What does the "wait list" mean?

 

Over the last few months I have been posting what number on the Wait List we are (totally intentioned to explain it sooner than this but...)  So in June of 2010, we started filling out paperwork to begin this journey of adoption (a journey God had begun in our hearts well before that).  At the beginning of September 2010, all of the requirements were met, paperwork was complete for our adoption agency...so we were put on the "Wait List".  We were put on the list for an infant girl from Ethiopia.  At that time we were #90.  Over the course of the past 2 years we have inched our way down the list, each month getting a new number...sometimes lower, sometimes unchanged.  We get our updated number the last day of each month...(yes, I have been checking e-mail that day many times lately).
What this number means is that when we are the #1 family on the baby girl list, the next baby girl that is ready to be matched with an adoptive family...we will get the call about her (this is called a Referral Call).  At that time we will have an International Pediatrician review her paperwork and we will fill out a bunch of paperwork to verify that we are ready to move forward with adopting her into our family.
I remember where I was exactly when we got the Referral Call for our other 2 adopted kids.  We believe in a BIG way that God orchestrates the ins & outs, ups & downs in the adoption process to match us with exactly the child God has to be in our family.  So to say that we are excited to find out who she is would be a huge understatement.
So, because you can never predict how things will go in the International Adoption world (but you are constantly trying to figure them out;)...we have been moving about 1 spot per month most recently...so at this time it would look like we would get our referral call at the end of this year.
Then within a few months after that, we will travel to Ethiopia for our 1st trip to meet her & appear before a judge.  And then we will come back home without her (yes, that will be hard).  And then after a few more weeks we will return to Ethiopia to pick her up.  So the part of the process after "referral" till pick up is taking about 3 months (based on current estimates that are constantly changing).
The only thing that always remains the same about international adoption is CHANGE.  So who really knows?  But God does...and He's all that really matters! We continue to wait & pray!!!!  There are so many things to pray about & the hundreds of times that we think about whoever she is each day...we are reminded to pray.  We appreciate your prayers too! 
The wait has been long and with this ending part the wait will feel even more crazy...but oh, so exciting!  God is so faithful!  We trust Him in "the wait"!