What is Rainy Season? And Why?

(source, if you'd like to buy. i totally would) 

In an effort to be more informative, let's go into some basics of Ethiopian adoption. LOTS of people who read this blog are just considering adoption and are still choosing which program best suits them, but remember in the beginning when you didn't know how to say dossier (it's doss-ee-ay)? I do. There's so much to figure out. Well, here's a basic of Ethiopian adoption: Rainy Season.

So let's back up, actually, and find out why Rainy Season effects anybody's mental health. Here's the steps for an Ethiopian adoption:

1. Apply for your program. Start your home study and paperchase, which typically lasts 3-6 months.
2. Get in line for your referral. A referral is what they call the matching process. Your referral is a big honkin' deal when they send you pictures and background and medical info on the child that fits your criteria.
3. Once you have a referral you wait another month or so to be issued a court date. You travel to Ethiopia, meet your child, and then legally become their parent. Then you generally have to say goodbye, get on a plane and go home and try to keep it together for another month or two or three.
4. Finally US Embassy will clear your child for travel and let you know that you can come pick them up, so you happily do.

Now, back to Rainy Season. Ethiopian courts generally close from mid-August til mid-October. Regions of the country are just so rainy that apparently daily life just needs to stop for a while. I'm actually not too clear on the specifics, but it's just one of those things we plan on accepting. The tricky part is when comes when you need a court date and courts are about to close. It's hard to think of your child aging another two months without any progress. Ethiopian courts announced the closure yesterday from August 22-October 1st. This is actually shorter and later than most, so it's great news for waiting families, my own included. It means more families will be official sooner than later, so we're rejoicing about that! So that's that. Some essentials of Ethiopian adoption. Somebody want to do a guest post about the essentials of Congolese adoption? I'd love to hear about the process.