Referral Update

So, we were so excited by the large number of referrals coming in mid July. I of course started calculating that if 50 referrals were made each month, we should get a referral in about 6 month. I should know better than to go into "theoretical planning mode". Last week's update reported zero referrals again and today the update was that two children were referred. At least we're making progress-we estimate that we moved from number 302 to number 300 on the waiting list. We had a teleconference last Thursday and our agency said that referrals just vary week to week. The only reason they can cite for the small number referred in the past few weeks is that the Ethiopia office has only had power 1-2 days per week, making phone calls and email very difficult. They do not see this as a trend and still predict referrals of young children to be between 12 and 18 months with most receiving referrals at the 14 month mark (so, 2 months down, 10-16 month to go).

On another note, we went to our second Ethiopia Adoptive Families play group yesterday. It was actually my first one (Nick went with the kids while I worked last time). It was really fun to be around other families that have already been through the process and others that are at various stages. One mom has her court date tomorrow (keep her in your prayers tonight). Hopefully she'll get news tomorrow that her little girl is officially hers and she'll be able to travel in September to pick her up. I can't imagine how she'll sleep at all tonight.