Encourgament and Discouragement

I think most of the posts on this blog expose my fragile emotional state. This one will not disappoint.
First, I must say, we have been overwhelmed with the love and support we have received from our friends and family members. To know that so many people are praying for our family, especially Baby Buna, is tremendously encouraging. Not to mention the financial support that has been pouring in. We are making drops in that required bucket of cash!
I'm not ignorant. We knew from the beginning that this would be a fight. Adoption, at it's core, is a very clear picture of the gospel. We were once lost, and God, in his goodness--and not because of our own, paid a much bigger price to adopt us as His own children. He continues the fight in convincing some of us that the payment has been made. That we are no longer slaves, no longer orphans wandering without hope. We know that our family's pursuit of Baby Buna is just a small picture of God's love for us, but a picture that Satan would rather not be displayed. He will fight, but we will fight back.
Today we received an email from our agency, we are asked not to share specific details of emails on blogs, social media outlets, etc. but this I took directly from a public page on their website:

As many of you are aware, there have been many changes to the adoption process in Ethiopia lately. Several orphanages have been closed, including one of Holt's partners. There has been a slow down in the number of children referred to Holt over the last few months.

In an effort to maintain reasonable wait times for the families currently in process with Holt, we have decided to place a hold on accepting new applications. We expect this to be a temporary measure, but at this time, we are not sure how long it will be before we begin to accept new applications again.

Bummer. Delays in referrals. Orphans piled in less orphanages, with fewer going out to their families. Baby Buna. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Now, I must type this to remind myself that our God is good and sovereign. And that no, He doesn't delight in this situation, but He is over this situation, and He is working it our for good.

Courts in Ethiopia close during the rainy season. They will reopen the second week of October. Will you please pray that the government will carefully, but swiftly begin sending out more referrals so that those babies can get to their mommas and daddies, waiting for them. Pray for all those sweet babies, waiting. For their nannies to love and serve them as best as they can. For the officials who have the final say to have mercy. For God to keep all of them, and us in His strength?

I just sent an email to our case worker with a few questions about the next steps for us. One pressing issue on our hearts is to get our dossier turned in with it's $3,000 fee ASAP. Then, we have to work extra hard to get the $11,900 so that our names can get on the list to be able to receive a referral. The longer it takes, the further back the ever increasing list we go. Pray that we will figure out how to get this money and be able to submit it sooner than later.

So, for now, we are thankful, but with heavy hearts.