeling like we are in the homestretch. The MOWA letter was the one document that really had my stomach in knots, so we are relieved that we have made it over this hurdle. If you don’t follow Ethiopia Adoption, let me give you some context: MOWA recently announced that they will be reducing the number of letters completed each day from 50 to 5! We were notified of this new rule just before we left for our trip not knowing how it would impact us. We learned when we were there, our file, along with 800 others would be expedited before this new rule went into effect. You can imagine how relieved we were to hear that news and to now have this letter. My heart breaks for those families who will be impacted by this new process. I hope and pray that the U.S. and Ethiopia will continue to work together towards solutions to better the process. Ultimately, it is the children that suffer in the end.
We are currently waiting for our file to be submitted to the U.S. Embassy. This includes gathering all paperwork on us, Jack and Hayley, including a medical exam for Jack and Hayley completed by and Embassy approved Dr. and getting their passport photos taken. It just cracks me up thinking of two 8 mo. olds going to the court house and getting their passport photos taken for their passport. Our agency can only submit files to the Embassy on Thursday, so we are hoping they will be able to gather the appropriate documents quickly!
After our file is submitted to the Embassy, they have to review our file and grant U.S. Embassy approval for us to be able to take them out of the country. This process could be as little as 48 hours or as long as 2 months!
We are still hoping to be able to bring Jack and Hayley home by the end of May. Early May would be ideal, but all the stars would need to align for that to happen. Anything is possible though, right?!
