Still waiting and praying.

More than a month since my last update but really nothing more to update.

F's friend, who he roomed with for over 4 years moved to the USA with her new family this week.
We are praying for L's transiton as well as for F's emotions and for him to remain hopeful.

He will be starting 1st grade the first week of September.

The Embassy adoption unit staff visited IBESR twice this week trying to get some of the 'stuck' cases like ours moving....now that most of the IBESR staff are reportedly returned from vacations.

The adoption coordinator was at the IBESR office on Wednesday to talk to the lady who needs to release our paperwork...and while she was there, she did not meet with him.

We had heard that she was on vacation for 2-4 weeks of August, but we've also heard that she was not and plans to take vaction the first part of September.

We are so thankful for the continued prayers of so many of you.

Not sure if what we feel is peace from the Lord, numbness from getting our hopes up so many times only to remain stuck, or a combination of both.

Thinking back to the 16 months we waited for our referral I remember so well how as every weekday would pass my checking e-mails would increase along with the intensity of my prayers until Friday afternoon when they would peak...intensly hopeful for good news before the staff left for the weekend.

The weekends would be a release of tension, knowing that there was no reason to check for emails.

Then on Monday morning the cycle would start over.

Been a long time since I watched the clock on Friday afternoons. Now and then we hear from our social worker but never with the news we long to hear.

Today marks 1, 319 days for our chart in IBESR.  Thank you for your continued prayers.

Prayers, answers and requests.

Well, after asking a few times about the issues we listed in our last update as prayer requests, we really do not have much to report on them. We know that the paperwork was turned in and that the case was reviewed, but no exit. Now the director is asking for 6 signatures, obtained 5 years ago, to be redone.

We received the notification on Thursday. We were told that it would be doubtful that the 6 people could even be found and that if another new 6 had to be found it could prove to complicated our case.  In addition to this....the judge on the case would only be working Friday [yesterday] before leaving Haiti for a month.

Very frustrating and depressing because this paperwork should not need to be redone. They were praying for the judge to sign without the 6 new signatures before leaving. And they also planned to contact the Embassy to ask for help.

We immediately started praying and let our prayer teams know. [I in my haste, actually thought that the judge was only working on Thursday! Adding to the urgency]

Thankfully, late Friday night we were sent an email update.

Today's Facebook post: Praising the Lord! Our hard working, persistent adoption coordinator managed to not only find 4 of the needed people for signatures but got them in front of the judge yesterday. So with those signatures and the judge's they will continue to work next week for one more needed signature on Monday so that they can go again to the director to ask for our file to be released. Thank you for the prayers and please keep them up! 

Thank you again for your support. We shudder to even think about going through this journey without your supporting prayers and the power provided by those prayers.

So praying for the Lord’s will for:

• Adoption coordinator's safety, health, wisdom, favor, and blessings.
• Monday’s appointment to sign and the final things that need to happen for this paperwork
• Safety for all involved.
• The appointment to be made soon with the director
• That the director will not ask for anything further but will release our file
• That the 30 day wait period doesn’t need to happen
• For resolution of the law clerk strike
• For any help or advice that the USA Embassy can provide
• For the adoption phase that follows exiting IBESR to move smoothly
• For F to be full of the Lord’s love, hope, and patience
• For our family to wait well on the Lord, giving Him all the glory and honor that He deserves.

Court Clerk Strike

We received an update from our social worker on Friday.

Monday will be 2 months since F’s family returned to court for the additional paperwork.  

While the judge continues to work, all the law clerks are on strike and they need to sign every court document.

 Our agency’s lawyer appealed to one of the IBESR staff on Friday, explaining the difficulties and delays in our’s and a second case requesting special consideration to release our case. 

The case will be reviewed with the current paperwork, the doctor’s reports and certificates, and if both the staff member and the IBESR psychologist concurs our file will be released. 

F continues to do well and has adjusted smoothly to summer vacation from school. 

Prayer Requests:

• All the paperwork gets turned in next week to IBESR without delay or errors. 
• That the psychologist concurs with the results.
• That the review of the case results in the release of our file.
• That the clerks return to work and are paid or treated fairly. 
• That the lawyer can make sure things happen in a timely fashion.
• That the 30 day waiting period can also be waved in our case so we can enter courts soon.
• Cory’s finger prints to be refreshed
• That they confirm that Kris’s fingerprints have been found under her legal name and are being refreshed. 

Thank you for your prayers.

'Miracles in motion..'

Still waiting for word about the final judgement and letter for IBESR. The count now at six weeks.

Yesterday while visiting friends we watched a sermon from the Radiant Church... on the 5th chapter of Mark, the Essential Gospel: Part 5 Miracle in Motion

'

After a bit I just had to jot down a few notes...

• Many miracles do not happen all at once...
• Delays = Divine Direction
• invatations to trust
• greatest oppotunies can come from interruptions
• 'It is possible' is always accompanied with 'why bother' 
• truth does not always equal fact
• ignore the doubters
• Truth..with God..All things are possible
• 'Do not fear, only believe'
• Hard = just a chapter in your story...not the whole story
• No way....Yaweh! Believe it.
• Its NOT the end
• King has one more move...chess game is not over.

Very encouraging for us.

We did recieve good news that our expiring I-600 visa fingerprints can be 'refreshed' or updated without our having to travel for an appointment. Cory's are in process and Kris' will be soon [they couldn't find her under Thede..due to the hyphenated last name!]

Just received our 2 month update on F. He is doing well in the new foster home. Finshed up the school year and transitioning to a summer schedule. Continues to pray about the paperwork and being able to come home.

Another period of waiting...more than a month.

How I long for waits measured by only days...not weeks, months, or years.

We continue to wait for news that the judgement papers are finished and on their way to the IBESR office in Port-au-Prince, now more than a month since the family appeared for their court date.

We wait to hear what we need to do before our I-600 fingerprints expire the end of June.

Thankfully when I was reviewing our emails today I noticed that our prints expire on June 29, not the 21st like I thought and wrote in recent blogs/updates. So a bit more time for things to get worked out.

Our prayers is that either we are told that the fingerprints can just be refreshed without our needing to do anything or that we will be given an appointment at the Embassy to have the prints done again.

Today was F's last day of school for the year. Please pray for him and the other children as they transition to a different routine for the summer.

Saw today on Facebook someone's exciting post about having 'one more signature' before they get their referral. I pray that their wait is short. I doubt that our family will ever again get excited about 'any day now' or 'soon'  in relationship to our adoption...only when we have the facts!

Romans 8:25-28  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. 28 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. 

Facts from these verses for me:
 1. We do hope for what we do not yet have...F home with us.
 2. We pray to wait patiently as we cannot do it on our own strength so we need the Lord's strength and patience.
 3. The Spirit helps us in our weakness!
 4. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself interceds for us through wordless groans. He Himself cares more than words can express for us and F. Wow..hard to understand but encouraging.
 5. The Spririt inerceds for God's people [us] in accordance with the will of God.
 As much as we want F home and a physcial part of our daily lives we want God's will even more.
6. We do know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
    We love Him. F loves Him.
    We don't understand how this wait can be the Lord's will and maybe it is not His will but a spiritual battle.
     But we DO know that the Bible is His word and true.
    We know that God keeps His word, in His timing, and it will be for our good.

We will continue to stand on His promises while we wait. We will be grateful for His intercession on our family's behalf. We will pray for His will to be done. We will give Him glory and honor in this journey.

[Flower pictures: Pondering how different the same thing can look in different light. I want to see things through His eyes...in His light!]

One small step but more prayers needed.

Due to the determination and tenuousness of staff and lawyer, court did happen yesterday but not as expected.

The required family members and staff made it to court, only to find out that the judge did not come due to illness. So they, along with a lawyer, drove to the judge's house....in the end a different judge heard the case so the family members will not need to return.

Next steps as we know them:

• Judge who heard the case writes up the document
• Document goes to first judge for final verdict. He writes a letter for IBESR
• Paperwork goes to Port-au-Prince, IBESR
• Sign off chart.
• Exit
• Wait 30 days!?! This one we do not like! In the past it only took a week. IBESR thinks things go 'too fast' in the north. They go fast because there is only one place doing adoptions vs. many in Port; and they have a good relationship with the northern IBESR staff and everything moves smoothly. 
• Parquet [lower courts] and adoption decree. These need to be 30 days after IBESR exit.

Time line.. likely 2-3 weeks before paperwork in PAP. Exit ?? 30 day wait. Then a week or so. 

This would put us the end of June, at the very fastest. Looking back at our emails from last year when the new paperwork was asked for....we learned about it on June 29 'IBESR just asked for a new document.' This is the same document that should be 2-3 weeks from being returned to them, 10.5 months later.

One of the reasons was that courts shut down for  three months during the summer.

So some specific prayers:

• First judge gets the report to the second judge rapidly.
• Second judge recovers from illness and finishes paperwork.
• Paperwork to travel safely and without delay to Port au Prince
• Signature and Exit!!!! 
• That the Lord would move IBESR to show mercy and pity in our case which will be over 2 years from our socialization visit by the time we exit. A miracle to have them decide not to require the 30 day waiting period..... I think we've more than waited enough in the last 2 years.
• Have the adoption decree before summer.
• Cory and my visa fingerprints will expire on June 21st. That renewal will not require travel to Port au Prince or the USA 

F is doing well in school.

P.S. Adding....received a FB comment from another family who's case was in courts last summer in the north and their decree and judgements were signed in July and August. So maybe we would not have to face a 2-3 month wait! Thank you again for the prayers.

Be still.

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm  46:10

I wonder how many times this verse has echoed in my mind, usually in response to my begging and pleading for some positive news, for forward movement in our paperwork, for a mountain of delays to be behind us.

"Be still" Trust...but I want to be doing! I want to call up an army or a speicialized team to go and and fight our way to being a family. Let's go and bring our boy HOME!

"Be still"...I'm tired of being still. I'm tired of writing updates about waiting. I'm tired of not knowing how to make future plans because of great unknowns. I'm tired of reading about families waiting for three years or more for a referral.

"Be still" sigh..... Three weeks and two days, fifteen working days but no word on if the medical reports are in the hands of the judge. We could have driven to Port-au-Prince multiple times, picked up the paperwork and dropped it off in Cap Haitian at the judge's office....'be still'.

Does the judge have the papers? Don't know.
How long will the judgement take? Don't know.
How long to then get the paperwork to Port? Will this be the last paperwork requested?
Do we still only need one final signature or did we slide back to needing five again?

So many questions without answers at this point!

We keep praying about what we should do, what can we do. We keep writing e-mails to our agency asking the same questions. Not doing is harder. At least when we had paperwork to fill out one felt like you were moving forward....doing something!

All we can do is pray and wait. Wait and pray. Trust in Him. Focus on Him. Praise Him. Honor Him.

He who is able to do exceedingly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Eph. 3:20.

Lord we need Your power, Your help to focus on You. Your patience. Your strength. Help to wait well and worship while we wait. Thank You for providing what we need. Thank You for covering us with Your Love. Thank You for being with us every moment and allowing us to come to You. Thank you for caring for the minute details of our lives and F's.

Doctors Reports

YEAH!!! All three doctors reports have been completed and the staff of our creche picked them up.

Now they will be delivered to the judge to compose a judgement.

If things go as expected the judgement will be completed soon and then turned into IBESR.

Then we will once again be waiting for our exit.

Hope continues to increase but with the shadow of remembering all the weeks and months that we waited last year for 'one last signature' only to learn of new requested/required paperwork.

Thank you for continuing to lift up our adoption process and F in your prayers.

We know that he had school off this past week but enjoyed working and playing with some visitors.

Keep praying!

Day 1096. Year Three in IBESR

3 years = 36 months = 1096 days = 26,304 hours.... and only the Lord knows how many prayers and tears.

Pillow reminder, finished yesterday. 

The receipt reads January 14, 2014 but we did not know that our file had entered IBESR for another couple weeks. We rejoiced. Hopes soard high with expectations of a referral and forward movement.

Plans were always followed with 'unless we need to travel for our socialization visit'. Our adoption journey was already 1.5 years long at that point. Our dossier arrived in Haiti a couple months prior, we were excited to be in position for a referral.

Then the wait continued. For the next 16 months the pressure intensified under the desires and wishes that Eli would meet our new family member [s] before heading off to college. After the tickets were purchased and the possible time shrank from months to days the stress became extreme until our referral came just in time for us to squeeze in a 10 day referral trip.

Again hope filled our days. Now we prayed specifically for F and dreamed of him coming home in the fall for the new school yard, for Christmas, for my parent's annual visit in the new year......

Now that hope remains but it endured scars, nicks, bruises, and lives in a heart with some calluses. 

No more tacking onto plans 'unless we get to travel to pick up F' because every one has heard it so long and so many times it is no longer necessary to voice it. 

No longer does my mind watch the clock and figure out how many business hours remain in the day or week that we could expect an e-mail containing positive news or any news about our paperwork.

The boxed cheese cake, our traditional family celebration dessert sits on the shelf expired...still waiting for the news that we've exited IBESR.

The ten months and six+ times of needing to submit the same paper changed even our social worker's hope...from 'any day now' to "We’re expecting any day though, unless they come up with another reason ".

Three months later the visa paperwork finally made it to our file but 'the another reason' resulted in needing the mother's family to sign off on a paper...we continue to wait today [6 months later-due to courts closing for summer break and historic flooding in Cap Haitian] for confirmation that this occurred in November. 

December 2,  we learned of yet another report requested this time by the judge, not IBESR, that requires a group of doctors to fill out.

Even when we hear of these papers being done my battered hope will only rise a little. I read about the excitement of others as they begin their adoption journey and picture new kites soaring up into the  clouds...while my battered and torn one rests caught in the sharp talons of a tall tree, weathered by years of storms and sun. 

For even when the reports and paperwork are signed they will still need to be accepted by IBESR and make it into our file. The reminder that one paper took 10 months in our case weighs down our expectations.

Then perhaps we will again return to 'any day now' or 'one more signature' with a bit of fresh hope. 

Intentionally now I picture giving each new day to the Lord as a wrapped gift. Lord, Your will. I WILL praise you and serve you while we wait....with Your help. Help my attitude. 

Words cannot express how grateful we are to each person who's prayed for our family and this process. Thankful for every encouraging word. 

Thankful for every person encouraging F while he waits. Thankful that he continues to have hope, asking whenever he sees a paper going into his house that he asks if it is the one we've been waiting for. Thankful that he knows that the Lord is praying for him...interceding. 

Thankful for praise music and music to wait by that helps to keep our eyes fixed on our Savior.   Thankful for the new hope that maybe we can visit and spend some time with him soon. 

Thankful we can trust in the Lord, His plan, His power, His timing, His love for F, His unchanging faithfulness to sustain us through days and years of waiting. 

Holiday waiting

Well the historic flooding of Cap Haitian canceled the November 8th court date for F's family.

So we continue to wait.

In a recent email told us that the judge has asked a group of doctors to produce a report about the health of F's bio mom . This step was not known up to this point as needing to be done for us to exit.  In this same email it is stated...this is a step we’re waiting on after the family court, which went fine.'

As we received no word on a new court date, we've asked for conformation that F's family did appear in court and signed.

F continues to enjoy and do well in school. Due to his starting later than the rest of the class he is receiving some one-on-one time during the day.

F's current foster family will be moving back to the USA around Christmas. For a while the house will be supervised by the Haitian nannies who have lived and worked with the children since they moved into the house. We are thankful for this constant influence in F's life.  A couple who lives in another foster house will also help with supervision checking with the nannies throughout the day.

We handed off his Christmas gifts to teachers at his school during the Thanksgiving celebration.

 While we look forward to celebrating the holidays with family, our hearts ache, as we know that one will be missing. He will not see the new stocking with his name on it, hanging in line with the rest of the family.

Last year I considered leaving up our decorations so we could celebrate a late Christmas with F. I'm thankful that I will not need to unpack those same decorations this year...still waiting for him to come home.

We continue to pray that the Lord would allow the new document to be signed in the courts if not already done; for the new report by the doctors to be done correctly and before the holidays; the paperwork to be accepted by IBESR; and to exit before Christmas. We know that He can make it happen, if it is in His will.

Praying for children around the world who need families and for the families who wait to be complete. Lord protect each one, comfort them, show them Your love during the holidays.

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. 

Face Time

No news on our chart or case.

Eli's time in Haiti will reach the 1/2 way point tomorrow.

 I know that the Lord knows how much we would love to spend time together as a family of five...because I've told Him several times! But we trust that the Lord's timing and plan will be best.

Sunday morning I awoke after seeing F in a dream, only to find a message from his foster Aunt asking if we could Skype or Face Time with F.

After only seeing an occasional new picture for six months we all enjoyed seeing his face and hearing his voice. He's growing up.

He talked about school and told us about his goat, a gift from a visiting friend. He asked to see the goat house that my Dad and Eli built at Christmas time and to see his room.


We heard how he lost his tooth, about school, and we showed him Kody the cat.

We told him we loved him and how we and many people are praying for the paperwork.

We learned he did well after our talk and were able to talk to him again last Sunday. A nice Father's Day gift for Cory. F asked to see Kody again. Because he decided to play with the goat rather than nap we were able to see his sleepy side.

Waiting is hard but we have peace from the Father, can't imagine how people without faith in Him go through an unpredictable adoption process.

Very thankful for the Lord preparing us to be a family for F. Reading a recommended book about attachment and another about the effects of trauma. Interesting...and not without hope and healing.

 Please continue to pray for the process of adoptions in Haiti as well as for government stability so that the cases can progress.

Thank you to each who support us with prayers and encouragement. Your emails and comments mean a lot. Already this week we've received 3 communications of encouragement specifically about our adoption.

Standing on God's Promises.

F's packed and ready to come home..

Still no word on the final signature.

Lots of people praying hard and daily for us to move forward.

Eli's summer break time in Haiti started yesterday, he will be here just over one month before heading back for summer term in Germany.

F met with the man from the orphanage yesterday and asked him if he was working on getting the paperwork done so that he [F] could join his new family.

He then packed up his best shirt, underwear, a piece of sugar cane and some paperwork and brought them to his foster aunt. One paper reads “ God keeps his promises’!!!

He occasionally tells people that in two more days he will be with his mom and dad. So glad he's not discouraged with the wait, and a bit jealous that he can stay encouraged with 'two more days' while my mind counts..6 months, 10 months, one year, one year + 3 weeks....

We bought him some clothes, shoes, and a very cute soft monkey while in the USA last week.

Heard a family exited last week from IBESR so know that the folks that need to sign are signing some charts.

No idea why not our chart, but trusting in the Lord.

Starting to wonder and pray about our visa dead-line of November 21, 2016. If you go to the 'Steps' tab at the top of this page you'll see the many additional steps and paperwork needed to get our paperwork in by this time.

Know that God has a plan...a good plan but also know that the devil does not want good plans to succeed. Praying for the Lord's protection as well as for his grace and intercession.