Nepal is Not Forgotten....

Oh Nepal, Nepal. How I love you Nepal. I haven't spoke of this wonderful country in quite some time. In March, after a dream or two, and some obvious government delays in Nepal, Wes and I made the very difficult decision to switch programs from Nepal to Ethiopia.  We lost several thousand dollars, but we felt the switch was right and timely.

I've actually been on this lake.  It was the most peaceful retreat ever.  When we looked 
out our hotel window, those mountains were our view.  So so beautiful.

 On the very day I was going to send in our official letter stating that we were no longer going to adopt from Nepal, the director of our agency called me.  She said that they had been talking about Wes and I, and our heart for Nepal and our special connection to it (remember I lived there for 4 months, and Wes visited me there).  She felt that since we had already paid for our dossier to be in Nepal, we might as well keep it there.  She said it would probably be quite a while until we ever got a referral (Back in March I believe that there were around 500 families across the globe waiting to be matched with a child.  And those were just the 2009 families.  We were a 2010 family.), so why not just leave it sitting there in Nepal?  First of all, I was overwhelmed by the fact that they had truly considered our heart for Nepal.  All of a sudden, we weren't just a number on their list of adoptive families, but we were a couple whose names and hearts they prayed for.  SO cool.  Second of all, I said, "Okay!"

So it is a little known fact that we actually have two dossiers out there in the world:  One in Ethiopia and one in Nepal.  So I guess we technically have a concurrent adoption going on.  Weird.  I really don't know if this will mean anything in the end, though.  Nepal is super strict about their guidelines for matching a family.  First, you can only adopt a child that is the opposite gender of the one in your home, meaning that if you have a son in your home you can only adopt a girl.  If you have a daughter, you can only adopt a boy.  If you have both a son and a daughter, you can't adopt from Nepal.  Weird, I know.  In addition, the Nepali child must be younger than the child/children you already have in your home.  SO, all that to say that when we adopt our little one from Ethiopia, we will have to change a lot of our paperwork for Nepal, because everything will ride on the age and gender of our Ethiopian angel.

Now, with all that said, who knows what this will all end up looking like.  And while some movement has started up again (referrals are being made little by little for the 2009 families), because of the EXTREME slow progress of adoptions in Nepal, most of the Nepal adoption blogs out there have been pretty slim.  Many families have been very discouraged, and have written very little.  Well, yesterday I saw one family in my blog list that had recently updated their blog, and said that they found out they were #74 in queue for the 2010 families, meaning there were 73 families in front of them.  Hmmmm?  I thought that was weird.  We never received a number when our dossier was registered in Nepal back in April.  So I shot an email over to our agency asking about this.  Sure enough, she writes me back today and says that we are #6 on the 2010 waiting list.  That's #6 over all families across the world registered in Nepal!  She said that there were other factors that played into our place in line, such as age parameters, gender, special needs, etc. so #6 doesn't necessarily mean that we will be the 6th family to be matched with a baby once the 2009 families have all been processed and matched.  Honestly, I have no clue.  I just know that it's all kind of funny when you think about it.  You never know what God might have in store.  I mean, we might get a referral for a little boy from Ethiopia, and bring him home by Christmas, and perhaps get a referral for a little girl from Nepal in the Spring of 2011.  OR, Nepal may never work out.  There is just no telling.   BUT.....I am excited to find out.  :)

So, no matter what, I am praying for my babies, no matter where they may be.  I am thankful to God for revealing His heart to me in so many way through this process.  If we had just gotten pregnant 5 years ago, I may never have gotten to know God's heart for the orphan.  I hope I would have, but you never know.  He knows me so well, and He knows exactly how to teach me, because I am His, adopted into HIS family, and He knows me inside out.  Wow.  I am SO thankful.

So here's to the crazy things that might happen to our family in the not-so-distant future.  Cheers!