Waiting for Edmund

My kids really want an Edmund.

They have a Peter, a Susan, and a Lucy, but they can’t really be the Pevensie kids until they get an Edmund.

We started working on a fourth adoption almost two years ago.  Lots of people are asking us, “How’s it going with your Ethiopia adoption?”

So here’s the answer to that question.

Ethiopia has majorly slowed down their adoptions, like many countries in the world.  This needed to happen to some extent, because some fraud had crept into the system.  There have been some nasty stories.  But that doesn’t change the fact that there still are millions of children in Ethiopia who are true orphans and need families.

Our agency is currently having significant problems getting referrals in Ethiopia.  I don’t believe this is for any fault of their own, but because of how African governments (or perhaps governments in general) have a tendency to operate.

That means that our Ethiopia adoption is basically at a complete standstill.  We may need to consider switching over to a different African country.

However.

If you recall the story of this adoption, you may remember that we originally wanted to adopt a fourth from Tanzania.  In fact, we even were thinking of a particular child.  Unfortunately, we were told that Tanzanian regulations limited the number of adopted children to Three.  I pushed as hard as I could; I cried in front of them, and the answer was still No.

When I was given that answer two years ago, it was based on new regulations that had yet to be actually published.  Shortly before we left Tanzania in July, the regulations were published and we were able to read them ourselves.

And based on that, we believe we have a case for trying again to push for a fourth child from Tanzania.  We cannot do that from the States, so we have to wait until we return.

And yes, I’m still thinking about this little guy.  It’s been over two years since I met him.  I gave up on the idea that he could be mine, but now there are feathers of hope.  He will be four years old soon, and he still does not have a family.

I really have no idea if Tanzania will let us pursue a fourth.  Will you pray with us?

We have not closed the door on Ethiopia, or another international adoption, because we just don’t know what will happen.

We really, really want an Edmund.  But we don’t know what God wants, so we trust Him.  He has already been so good to us.