Overview of the End

Thank you all so much for continuing to ask me about our boys and our adoption process.  I just wish I had some great news to share, but not much has changed. We are still waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.

For those who like bullet points like myself, here's what things should look like from this point on.

*  We began a 3-6 month investigative process by the US Embassy in Country on Jan. 14.  Next week marks 4 months past in this process.  We know of no one who has completed this process yet (as it is a new regulation) but have been told that our paperwork was one of the first in the new process.  We hope to hear soon that we are finished.
*  When we have completed our investigative process, we will be assigned an embassy appointment that someone will attend in our stead.
*  After the embassy appointment, Country will issue a visa to our boys.  We learned this week that due to adoptions taking place that do not comply with the law, they are extending what used to be a couple day process to 1-2 weeks to ensure that all adoptions are ethical and in accordance with the law.
*  Once we have word that we received our visas, we will be contacted that it will be time to travel to Africa and pick up the boys (Probably a 2 weeks notice).
*  Once in Africa, we will be given the boys to stay with us in a hotel while we apply for an exit letter that allows us to leave the country as a family.  This can take anywhere from 7 days to 3 weeks, we've been told.

How can you pray for us right now?

1.  SPEED!  Pray that we will be finished with our investigation quickly.  Pray that we will receive our embassy appointment and then our visa quickly.
2.  HERE & NOW!  That God will be preparing us now for being a family of 10.  That we will use our time wisely with our children now in our home, spending quality and quantity time with each and every one of them.  That the boys will be ready to join our family.  That the Lord will keep them healthy and safe while they wait.
3.  LATER!  That our attachment to the boys and their attachment to us will be smooth.  That God will give us wisdom in parenting.  That our children will adjust well to the new additions.  That God will strengthen our marriage as we finalize this adoption.

Just a note of reassurance....

Right now it saddens me to hear and read that many people in the world see international adoptions as a money maker at the expense of children.  It not only saddens me, but it angers me.  It makes me think of the verse in Matthew 18:6  "If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."  It happens everywhere and many countries have had to shut their doors to adoptions because of the corruption that has occurred while orphans fill their streets and orphanages, stripping them of any hope they had to have a family.  As frustrated as I am at the delays in our adoption when it seemed that we were so close to having the boys home, I know that these delays are a result of precautions that are necessary because of the unethical adoption practices that have occurred.  These delays are to not only protect OUR children but the many children out there who have families waiting for them.  I also am 100% confident in the practices of our adoption agency.  Over 140 children have been brought home from our Country through this small agency and not one of them was denied a visa.  All adoptions have be true and correctly completed.  I am confident that these additional investigations will only confirm what we already know...that our boys are true orphans in need of a family.

So add to your prayer list....that the corruptions that occur in adoptions will be revealed and that justice will be done to those who practice such things at the expense of loving families and orphans.