Light at the end of the tunnel

It is here, it is here!  REFERRAL DAY!  387 days we have been stuck in this phase waiting to get that one email saying your referral is ready....and praise Jesus, it is here, it is really here!  We are packing our bags and will be flying out very soon to Haiti.

On Friday, February 13th Ed felt very convicted our prayers needed to focus on praising the Lord in advance for the referral news and that we would receive news of it.  We had already been told if it didn't come that Friday don't expect it the following week as Haiti would be shut down for Carnival (Mardi Gras equivalent). So that Friday night I felt like I entered back into my "well, here we go again, another week of no news" mopey mode.  Ed kept sticking strong to praising Jesus and saying it is done and let's thank him for what He has done......and by golly, it was done in fact.   When the world (our agency and everyone who is in the know on Haiti adoptions) said don't expect news, we found out our file was signed during that week of "no activity".  I just love when God likes to show His power and how He can move when everyone else says the movement can't happen!

So that being said, there is a whirlwind of activity that needs to happen before we leave and still quite a few pieces that have to be ironed out, so consider me scatterbrained until I get on that plane.   But as scatterbrained and busy as I am, I sure have been thinking of the Lord's provision and blessing to us on this journey.   I am reminded of some of the ways God has covered this journey.  When we very first started the adoption conversation with Claire she wanted nothing to do with it and clearly did not want any siblings. When I went to talk to Claire's teacher this week about the very soon leave of absence (oh, did I mention she is going on the trip- lots of sister bonding time), her teacher told me the story of how on the first day of February when they were going over the calendar for the month Claire got up and very proudly told the whole class that today was her sisters birthday and her teacher said she was beaming.   Claire talks about her sister with all her friends and just last night asked for help spelling her sisters name so her and her friends could make cards to give to her, so yes, the Lord covered this area. And then I think back to my emotions on this journey, it is a really long roller coaster ride, and for a while things will be going ok, and then every once in a while I would have a big dip and get really down, and I tell you what, EVERY SINGLE TIME, within 12 hours of reaching a low place, the Lord would send me some sort of a life raft to keep me afloat during the wait, some sort of good news, progress up date, story from someone else visiting the creche, something....literally every single time.  So another area I clearly saw His movement and felt the Lord at my/our side.  We also have had many obstacles that have been overcome clearly by His movement, the change in the years of marriage requirement that allowed us to adopt from Haiti when we were initially told we weren't eligible, huge financial barriers met, providing us a awesome network of other adoptive parents to walk through this journey with.....I can go on and on.   He has glorified his great name through this journey and we are so grateful to the Lord for everything we recognize He has done, and also for the many things He did to make this adoption happen that we aren't even aware of.

So I know the number one and two question is what next and when does she come home.   Well, right now we are working out some final details. We either will be leaving this weekend for Haiti, or on March 12th (I'm praying for this weekend as I am so excited to get to our sweet girl).  We will spend two weeks in Haiti for our "socialization trip" which is required by Haitian adoption law.   It will be a pretty low key trip with most of the focus on bonding our family together.  We will have one appointment in Port Au Prince with the US Embassy and one meeting with a Haitian Social Worker (please pray over this meeting as I feel very nervous).   The rest of the trip will be spent loving on our sweet girl.    She will NOT be coming home with us at the end of this trip though, as there is still more steps in this adoption journey.   We have been told that she should be home within 5-6 months after our bonding trip.......another area I am praying the Lord will move beyond our expectations and get her home MUCH sooner than that.  

So for now we will work through the details of getting to Haiti, but with a huge smile on our face all along, as we have so much joy to be here at this stage!

Oh the waiting

I wish we had news, and I keep thinking we should have news, I should have some sort of update, something encouraging, yet I find myself with nothing to say and I just keep trying to keep my eye on the end as we continue through this long season of wait.

I think the waiting has gotten harder lately since we have been given lots of hopeful information.   This week we hit our one year mark since we entered IBESR, and in two and a half months we will hit the two year anniversary since we started this adoption journey...TWO YEARS.  That is two years that our child has had to live away from us, not be part of a family.   There is so much weight to this number of two years.    We knew it would be a long journey, we were told from the beginning it would take two years, but what is so hard, is even if we get our referral today, our child won't be home at the two year mark.  Our hope and prayer now is that 1) something changes in the process of the last steps that can expedite all that is left to be done so she can come home earlier than what our given timelines tell us to estimate, and 2) that our child gets home early summer and definitely before the new school year.  

We have been very hopeful since Christmas time that our referral should be any day now, just last week we were given an update that gave us high hopes that we should have news that week....the week came and went with no news.  This week was met with news of political demonstrations in Haiti that shut down government offices.  I literally wake up every morning and check my email before I even get out of bed to see if that referral email is in my inbox......our agency is on the east coast.  And about 1 p.m. every day my bubble of hope begins to burst for that day as I realize I am nearing the close of business on east coast time and most likely won't be hearing news that day.  Another day gone.

So, here I am with no actual news to report. The best I can report is that we should be getting closer, the news should come any day.  So while I wait, I just pray....and pray.....and pray, because that is all that I can do and so now we wait on HIM.  We are so thankful for those of you that are praying and interceding on our behalf as well.  During these "lows"  I really do need the prayers of others.  Right now, is one of those low weeks.  Prayers for movement, prayers for encouragement for us and our children, and prayers for endurance.  So if you are one of our prayer warriors, please keep pressing on as it is SO appreciated!