According to plan, today is our last full day at home. Tomorrow we should leave when Emerson gets out of school around lunchtime, spend some time with friends in Portland, and make our way up to Seattle, from which our flight leaves Wednesday at 5.
This morning, we got news from the agency that could throw all our plans out the window.
There is trouble in Rehema's family, which will either cause a delay in getting the paperwork together, or make her ineligible for adoption. Both of her birth parents are supportive of the adoption, but some members of the father's family are opposed to it, and are threatening the birth mother. Possibly, the birth father could come from the village where he lives and ask them to knock it off, and the process will continue. Or possibly, either or both parents could bow to the pressure and decide not to sign the documents for Rehema.
This is shocking for us, and could be very frustrating (and expensive) to call off our trip at this last minute, but it could be much worse for Rehema. Her mother was physically and financially unable to take care of her, and no one else -- either her father or extended family -- has been willing or able to step in to help. There is no foster care or orphanage system in the country; international adoption is the last option. If she becomes ineligible for adoption because her parents can't sign, possibly the next option is going to an overcrowded orphanage where she would have to compete for limited resources, or life on the street.
Right now, we don't have enough information to make a decision about what to do. We are still planning to leave on our trip, but we might have to turn around and come home. Right now it is the middle of the night in Uganda, so there is nothing to do but pray that some new information will come from the orphanage or the lawyer's office in the morning, that offers some hope for our little girl and our family.
