I sat down tonight to clean up a few emails and went to delete all of the spam documents and happened to see our new adoption counselor's name in the list just before hitting delete! I quickly entered the message and about flipped out. I saw the letters USCIS and my eyes immediately filled with tears...
Unfortunately it is only fantastic news for one of our twins. Here is the message:
****************************************************************************
Hi Rebecca and Craig,
I wanted to let you know that Maison has informed me that Elysées (Judah's) file is being dropped off at USCIS today! They had all of his documents, and they were being delivered as this morning.
As for Elie (Elijah), his birth certificate was never registered, so Maison is having to go through some additional steps to get that fixed. This is not unusual in the case of twins with similar names, it is just very unfortunate. However, Maison doesn't expect there to be a long delay, and the problem has been being worked on for some time now. (9 weeks)
As soon as Elie's file is complete, Maison will take it to USCIS as well. I will certainly keep you up-to-date as we learn more!
*****************************************************************************
So, not exactly what we were hoping for, but at least the staff is aware of the situation and actively working on it and one of our precious sons is about 6-7 weeks away from his Visa! Today my heart felt so heavy...tears so close. Such frustration in the midst of hope. A truly strange feeling. Difficult but such a blessed feeling. I am certain we are right where God wants us right now.
I listened to a message on AM radio last week and the speaker said that right when you feel like you are about to give up or break...you are on the edge of something beautiful! God is creating a beautiful story in our lives, and who am I to question the timing of each moment.? I trust the Lord to put the pieces together perfectly, and we are more than willing to be His servants. I can't wait to love these boys for Him.
I hope that none of the words that I share on this blog ever deter people questioning whether adoption is in their future from moving forward with the process. This situation is difficult, challenging, stretching, heartbreaking and beautiful beyond words. Let me say that again...beautiful beyond words. I can't even begin to grasp the way that this adoption and Haiti in general have touched our souls and the future of our family. May God use us to create something beautiful, much bigger than we are alone and more than I ever could have ever dreamed.
Please continue to pray. We are on the edge. I can just feel it! I can almost feel my babies in my arms...
Filled with hope,
Rebecca
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Join Us In Prayer...
It is with an optimistic heart that I write this blog tonight. It has been yet another week with no news for us. About two weeks ago now, we received an email informing us that there was another new international adoption counselor on the Haiti cases. This is our fourth counselor in the course of our adoption! Seems a bit excessive to me, but we are trying to be hopeful. The new lady's name is Sarah and apparently she speaks Creole and French and hopefully this will help to expedite our situation.
We received information on September 17th that we had received Judah's document, the adoption decree attestation which comes from the National Archives and essentially is a signature. This was wonderful news because this allows his paperwork to be submitted to USCIS for the Visa process to begin and usually this takes about 6-8 weeks. Unfortunately....Judah's paperwork came without Eli's and so we continue to wait, and wait, and wait... It has officially been almost 9 weeks more of waiting and still no attestation for Eli. (I am absolutely certain that people are praying for us because at this point, I am tempted to rip out my hair and scream...and yet somehow, I don't. Instead I sigh and buckle down for the ride.)
So...on the 8th of November, I decided to call Sarah and introduce myself since I hadn't heard from her yet. She picked up on the first call and was positive, appeared to be proactive and very sympathetic. My first impression of her has been a very good one. She was disappointed that we are waiting with one document left to be signed to complete the Haitian process. She said, "That is unacceptable." She then stated that she would get in touch with the orphanage and call me "next week" with an update. Well, I was going to be patient and then decided to be proactive. I called her on Thursday with no answer, left a message and then didn't hear anything on Friday either. Sigh.
So we continue to wait, and pray, and wait, and pray, and wait some more. This process has been a true test in patience. I feel like we are still doing well...despite the setbacks. This does not mean that there aren't moments where tears flow and frustrations rise, but we aren't letting those moments consume us. We are doing our best to work through them. We still remain hopeful that Sarah will be the one to move this adoption to the finish line.
Please pray for our continued patience, for our emotions to be processed in a healthy manner and for the boys to stay healthy. Please pray that the roadblocks would be removed and the paperwork and process would no longer be STUCK. Please pray that in God's timing we will be snuggling two sweet cherubs and covering them with kisses as we tuck them into bed in their new room. He is an amazing God and we are certain that He hears these prayers and will honor them!
In the meantime, we continue to spend treasured moments with Aftyn, Haley and Aiden. We have been breaking out the board games now that the temperature has begun to drop. We have been snuggling through movies and working as a team to ready the house for the twins' arrival. I broke out the toddler toys so they are within reach and this weekend decided to paint another wall in their room red because it accents their world map perfectly! I thought the nesting was done....but the longer they wait to come home...the more I do! I have a dresser and closet filled with 2T clothing and spent some time this weekend just peeking through the items and day-dreaming. I can just imagine them in their footy jammies scampering about. Maybe, God-willing, there will be a fantastic gift for us at Christmas...
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers!
Longing,
Rebecca
We received information on September 17th that we had received Judah's document, the adoption decree attestation which comes from the National Archives and essentially is a signature. This was wonderful news because this allows his paperwork to be submitted to USCIS for the Visa process to begin and usually this takes about 6-8 weeks. Unfortunately....Judah's paperwork came without Eli's and so we continue to wait, and wait, and wait... It has officially been almost 9 weeks more of waiting and still no attestation for Eli. (I am absolutely certain that people are praying for us because at this point, I am tempted to rip out my hair and scream...and yet somehow, I don't. Instead I sigh and buckle down for the ride.)
So...on the 8th of November, I decided to call Sarah and introduce myself since I hadn't heard from her yet. She picked up on the first call and was positive, appeared to be proactive and very sympathetic. My first impression of her has been a very good one. She was disappointed that we are waiting with one document left to be signed to complete the Haitian process. She said, "That is unacceptable." She then stated that she would get in touch with the orphanage and call me "next week" with an update. Well, I was going to be patient and then decided to be proactive. I called her on Thursday with no answer, left a message and then didn't hear anything on Friday either. Sigh.
So we continue to wait, and pray, and wait, and pray, and wait some more. This process has been a true test in patience. I feel like we are still doing well...despite the setbacks. This does not mean that there aren't moments where tears flow and frustrations rise, but we aren't letting those moments consume us. We are doing our best to work through them. We still remain hopeful that Sarah will be the one to move this adoption to the finish line.
Please pray for our continued patience, for our emotions to be processed in a healthy manner and for the boys to stay healthy. Please pray that the roadblocks would be removed and the paperwork and process would no longer be STUCK. Please pray that in God's timing we will be snuggling two sweet cherubs and covering them with kisses as we tuck them into bed in their new room. He is an amazing God and we are certain that He hears these prayers and will honor them!
In the meantime, we continue to spend treasured moments with Aftyn, Haley and Aiden. We have been breaking out the board games now that the temperature has begun to drop. We have been snuggling through movies and working as a team to ready the house for the twins' arrival. I broke out the toddler toys so they are within reach and this weekend decided to paint another wall in their room red because it accents their world map perfectly! I thought the nesting was done....but the longer they wait to come home...the more I do! I have a dresser and closet filled with 2T clothing and spent some time this weekend just peeking through the items and day-dreaming. I can just imagine them in their footy jammies scampering about. Maybe, God-willing, there will be a fantastic gift for us at Christmas...
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers!
Longing,
Rebecca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)