emigration permits and adoption petitions…

On Friday, our agency sent out a monthly update for the Korea program families. MORE bad news for those of us waiting on EP's - Korea will not be issuing any for the month of July. Two months in a row with no movement for those unfortunate families and their children who are waiting to be united. At this point, it almost seems like good news for our predicament because at this rate (and assuming Holt grants us special permission to continue with our adoption), Zoe would not be coming home to us until next spring - allowing us time to adjust to a newborn and continue getting ready for Zoe's arrival. 

There is a lot of negativity these days on the Holt bulletin board (a place where adoptive families can post topics and questions) and I can totally sympathize with and understand where these women are coming from. HOWEVER, at the same time I would like to hormonally scream at the top of my lungs "At least your agency is not threatening to terminate your adoption!". So, these days for my own sanity I'm staying off the bulletin board and focusing my energy on what will make a difference - our petition.

Last week, we received our government approval to adopt Zoe. This should be good news - and it is – except for all the looming uncertainty.

Last week we also received 19 support letters! Every single one I read gives me renewed hope for our situation. I can only pray that Holt sees the light. MANY THANKS to everyone who has written a letter and is working on that this week for us! There is still time if you want to get in on the action. I'm making copies of all of these letters so that one day, we can hopefully share them with Zoe and show her how much she is loved.

Also last week, I was brought into contact with a family who went through this exact same scenario (with a different agency). She shared their plan of action with us and we will be using some of their same ideas for our petition. Their story is amazing…they were adopting from Ethiopia and became pregnant in the process, received special approval from their agency to continue the adoption, brought their son home and a few months later gave birth to their biological child. It's a beautiful story! I pray ours will have the same ending…