We were able to spend the 4th of July with my in-laws this year. As it turns out, our agency is only an hour from their house so we decided to drop in and meet our case worker for the first time. Our many talks on the phone are great, but it was wonderful to finally match a face with her voice!
As many of you know, part of the adoption referral process is filling out an extensive list of medical needs that we are willing to consider. This is the one part of the process I dreaded more than anything else. It is so incredibly difficult to feel like you are playing the role of God in determining what you can handle. After all, in a pregnancy, He chooses the gender, medical needs and everything else in this little life. We spent the last months praying about it, talked to several medical professionals who were able to explain all of the different conditions, took a deep breath and tackled the list. We would go through a few of the boxes, take a break, pray and then go through a few more. Finally we finished the 5 page list and laid the rest at His feet. (For privacy reasons, we are choosing not to disclose our choices. If you have any questions about this part of the process, we would be happy to answer them, but please do not ask us what we chose as it is a very personal and sensitive subject. :) )
Since we were in the area, we wanted to talk with our case worker about our list and see if it would reduce our waiting time. She looked through our list and said, "Well, if you are sure of your choices, I can go ahead and fax this to the team in country so they can start looking for your child."
I wish there had been a camera there to capture my expression. Eyes huge. Mouth wide open.
Basically what this means is that our agency's partners in country will begin looking over the "master" waiting child list for a child to match to us. If they find a match before our dossier (huge stack of paperwork) is submitted (probably around November) our process will speed up quite drastically. If they don't find a match in these next few months, the Minister of Justice will take over our case when our dossier is submitted and the waiting time will be back to 2-5 years. It was a huge surprise to us, because we didn't think this was even a possibility. Typically, they don't start searching for your child until the dossier is in country.
It is unlikely that we will get THE phone call in the next few months, but we consider this an opportunity to watch God move mountains if He chooses. If a match is found before our dossier is submitted, our process will proceed very quickly, which means that we could possibly have our kiddo home about a year from now. (Seriously, I can't even type that out without giggling and clapping. Ha!)
It is a little nerve-wrecking having all of that information typed out for everyone to see. It somehow makes it more real. But we wanted to share it because it is a very specific thing that you can pray for.
~ Pray that our agency's partners will be able to find a match on the waiting child list BEFORE our dossier is submitted- which means our child will have a much shorter wait in the orphanage.
~ Pray that everyone in this process will act with diligence and urgency so that our child and all the others waiting in orphanages will join a family soon!
~ Pray that God would remove all the obstacles in this process and that He would surround our Little One with grace and love.
~ Pray that the finances would work in His timing. A faster process means the funds must come together MUCH faster.
Thank you for all the prayers and walking with us on this journey. We are so excited at the possibility of this process moving quickly! It is more than we ever could have dreamed. It is exciting to see the Lord move and to be able to share this story as a testimony to His greatness. We are so blessed!
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