I know many of your are curious as to where we are at and the number one question(s) we get is "What and why is this taking so long". I wish I had an answer, truly , no one can really explain what the delay is, all that we know is that our file is still tied up in IBESR (Haitian governing authority over adoptions). But I thought I would do a quick update to tell you where we are at and where we hope to be going soon.
So in March we had our two week required socialization visit with our daughter where we were interviewed by a social worker who determined we were a great match and she recommended to IBESR that our adoption be approved. So after that we needed a few signatures and that would trigger and "exit letter" which literally would exit our adoption out of the Haitian system and she would at that time be legally ours in Haiti (but not in America yet). So let me give you some insight into our frustration and the time delays that almost all families face when adopting in Haiti. By the guidelines produced by the Haitian government the time from the end of the bonding trip to the time of the issuance of the exit letter "should" take 2 weeks......we have been waiting 3 1/2 months thus far and are still waiting. And we know that the families that have gone before us have been waiting 5-6 months on average. But we are hopeful! We have reason to believe it is coming any day now. And honestly, the days get harder and our patience is further tested when we "think" it is coming and then each day passes and we don't get it. Our whole family is on pins and needles for this news. Every morning as soon as I wake up I check my email as our agency and Haiti is 3 hours ahead hoping to see "that" email in my inbox. Every day when I pick up Claire from school the first thing she asks is if we got our exit letter. It is really hard. But we are taking a huge faith walk right now and trusting that Gods timing is best and He has a reason that we may never know for allowing the delays and our job is to continue to walk in obedience with joy through the wait.
We also have a lot of faith that God can move mountains and that even though we are given time frames we don't like for our family, those are not HIS time frames and He can provide us a miracle by moving past "mans" given time frames- Proverbs 19:21 "Many are the plans in a persons heart, but it is the Lords purpose that prevails". That being said, I do have a lot of days where I know Proverbs 19:21 in my heart, but I find myself relating more towards Proverbs 33:10 "The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples". That is how I feel during so much of the time, frustrated!
So next question you are wondering- "what happens after the exit letter, do you get to bring her home?". I wish, but nope, that is not the case. So after the exit letter we then have to begin the adoption on the American side of things and go through the immigration process. This part use to be pretty consistent in averaging 5-6 months. However, once again for no real reason, this process has recently been averaging families 9-12 months, at least that is what we are being told. But after all the immigration/US adoption stuff she finally can come home!
Ed always says I am hopelessly optimistic....and in this case I am going to stick with that train of thought. We were told this last time frame a few days ago and I have decided to refuse to believe it. I wouldn't even let it sit or soak in. My God is bigger than that! So please join me in praying for our daughters home coming by Christmas 2015. It is a tall order, but I know it can happen! We started the process of bringing our daughter into our family in May of 2013, so we are already over 2 years into this journey.
I am very excited though that I will be returning to Haiti in August with a missions team from our church and will get to spend some great time with our daughter during that trip. These trips mean the world to me and are so helpful in continuing to build that bond between us. So I am counting down the days....21 to go!
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