These are photos of our daughter's room. My sister helped me finish some projects last week, just in time, because...
My husband came home early from his deployment to Kuwait!
Yay! He was allowed to come home early because his active duty Army contract
will be finished in February, and it will take a few months for the military to
out-process him. So, it looks like our prayers
have been answered and he will be able to travel with me to India when it comes
time to adopt our daughter!
We received our No Objection Certificate (NOC) from India
last week, which means the Indian government has deemed us eligible to apply
for adoption in their country. Whoohoo! We’ve been waiting and waiting for this! Now,
our case will go to court, and we think there will be three court dates. Our
legal representatives in India will handle the first two court dates for us,
but since the last court date is to grant us custody of our daughter, we will
need to be there ourselves!
We should have an estimated travel date soon!
Two of the other families adopting from India are in the
same stage of the process, so it looks like we may all be able to travel together.
That would be such a blessing for all of us! The children could support each
other through the trauma of being taken from the orphanage to live with
strangers in an unfamiliar place. We would get to see them all interacting
together, speaking their native language! Can you imagine? And we could
celebrate our children's “gotcha days” together for years to come!
Our adoption agent says there’s only a slim chance that we
will be able to bring our daughter home before December 31st, which
is disappointing, but it will still be soon! Maybe in January? And we can still
pray that we will have our daughter home in time for Christmas! All things are
possible, right? There is always hope.
It’s been a year now since our first home study visit. Our
daughter has been growing in our hearts for more than a year. This is what we
estimated…14-15 months to complete the whole process. It’s longer than a
pregnancy. I got paper cuts instead of stretch marks. And we're getting a kindergartener instead of an infant. Kindergarteners are my favorite!
This adoption is going to be a dream come true.
p.s. One of the families in our India Adoption group was able to raise $30,000 in one week through the Both Hands/Homes for Heroes fundraiser! And they raised even more through other routes! Their adoption is now fully funded! Isn't God amazing in His provision for His children?!
