We are back from our Easter vacation to Thunder Bay. It was sunny but cold and we have a bunch of yard work to do at home as it was very nice in Minneapolis while we were gone. We had a very nice Easter though.
Right before we left we received an email from our adoption agency with some great news and some news that has caused us some distress. Turns out that attached to the Health Care Bill that the US Gov't passed was the Adoption Tax Credit for reimbursement of adoption expenses. This tax credit was due to expire at the end of 2010 so it has now been extended to 2011 and the amount was increased. This was great news for us as the cost of adoption is now substantial.
We also found out that Ethiopian Government has just changed it's travel requirements for couples adopting children from Ethiopia. Initially, the adoption was processed and approved through the Ethiopian Court and then you travelled for one week to meet your child and bring them home. This worked great for us as we wanted to take Ainsley with us to Ethiopia. We now have to appear before the court during the intitial adoption hearing and then go home and wait for the final approval of all the paperwork. We would meet our child at that time and then leave her at the orphanage until our second trip approximately 8-12 weeks later. We are not yet sure of all of the details as to the exact time line or why this change took place. It has something to do with preventing child trafficking and protecting the children which should be their first priority.
This news came as a total shock to us and resulted in more than a few episodes of crying. I can't imagine meeting your child and having to leave them to go back home for a few months. I also don't know how we are going to handle all of this with Ainsley. She won't be able to do two trips with us due to school and the extra financial burden that this will place on us.
I have managed to reach the point of not thinking about the details as they upset me too much and just trying to have faith that everything will work out OK. This blog entry is actually much harder to do than I thought it would be! I have been avoiding doing for a couple of weeks now. I just hope that this change doesn't slow down the process at all. As it stands right now, we probably aren't looking at receiving a child referral until late next year.
Keep you fingers and toes crossed for us!
