...still waiting on PAIR letter and MOWCYA letter...

It has been a few months since we received our referral, so I thought you might like a small update.

(we can't share our daughter's face yet, sorry!)

We are still waiting for a few parts of the adoption paperwork to be processed in Ethiopia before we get to travel:

First, we need to wait for the Ministry of Women's Children's and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) to review our paperwork and our daughter's paperwork, and then to write the recommendation letter necessary to get a court date. This review was scheduled for May 29th, but they are currently back-logged by about a month due to several factors, including an extended power-outage in the MOWCYA building in Addis.

Second, we are waiting for the US Embassy in Ethiopia to complete the Pre-Adoption Immigration Review (PAIR) process. A few of our daughter's documents need to be re-translated before we can be submitted to this - translation errors can send up red flags and delays.

Once we have the MOWCYA recommendation letter and the PAIR letter, we get a court date, and travel to Ethiopia to meet our daughter in person, and to adopt her in the Ethiopian court. After this, she will officially be ours.
Then we have to travel back home while we wait for final Embassy clearance. Once we receive our Embassy appointment, we then travel back to Addis Ababa, to take custody of our daughter, go to Embassy, and finally, FINALLY bring her home!

Please join us in praying that we get a court date BEFORE the rainy season, during which the Ethiopian courts close for 3 months...