Friday, February 21, 2014

"What Happened?!"

So some of you are wondering "what happened??!?" I apologize that my last post was hastily written- I was in a time-crunch, but wanted to get the information out so people could start praying as soon as possible.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please don't stop!

Here's the deal...  I can't share what exactly happened because the information is very personal to our daughter.  However, I can give an example from a different case that happened several months back.

The example:

A relative of the child told the child's birth-mom to testify that the birth-father had died.  So, the birth-mom testified, had witnesses, and even had a fake death certificate.  All the local, regional, and national paperwork was certified to show that the birth-father had "deceased".  However, this was not true.  During the US Embassy interview (an intensive interview where they verify information previously given), the birth-mom came clean and admitted that the birth-father was still living, but had abandoned the family.  She did not know where he was.  So, all the paperwork had to be re-done to reflect the birth-father's "disappearance" instead of "decease".  This took about 3 months because of the quantity and depth of the work, as well as the search for the birth-father.

Again, this is not our specific situation, but it gives the general idea behind what we're up against.  I do not know if the new information will take weeks or months to update.

We are not doing super-great, actually, with this new development.  Please hear me: we'll be fine.  We still trust God.  It's just that our emotions are in a little bit of a jumble.  If one more person pats me on the hand and says "you just need to trust God, sweetie" I just might scream at them.  But, really, we'll be fine.  The thing that bites the most is that Wednesday was supposed to be the last step of the process, and at this exact moment in time, we were supposed to be cleared to travel.  We are supposed to have plane tickets in hand to leave in the next week to go get my children.  This time next week, they are supposed to be in our arms, screaming and peeing.  They won't be.  It pretty much stinks.  AND, I may miss my daughter's first birthday.  Double stink.

So, in the mean time, we plug away at life and enjoy the time we have together.  Philip is busy with church, work, and training a new employee, and I'm busy with class and the home and friends and volunteer work.

Please do continue to pray.  Our agency is doing a great job sorting stuff out, and all parties involved are wanting to get this adoption finished.  I am confident that our lawyer and those in Ethiopia will be diligent to update everything as soon as they can.  We'll keep y'all updated as we know more.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

How Much More?

How much more can our hearts take?

This last week has been a roller coaster, and there is no end in sight.  We were thrilled yesterday to hear that Anya's birth-mom had indeed been interviewed, and the only interview we're waiting on is Jayce's birth-mom.  We figured this is one less thing that can be delayed and go wrong.

Little did we know.....

But God knew.  And He sees.  And He loves.  And He holds us in the hollow of His hand.

Late last night, we got an e-mail from the embassy with the results of the interview.  Evidently, Anya's birth-mom initially lied about her circumstances.  During her embassy interview (which we're told is as rigorous as an FBI interview), she came clean and told the truth.

This means that our agency will need to have allllll the paperwork re-done that previously stated her circumstances.  This is not an unheard of predicament.  It has happened 3 times in the last 18 months with different families in our agency.  But, in one family's case, the updating of paperwork took and extra three months before the child came home.

I do not have answers.  I have as many (or more!) questions than you do.

I do know that this can be resolved.

This is not the first case in which this happened.

It is a possibility that we would bring home Jayce first and later Anya.

It is a possibility that we would wait to bring home both kids at the same time.

We have no idea of how long this delay will take.

It is an absolute statement that we need your prayers like never before.

As I said, we do not have answers.  But, that is the way things stand at the moment.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to slog through the mire of this process!

Praise be to God for His unfailing goodness.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Yay. More Delays.

More. Delays.

If I wasn't about to blow a gasket, it would almost be funny.

When our lawyer went to book the flight for the birth-mom's, the flights were full and they couldn't make it to the capital city in time for the interview.  So....  our new birth-mom-interview date is March 5th.

A new, 2 week delay.  A friend in Brazil once told me that God knows the desire of my heart, and He knows what's best.  That's kinda been my mantra this morning, what I keep reminding myself of.  There is positively nothing we can do to change the situation.  God knows how much we want our children home, and how much they need a home.  He has already given them to us, for their benefit and His glory.  He also knows the best way to get them home and the perfect timing to do so.  And, while we continue to wait, I will trust that.


Psalm 68  (Look at the character of God!)

...

3 But may the righteous be glad

and rejoice before God;

may they be happy and joyful.

4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,

extol him who rides on the clouds;

rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,

is God in his holy dwelling.

6 God sets the lonely in families,

he leads out the prisoners with singing;

but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

...

9 You gave abundant showers, O God;

you refreshed your weary inheritance.

10 Your people settled in it,

and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.

...

19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,

who daily bears our burdens.

20 Our God is a God who saves;

from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.

...

28 Summon your power, Godj ;

show us your strength, our God, as you have done before.
...

32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth,

sing praise to the Lord,

33 to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens,

who thunders with mighty voice.

34 Proclaim the power of God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

whose power is in the heavens.

35 You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary;

the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.


Praise be to God!




****UPDATE 2/19****
Our lawyer was able to arrange for Anya's birth-mom to be interviewed last night after all.  While we still wait for Jayce's birth-mom to be interviewed on March 5th, this is a big step in the right direction.  It is one less thing that can possibly be delayed later, and I'm grateful for the persistence of our lawyer in this.  Praise God!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

A Kindly-Meant-Question

There is such a difference between “questions-kindly-meant-but-didn’t-come-out-quite-right” and “questions-with-an-agenda-to-tell-you-my-opinion”. My friend’s question, thankfully, was a “kindly-meant” one. In case anyone else is also wondering the same thing, let me answer it here. His question, upon hearing of our current delay, was whether we had the opportunity to back out of this adoption.

He was not saying we had made a mistake in adoption or we should go find other kids that we could bring home faster because these kids weren’t worth waiting for. If he had implied that, I might have had some choice words for him.

He was asking, I think, if our adoption had gone belly-up and we were stuck with a huge financial loss and no kiddos to show for it. I think he was also asking if we might have done things differently if we had the option.

Simply put,
NO. This is not the case at all.

Ok, I admit, this process has taken twice as long as we ever dreamed. It has had more headaches and frustrations than I had thought possible. Yes, we are temporarily delayed again in this process. Yes, I have been pretty upset and emotional and impatient and annoyed and antsy.

Please hear me:

WE HAVE NO REGRETS.

I do not wish we had made other decisions. I do not wish we could bail out and choose a different family-building strategy. I do not wish that somehow we had different kiddos that would come home sooner. I do not believe that we made a mistake in this. Life is on-hold and different, and there will be enormous challenges in the near future, but that’s ok. This is right. These kiddos are ours. There are no amount of delays that will change that.

Our fingerprint appointment has been scheduled for the 12th, the birth moms’ interviews are on the 19th. Our fingerprint officer says there is a good chance she can get our fingerprints to Ethiopia on or before the 19th, so after the 19th we will just be waiting for any subsequent paperwork that needs re-translation or updated dates or whatever. So, in a nutshell, we will positively not be traveling until sometime after the 19th.

Thanks for your patience and prayers as we are in the finishing stages of this process!



"Strangely Dim" a song by Francesca Battistelli that encouraged me this week: