We spent 19 days (yes, I counted) trying to find our way. We struggled with all the new requirements and costs (if interim decree; 2 years of monthly post placement visits, delayed government reimbursements) resulting from the changes in court proceedings within Ghana (multiple trips, extended stays, interim decrees, orphanage closing). Obviously all the changes made us sort of nervous. We prayed about what we should do, and we questioned if God may be closing the door to Ghana to us and opening one to Ethiopia. It seems He was.
I will be honest with you, when we started looking into adoption; Africa was not on my radar. But when we felt God's call for us to adopt from Ghana, I fell in love!!!! With all the changes, I questioned if God opened our hearts to Ghana in order to open our eyes to Ethiopia. I even joked that our blog might have to be changed to Ghana Be More Bechtolds by Way of Ethiopia.
We prayed, read books on Ethiopia, I read blogs, joined Ethiopia groups online, talked to families who had adopted from Ethiopia, but we just did not have peace about going that direction. We don’t know what was holding us back. On paper it was definitely the hands down easier, smoother, & quicker path, the children are beautiful, the program is established, but it just didn’t feel right (not to say one day it won’t...hmmm). We didn’t know where we stood. Many things we knew about the Ghana program had changed yet, we didn’t have peace moving forward with Ethiopia, we were discouraged.
Then on May 4th, we received a group email from our adoption coordinator. In it she shared that 3 families had just received final adoption decrees. When Ken and I read that we got really excited and felt a peace. We knew what we were going to do. We were going to take the tougher road and trust God to see us through. We realize that we are not guaranteed a final adoption decree, but we are going to have faith that we will receive one. Something you can all be praying with us for.
We did have some agreements to work out between us, our adoption agency and our state concerning a potential interim decree and how it would be handled. It only took us about 4 weeks, but it finally got all worked out! Praise God, He is good! Another step behind us.
Okay, you’re almost caught up.
Good job! Keep posting!!!
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