We found out yesterday that there have been some delays in the processing of adoptions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. One problem is that some personnel have changed, including a judge who is very new at processing adoptions. Fortunately, he’s willing to learn and has a favorable attitude toward adoption, which is very good news. The other problem with our timeline is likely going to change with the elections in November. The US Embassy has indicated that they expect adoption travel delays, but aren’t sure how long the delays may be. So while we were originally planning to travel by the end of the year, now we’re expected to travel before April. We hope.

The good news is that we received our “Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition.” This is the last piece of documentation we need before sending our paperwork to the Democratic Republic of Congo to begin going through their process — the one that’s currently delayed.  We hope to put our dossier together and mail it off by tomorrow!