18 month recap

The past year and a half of our lives have been spent pursuing an adoption from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We have been at this for the length of two pregnancies now (not to mention the two whole years we spent planning and preparing to begin the adoption and the four years we spent trying to conceive). Our home study was completed one year ago, which means it is about time to have it updated. Eight months ago we saw a picture of Roland for the first time and we accepted his referral. Six months ago our adoption case passed court in Congo. Three months ago our I-600 was approved. No more progress has been made since then. We have not received any more information on the status of our Embassy orphan investigation. Also, exit permits are still not being issued, which basically means that, for most of us, adoptions are not being allowed to advance to completion. After 18 months of waiting, praying and hoping we still do not have any idea when Roland will join our family.


 A few good verses to meditate on:
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus....¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Phillipians 4:4-13 

A Week in Autumn

Autumn is my favorite season and this past week it was made even better because my dad came out to visit us from North Carolina. Before he flew out I realized that we have not spent any time together in the fall months since 2002. He has always come to visit in the Summer and we always have visited him in the Spring or Christmastime. We made the most of our short time together, enjoying beautiful scenery, the crisp fall air and the changing colors. We drove and hiked through mountains and canyons, forests and rolling prairie. We indulged in mochas, chai tea and hot chocolate, homemade apple- craisin bread and pumpkin spice cake, and of course fall- hued M&Ms. In the evenings we retreated to warm blankets on the couch and watched most of season 3 of The Walking Dead. It was nice to just have a break from our daily routine. All in all it was a wonderful week celebrating family and the beauty of autumn and we all wished Roland could be a part of it. Here are some pictures of our good times:

 Our first glimpse of snow on the distant mountains

 

My dad taking a stroll at the beach on our way to Riggins

 

 Hiking the Rapid River trail

 

 Matt enjoying some fall colors

 

 My dad hiking through some gorgeous canyon scenery

 

 Whew! We made it to the bridge.

 

All three of us on our last day together

 

Another Roadblock

I have some discouraging news to share. I will not write much because, for one thing, I do not know much and also, if I keep writing this whole post will easily slide into one big pity party for myself. But, I do want to briefly update you all who are following along with us on our adoption tale of woes journey and maybe you can send an extra prayer our way. The Congolese government has again decided to suspend issuing exit permits to adopted children. The children cannot leave Congo and come home without this permit. The government has briefly done this before, but this time they say the exit permits will be suspended for up to one year. Also, it is unclear if adoptions will be able to proceed up until it is time for the exit permits to be issued. So, the worst case scenario is our adoption progress is completely halted for up to a year and then we pick up where we left off. A better scenario would be if we are able to continue on with our Embassy investigation waiting game while we also wait for the exit permits to be issued again. Please continue praying for us and all the adoptive families stuck in this never- ending process and especially for all the children who live day after day without the love of their parents.


 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose....What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?.....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:28, 31, 37

Hanging out in Limbo

We received another picture of Roland today (two months in a row- WooHoo!- our agency is on a roll). He is looking remarkably well. It took me a few minutes to even recognize him. He is actually chubby now (or at least compared to how he's looked before) and he is smiling. I love that smile. He is sitting upright on the floor by himself so we have proof he can at least do that much. In all the other pictures he has been lying down or being held by somebody. It is hard to look at a picture of this adorable, happy baby who is supposedly mine, and not be able to hold him.

We also finally received a little update on the actual adoption. The process has changed slightly again (surprise, surprise). This could either be good news or not- so- good news for us. The US Embassy  now wants to fly the pertinent people in the investigations to Kinshasa for their interviews instead of travelling out to the various cities themselves. They are currently trying to locate the person who dropped off Roland at the orphanage. If they can find him they will fly him out to the Embassy for the interview and hopefully that will fulfill their investigation requirements. However, if they cannot find this person or he is unwilling to go, then we have to wait until whenever the Embassy decides to travel again to Roland's birth city, which will probably not be until early 2014. If we have to go down that route, we will not be bringing him home before the Spring {cringe}. Obviously we are fervently praying that this person is located quickly, he is willing to travel to Kinshasa for the interview, and our investigation will get wrapped up smoothly so we can bring Roland home as soon as possible. Already there is no chance of Roland being home before his 1st birthday (in Nov.) and barely any chance in time for Christmas. We are still holding out hope that he may be with us for Matt's 30th birthday in February. I have visions of celebrating Matt's big birthday in a hotel room in Congo with our first child. We'll see.

The Nursery Unveiling

Over the summer we have been working little by little on putting Roland's nursery together. It is mostly done now; we have the furniture set up and the pictures put on the walls. We are just missing curtains, storage bins and some sort of chair to read and snuggle on before bedtime. We are renting the house we live in so there is only so much we could do as far as decorating. We couldn't do any painting and we decided not to try wall decals because the walls are textured and we did not know how well they would stick. I love what we have, but it still does look a little plain. I suppose it is better for a nursery to look quiet and calm than loud and chaotic. Also, there's plenty of room to add stuff later. Here is what we have so far: