What's next?

There is not much to report, but I want to pass along what we do know. 

Right now, there is about a one year wait from referral until travel. If this holds true, we will travel to bring home our little girl sometime next fall. 

Our attorney will go to court on our behalf in about 6 months. After that, the US Embassy will conduct an investigation that is expected to take about 6 months. 

The Congo has implemented a new investigation process that has extended the time between when we pass court and when we travel to go and bring our little girl home. Because this process is new, we are fairly uncertain what to expect. 

I know this is extremely vague, but I wanted to share any details that we have. I will most definitely post updates as we get them. 

This will probably be the longest year of our lives. Knowing that our child is half way across the world where we cannot take care of her is a hard reality. But I do know that she is in God’s hands and he will protect her. 

Please join us as we pray that our sweet little girl stays healthy, is well taken care of, and that we get to bring her home before expected!

Our DAUGHTER!

She is beautiful, she is loved, and she is ours! Our little GIRL is 3 years old and we are over the moon with excitement!

Two weeks ago, we received the referral that we have waited so long for. We took these past 2 weeks to pray and listen for God’s direction. On Wednesday, we officially accepted our referral.

This is just as much our daughter’s adoption story as it is ours. We want to protect her and her privacy. For this reason we are choosing not to share much about her online. 

BUT, you better believe I will be carrying a picture of her sweet little face wherever I go and I would love to share with you.

I will post more details later! YAY!!

whoomp there it is

This is it...all of it. Our Dossier for DRC is DONE and was mailed to our agency today! Doing my happy dance right now.

adoption update...and another change!

It has been a looooong time since I have posted about adoption. One because we have made some changes that I was not ready to public. And two because we have a newborn (an two other kids) who pretty such take up all my time and energy along with my thinking skills. Seriously, I have trouble even making coherent sentences 90% of the time.

We realized in October of last year that our i-600 approval was expiring in January, and not just any day in January, but Zeke's due date. Crazy, huh? So, we began the paperwork process...again.

If you have been following our journey, you may know that before we found out we were expecting #3, we were faced with a decision on whether to stay in Uganda or switch countries.
When we found out I was pregnant, we decided to stay put in Uganda and then make the decision closer to my due date.
And then in October, when we realized that our paperwork had to be updated, we also knew that we needed to make a choice on which country was best for our family.

Well, we decided to switch. We are now adopting from Democratic Republic of Congo.

There were several factors affecting our decision, but the overriding factor was travel time. We would have had to take one 8+ week trip to Uganda. Our original plan was to take the kiddos with us. But after Zeke was born, we knew that travel with all three kids, especially a baby may not be the wisest decision. And leaving the kids in the states while we traveled was not an option! I have trouble leaving them for a weekend, there is no way I could do it for 2 months!

So here we are...once again having to start certain processes over and once again finding ourselves on the paper chase.
Our adoption journey has been one of many emotions. When country processes change, it is frustrating, but it also reminds me of who is in control...and that is NOT me. God has showed me many times that He is sovereign over this entire process. It is not mine to control, it is His. Our baby is in His hands.

Now that we are settling in to being a family of 5, our adoption is back at the forefront of my mind. With that, I am hoping to do a better job of keeping y'all updated!