Waiting for court..

A bit of news but not what we wanted to hear.

The non-court document submitted this summer 'was not sufficient' for IBESR so they did not accept it.

So we continue to wait for courts to open, likely sometime in October after the Presidential election Oct. 9th.

So what we understand needs to happen:

1. Staff member goes to court to get them to request that the family come in to sign the needed documents
2. Family has 12 days to appear in court to sign. [Praying everyone is healthy, understands why this is needed and shows up!]
3.  Documents signed.
4. Documents presented to IBESR and hopefully accepted
5. Final signature give for us to exit IBESR
6. Exit IBESR

The staff have tried everything they can think of but IBESR remains firm on needing the court documents. So we wait.

And pray.

16 + 16...nearly 1,000 days.

Waiting for our referral, the time added up to one week less than 16 months.

This week we reached 16 months since our socialization visit and continue to wait for word about the final document being accepted, the last signature and our exit out of IBESR.

We continue to pray and wait, wait and pray.

Someone wrote recently on a Facebook group that they didn't know how we can stand it... my answer is more than just words.

Heart felt and true..."only with the Lord's help".

And the Lord's help comes with supportive people and lots of prayers.

While we don't know everyone who's praying we do know some and thankful for each one:

• supporting churches
• small groups
• other adopting families
• F's foster families
• those who connected with F during a visit
• homeschooling families
• friends around the world
• family
• friends we met on work teams
• adoption agencies and staff
• creche workers
• other missionaries
• our Haitian churches in the northern district 

October 10th will make 1,000 days of our chart being in IBESR,  the Haitian social services office.

Praying for the Lord's will. For F to be learning about the Lord's love along with growing in mind, body and spirit. 

For F's biological family, his foster family and nannies, his case workers and our family to keep our eye's fixed on the Lord and be filled with hope in His plan. 

Praises

No, we haven't moved a step forward, but we have some good news anyway.

• This week we signed a new Power-of-Attorney adding the newest member of our adoption team, bringing the number of people who can sign for us up to four. Papers are already printed [in French and English], notarized, scanned, and sent to the USA electronically. 
• Originals will either be mailed to the USA or delivered to the creche soon.
• Thankful for the staff working in two countries to bring F home.
• Thankful for people in numerous countries praying for F and our adoption.
•  The staff continue to work on F's case in two ways:
• a different agency that was asked for similar paperwork submitted something that "apparently was accepted by IBESR". So this method will be tried in F's case this month. Praying it works.
• Thankful for sharing of information while working together to bring children home as well as keeping Haitian families together.
• meanwhile they continue to work on the paper that was requested to have it ready for courts when they reconvene in October. 

• Praying this isn't needed as there could be a delay due to a back log of cases or delays associated with political instability with presidential elections set for Oct. 9th
• Better understanding on our I-600 visa. The November expiration date that had us wondering about needing to file for a new type of visa was for our I-600a. Last May, after meeting F we filed an I-600 which we now understand will not expire. So as long as we continue to let the USCIS know that the case is active we can submit the requested documents when they become available once we move forward after exiting IBESR. PRAISE THE LORD!!
• We hear that F continues to do well despite the long wait. His foster aunt remains impressed when they talk about the waiting on how well he can express his feelings, even the hard ones.