59!!!

SERIOUSLY?! Can you believe that we jumped from being number 71 on the wait list on Oct. 25th to NOW being number 59 on the November boys wait list?! This makes a mama's heart awfully happy!!! This could also have the potential to make a mama's heart get her hopes up that each month is going to drop this fast! So... while this was a super great month of matching babes with their forever families I'm not banking on this kind of movement every month. ALTHOUGH, it would be awesome if it kept up this way! 12 spots a month would put us getting our referral in 6 months!!! Sigh... oh how that would be wonderful!

The truth of the matter is that there is no easy pattern to follow for the amount of referrals that go out every month. There are so many factors that go into the process. So here's the gist of what I know (fellow AGCI mama's, correct me if I'm wrong here)... Hannah's Hope can only take about 50 kids at a time. Even when a child is referred to a family, it doesn't mean that a spot automatically opens up for another kid to move into HH.  It's still months before that referred child is actually leaving HH and on their way home. For instance the blessed families who just received referrals this past month will not travel for their first court date until mid-January (they don't return with their child at this time). After this trip, the families will return home for about  4-6 weeks and then fly back to Ethiopia for their second trip, their Embassy date, and at that point bring their precious baby home with them.  It's my understanding that until there is a space opened up for another child to enter, referrals may slow down a bit. What I'm unsure of is how many families there are ahead of us that are just about to travel for their 2nd trip and pick up their kids and how many spots that will open up for new kids to arrive at Hannah's Hope and be referred to the families on the wait list.

I am a part of an AGCI Ethiopia list serve that our agency has set up and it's such a blessing to be in touch with fellow families that are in the same process as us! We can follow families that are number 1 on the list and could get "the call" any day now and cheer them on when they do get that long awaited referral! We also connect with those that are just a spot ahead or behind us, truly making a connection with them hoping that maybe we'll travel together when it's our turn to go get our babies! It's such fun and a true encouragement to see God's involvement in every detail of each families story! I'm learning more and more about the process by following along on this list serve to each phase the families ahead of me are in.

So here's to a GREAT month of October and to our new November number 59!!!! Hoping that number just keeps dropping!