We are just two weeks away from our second trip to Ethiopia.
This time, Miguel will be traveling the first days of March for our court date.
Yes! We have a court date on March 12, 2012 and if everything goes well after that we’ll be the official parents of our new daughter!
Anyway we still have to wait a while longer to bring her home. After passing court, the documentation has to be prepared, from court decree to passport, and here is where sometimes things get complicated.
Three years ago the wait between court and embassy appointment was usually 3-4 weeks. Nowadays, however, it is taking from 2 to 4 months, or even longer…
It all depends on the US embassy, on how they handle things or if they ask for additional documentation.
Some parents after passing court decide to stay in Ethiopia with their children, but it is a risky decision since you don’t really know how long the wait will take. Once you take custody of your children, you can’t take them back to the orphanage if you need to leave the country, you can’t bring them to the US without the papers, and you can’t leave them on their own in Ethiopia.
The stay then can go from just a short period of time to months and you need to be prepared financially and emotionally to endure it.
We can’t face something like that since we have a home, work, and children, so our choice will be to come back to the US and wait for the embassy appointment and travel for a third time, for which we haven’t decided yet who’s going to go.
Anyway, for now we are focusing on the court date.
Miguel will also repeat the TESFA trekking tour that I did with a small difference. He will stay at four sites instead of three and won’t go to Gondar as I did.
I’m very excited since he’s taking some extra photography equipment with him and is planning to take some amazing pictures; from landscapes to portraits, which I will share here and on the blog’s Facebook page.
He’s got really good photographing people and I bet he’ll get some amazing shots with some help from flashes, reflectors and tripods.
Once he gets back, he will write a post of his experience.
I’m helping him pack so he has everything he needs for the trip, including some presents for our daughter.
While he’s away, I will keep posting photos of my trip and sharing my experience and a bit of information about Ethiopia.

AliciA