Minor setback

Somehow my power of attorney form was lost by the Ethiopian government. Grace called me last week to tell me I needed to prepare a new one. (My heart sank when I saw Grace's name on my caller ID -- once you have a referral, it could be bad news from Grace at any time. Many of the babies get sick, die, or are reclaimed by biological relatives [which would not be bad if they could provide for the child, but many times they take the child back, only to return him/her to an orphanage when they can no longer care for the child, with the end result being that the child still lacks good medical care and nutrition, and gets bounced around from place to place].)

Anyway, after I so painstakingly prepped my original POA, it is now somehow lost. I guess I should be glad that my dossier is apparently still intact; that would be a lot more difficult to recreate! I got the new POA ready, notarized and shipped off overnight to the PA Secretary of Sate's office where it needs to be certified. I hope to have it back in time to overnight it to Shimeliss by Friday so he can carry it over to Ethiopia when he goes. It figures today is President's Day -- the state is slow enough with their certifications, even without state holidays. Cross your fingers!

A little frustrating, but it's not the worst thing that can happen.

Here's an awesome and inspirational video that someone way more creative than me put together to document their adoption of two Ethiopian children. I absolutely love the pictures of the newly adopted children hugging, playing, and smiling with their american siblings. Despite their differences, these kids are part of the family. I get joyful tears in my eyes thinking of orphans like these ones that got the chance to have a family, but my heart is broken thinking of all the orphans in the world who will never even have a chance to experience love and security.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TRZQray_Ng0

Redoing my power of attorney form doesn't seem like a big issue to me. Just a small obstacle I need to get past to bring one of those children home.