On hold

We are a little closer to locating our I600A packet. After calling the US Consulate in China and emailing the embassy in Kinshasa, we were able to find out our packet was set to Congo on June 27th and have a tracking #. This is good. We didn't buy Tim's ticket today, but were able to extend the hold until Friday. Until we have confirmation that DRC has the packet, we have to put formal travel plans on hold. If we still do not know more by Friday we will have to reevaluate and see what to do next. We feel pretty good that this will all get resolved before the trip on the 13th, but we just have no way to know for sure. There are so many moving parts to this that we know whatever happens was definitely meant to be.

Joshua has a passport!!

This is great news. Since our whirlwind began last week, we have been waiting to hear about some important documentation we need to have before he can come home. One missing piece was his passport. Other families that are also adopting waited quite some time for their child's passports. We were able to get Joshua's in about a week! Amazing.

The other piece of documentation is very important. When you adopt a child internationally you need permission from the government to bring an orphan into the country. You fill out a form called the I-600A and then receive official permission. We originally did this for China, so our acceptance went there. In March, we applied to have that "acceptance" transferred to Congo and in April we heard it was sent. Unfortunately, the Embassy in Congo can't find it. We are in a mad paper trail chase to find it before Wednesday when we need to buy Tim's ticket. If we do not hear that they find this by Wednesday, we will probably need to let Tim's ticket go. That doesn't mean Joshua won't come home. There will still be the possibility that if they find it before the group travels, he will be able to be escorted home. We are hopeful this will all come together one way or another and Joshua will be home in August.

On a side note, we found out that part of his name given to him by the orphanage is Daniel(the names the children are given are very long)! I couldn't believe it. We were planning for that to be his middle name since it is a family name and he already has it. It is truly divine that he was meant to be with us.

More to come...

Miracles

I am sorry that I have been bad about updating our blog. I know many of our friends and family check this often for news about our adoption. The last few weeks have held many small miracles for us and our journey seems to be getting closer to our new family member coming home.

A few weeks ago I was feeling very anxious about the wait to bring Josue home and the many unknown factors that surround his life in the DRC. I decided to hop online and google the name of his orphanage - Jamma Letu. Miraculously, I was brought to a girl's blog who had spent a few months at Jamma Letu and met Josue. Even more amazing was that she had a link to over 100 pictures of the orphanage in Lumbumbashi. Right there on page 2, Josue was staring back at me! I couldn't believe it. I was able to randomly find a picture of my son, whom I have never met, on the Internet. It was a divine moment for me, bringing all of my anxieties to a halt. I knew at that moment that God was reminding me that even though I cannot be with Josue, He is watching over him and that he is doing fine. This is the picture I found that night. Too cute!

This is not the only miracle that has happened in the last few weeks. On July 15th, I received a phone call that our adoption decree was completed! This happened in record time and over a month earlier than anyone expected. Even more amazing was that a group was traveling to bring their children home in early August and there was a chance they could bring Josue home with them. At the time it looked unlikely that Tim would be able to travel given that their travel plans were already set. A few days later however, we learned that one of the travelers was possibly not traveling in which case Tim could maybe take his place. And finally yesterday, we found out that the entire group's trip was changed to accommodate a stop at the orphanage and that there is room on the plane for Tim to travel. What does this mean? It means that as of this evening, Tim is planning to leave New York on August 13th to travel to Africa to bring Josue home! Nothing has been finalized yet, but we think they will leave on the 13th, travel to the orphanage, travel inter country to the capitol and then fly home, arriving in NY around August 22nd. Not all families have been able to travel to the orphanage, so this is an exciting part of the trip. Tim will be able to see where Josue lived and meet the people who have cared for him. International adoptions are never set in stone, so we are hopeful this is the plan but understand anything could happen to change this in the next few weeks.

We are very excited and feel like our heads are spinning. We have about 20 days to prepare our home and our lives for a new toddler and prepare Tim for a trip across the globe with a toddler. Life is surely exciting for us now. More importantly, we see God's plan for us and are eager to complete this journey. Please pray for us during this stressful time. That we may keep our anxiety down and our faith high. This trip will be dangerous and rigorous for both Tim and Josue. We will update our blog as soon as we know details so you can help us with specific prayers and intentions. Thank you for caring about our family's journey.

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.