Still Waiting...

The last few weeks have mostly consisted of wiring money to the Congo and waiting to hear more. We currently think our adoption decree (official approval from DRC to adopt) should be complete no later than September. I am still praying for July or August, so please pray with me. I know God has a plan for this family to come together and so I pray for the strength to wait patiently.

During this process I have consumed myself with keeping up with the conflict in the DRC and learning as much as I can about life there. I was unable to see the program, but Ben Affleck had a special run last night on Nightline. I was able to read the summary online and watch much of the airing. It was compelling and yet another example of why we need to turn our focus to the DRC. Over 4 million people have died in the DRC in the past 10 years - "Because these travesties have happened in relative obscurity — for example, 16 times as many people have died in Congo as have in the terrible ongoing genocide in Darfur, yet far more has been heard about Western Sudan than Central Africa — one goal here is to simply raise awareness." I used to watch programs about Africa and think there was nothing I could do and it didn't affect me. This is part of my family now. More importantly, we are all children of God called to live together and care for one another. If you would like to learn more about the DRC and watch Ben's documentary visit http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=5234555&page=1.

I never thought the wait could be so hard. I don't even know this child, yet he is our son and half way across the world in a place where many people do not have clean water or enough to eat. My prayer today is for all of the children of Africa who do not have someone waiting for them.

More images of Joshua...

Here are a few more images we received of Joshua. We hate that he is crying in the one picture, but we know he was woken up from a nap and really preferred to be sleeping. We don't know anything more as of yet, but will keep you all updated as we hear more.

A wonderful gift...

Last Friday I received a wonderful Mother's Day gift - we received some new pictures of Josue at his temporary home. The president of EduCongo (an organization that builds schools in the Congo) happened to be near Josue's orphanage and agreed to make a stop to meet him. He woke Josue up from a nap and reported he wasn't very happy with him. Overall, he said he is doing great. He walks well and is beginning to communicate more with the orphanage staff. This is great to hear. It is hard for us to look at his picture at times knowing that it could be a while before he comes home, but this picture really gave us a glimpse of his environment and it was wonderful to see people caring for him so well. One thing that stuck out to us is that Josue is wearing red Mickey Mouse sandals in the picture! If you may not already know, Tim and I met at Disney World, travel there often and are Vacation Club Members. Everything Disney happens to be a big part of our children's lives. This may simply be a coincidence, but to us it was much more than just irony. What are the chances that a child in Africa would have Mickey Mouse shoes? God surely drops us signs everywhere if we just take the time to see them. Although we know this process could take up to 5 more months, we continue to pray that the DRC will move our paperwork along quickly and he will be home in 3 months(August).

From what we understand the orphanage gave him his name - Josue. We love it and have thought we would keep it, however we are afraid it may be very unfamiliar to many Americans. In an effort to not drastically change his name, we think we are going to call him Joshua Daniel. Our hope is that the difference between Josue and Joshua to a 2 year old will be slight enough that he may not even notice.

Thank you to all of you who continue to hold us in your prayers. We are looking forward to a wonderful end of the summer with a new addition to our family.

Waiting

It has been almost 2 weeks since we received any news about Josue. It has been really hard to wait, but we talk about him a lot and look at his pictures often. This seems to help the wait be a little more bearable. We have also enjoyed using this time to learn more about the DRC and familiarize ourselves with the country and culture. Here is map of the DRC. Josue's orphanage is in Lumbumbashi which is in the south eastern part of the country. It is the second largest city next to the capital of Kinshasa.

Please continue to pray with us that Josue remains healthy and is well cared for. Please also pray for a speedy paperwork process and that we receive more information and pictures SOON! We have so much we would like to share with him now, but are faithful that God will bring him home in His time.

A Spring Day

We found out today that it may take up to five months to bring Josue home. In many ways that feels like an eternity, but I am trying to be patient and look a the time as a way to really prepare for his arrival. After all, in most cases God gives us 9 months to prepare for a baby, so 5 months to prepare for a toddler shouldn't be bad. I tell myself this, but I don't think I really believe it. We took the kids for a walk the other day and I captured this picture. When I came home and downloaded it I just thought it was a perfect glimpse of our day, but couldn't help but think someone was missing.

Our first glimpse...

We finally have our first glimpse of Josue. We are so excited to finally have a face to put with a name! Our paperwork is being personally delivered this week to the DRC to begin the formal process. The gentleman who is delivering our paperwork will also be taking pictures and providing us with more information about Josue. We hadn't expected to see pictures until later in the week, so we were pleasantly surprised yesterday to wake up to our first photos! I can't wait to see more images this week - hopefully of him smiling :)

This entire process has been amazing. We found out about Josue 7 weeks ago and have been tirelessly compiling paperwork and patiently waiting for photos. With all that behind us, now we wait again. Please pray with us that the information we receive this week about Josue is positive and that the paperwork goes smoothly and quickly. We don't really have a timeline at this point, but the sooner the better. We know the orphanage can only handle so many children, so the sooner we are able to bring him home, the sooner another child can be brought into Jamma Letu orphanage. More to come.

The Greatest Silence...

Tonight HBO is airing The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo at 10pm EST. If you have HBO, please take the time to see this moving and important account of what is happening in the DRC. There will also be a conference call to discuss the film tomorrow evening. Visit www.hbo.com to learn more.

If this doesn't work into your schedule, please take the time today to learn a little more about the DRC through some of the websites we have listed on our blog. There is so much we can do to help end the violence in the DRC. Visit www.enoughproject.org to learn more about the movement to end violence in this part of the world.

Lastly, take a moment to pray for the millions of people (especially children) worldwide who do not enjoy the same freedoms and protection we so often take for granted.