Friday - a few extra days in Ethiopia

Well, there have been some complications. Following will be a succession of emails with the progess of these new developments! It has certainly been an adventure for Ty and Audrey, filled with lots of joy and lots of frustrations. They have certainly felt everyone's prayers and well-wishes.

To summarize, there were problems with the US Embassy issuing Micah's visa. They claimed they had not finished their investigations, and would not be able to issue it until they were done. Technically, Audrey and Ty should not have been cleared to go at all. The last several days have been a real test of patience as Audrey, Ty and Amber did all they could to get Micah home!






Thursday mid-day..... Ethiopia time:

Ty talked to the US Embassy this afternoon on the phone and they agreed to meet with us tomorrow (Friday) at 10am.

Here is some background of the problem: The U.S. Embassy is in the process of changing to a new system for the Ethiopian adoptions. In the past, they have been satisfied with all the research on the legitamacy of the orphan done prior to it reaching their desk. Now, they want at least 8 weeks to look into every adoption. (The next AWAA families are not coming here for adoption until mid-May.) Overall this is probably a good thing, but we were supposed to be under the old system, and not this new one.

We have an email from 3/3/10 from them saying that we "are good to go" confirming that we were ready for an appt. to get Micah's visa on the 17th. That means they were satisfied with the investigation at that time and gave us the go-ahead to travel. Then, on Wed, 3/17, when we were ready for our appts, they said they forgot about them, and told us to wait a few days. AWAA pushed them, and they were able to investigate the other 2 families cases quickly as their kids are pretty local. They got visas today and will head home tomorrow as scheduled. But for Micah, the investigation could mean the Embassy officials traveling to the remote place (very remote--as in fly half-way, drive part-way, and walk-in up a mountain the rest of the way) to talk to the police officer who handled the placement and try to find Micah's birth mother. They have all the written reports, which have always been enough in the past.

That email confirmation is the biggest thing we have going for us. They said everything was fine, and gave us the go ahead to come here, and now they have changed. There were several phone call confirmations also, but of course those aren't "on-paper" evidence.

At best, they will call the investigation complete tomorrow, and go ahead and issue Micah's visa. At worst, they will say they need an indefinite amount of time (up to 8 weeks) to complete the investigation. What the AWAA staff seems to expect is that they will do the investigation within the next week and issue the visa then.

So, pray. Pray that the people we talk to: Linda, Christine, and Abigail (all U.S. Embassy employees) will see their error, see that the investigation into Micah's history is complete, have compassion, and issue the visa. Pray that we, Ty and Abanet (an AWAA employee) especially, have wisdom as they plead our case. Pray that we have peace and wisdom about what to do if it does not happen tomorrow.

I think that's it! We should know something by 11am here, 4am Burton time, 3am Lewis/Ferrel time tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.

Becca, Jeremiah's mom, just slid some verses under our door. Here is one: "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 4:13.

Love to you all,
Ty, Audrey, and Amber

This was followed by hours of waiting for the appointment, and praying for a good outcome. During this time, Audrey, Ty and Amber visited other orphanages in the area. The other 2 families in their travel group also got the good news that their visas were in order, and they would be able to travel hom as scheduled.

This morning (Friday, US time) we received the results of the meeting, and the email is below:

Hey,
The Embassy appt did not go as well as we hoped, but we are as satisfied as we can be at this point.

The Embassy insists on sending a representative to Bench Maji to look for the birthmom and confirm her placement of Micah, or at least talk to neighbors if she has disappeared as the police report says. These new in-depth investigations are a result of the bad stuff that another agency, CWA, did a while back, and they did it with the same orphanage that Micah came from, Gelgela. Because of the history of problems, they feel like they have to do these extra steps.

They had several options of when/how to send a person there, but AWAA is going to hire a driver/car, and also send an AW employee who is familiar with the area to go with the Embassy person. Hopefully they will leave this afternoon (Friday), get there by Sunday, and investigate Mondayish. If they are satisfied that Micah is truly an orphan, they drive back out to cell phone signal area, call into the embassy, and the embassy issues the visa and Micah comes home. Best case, that would be Tues. or Wed. Of course things could go wrong in all that, so it could be later next week.

The nightmare would be if they found something other than Micah being truly an orphan, and we don't even want to consider that right now.

Amber is going home tonight as scheduled. Ty and Audrey will stay here with Micah. AWAA will continue to take care of them as they have all week. If things take longer than Tuesdayish, Ty will come home to his girls, and Amber will come back to help Audrey get home.

That's the news for now. Christine in the Embassy knew they had made a mistake in letting us come, and not having the investigation done already. She promised, and we believe her sincere, that she will do everything possible to make it happen ASAP. Her cohort, Linda, was a nazi that should be kicked into a canyon. :-)

We appreciate your prayers in all this. We'll continue to keep you posted.


Much love,

Ty, Amber, and Audrey

So, now we wait! We wait and hope that everything falls into place for the best possible scenario. Audrey is planning on using this time to visit with the kids in the transition homes, which I know they will appreciate. They apparently LOVED the bubbles that Jackie sent over for them!

The investigation team is leaving tomorrow to try to get some answers. They could have news as early as mid-day on Monday, depending on the cell service in the remote areas that the investigators are traveling to.

All this talk about travel plans and investigations.... what about Micah? Well, Micah is doing great! Apparently he is super active and tons of fun! According to Audrey he absolutely LOVES to eat and sleep, and is a pretty mellow, easy baby! They have started transitioning him to cereal, and he is a FAN!

So sweet...... apparently he sleeps with his eyes open sometimes.....

Meanwhile, the girls are still anxiously awaiting the return of Mom and Dad and their new baby brother! They have been staying busy with Nana and all of their normal routines! They are getting all of their favorite foods for dinner, and the weather has been glorious for playing outside! Leigh and I headed to the house after work on Wednesday and rode bikes, planted some flowers with Nana, Jackie wanted to sweep the garage (she's SUCH a cleaner) and made some signs for the airport! We won't mention the green paint, ok??? :)