It occurred to me that our blog - you know the blog we
started 6 years ago so we could keep you up-to-date on our family and adoption
- would be a great place to post all our adoption/travel updates as we embark
on our adoption journey in the next few months. Hence the name The Melting Pot.
So here we are. 6 years down the road and in the midst of an
International adoption. Things are crazy as we prepare to bring our child home,
but we wouldn’t have it any other way! Here is the most recent update that
we have:
Last Friday we expedited our Dossier paperwork to Uganda
which they received on Monday afternoon (5-30-16). We had to expedite
the paperwork because we’ve been matched, preliminarily, with a little girl
that we believe is about 1 year old. Let’s
calI her “Dee Dee”. I spoke with
our program coordinator, Emily, and she told me that she was hoping to here
from our agency lawyer this week on the investigation that is being done on Dee
Dee. Again, the investigation is in the best interest of the child and they do
it thoroughly, so as not to overlook any parents or relatives that the
child may have. She told us that if all this checks out then we would
probably be issued a court date pretty quickly and that we would need to
be ready for travel.
So, Josh and I have spent this past week preparing for this
should it be the case very soon. We got the whole family vaccinated this week, and
made tons of phone calls to start arranging our life back in the States.
We do plan to take the boys with us to be apart of this
experience. While we have weighed the pros and cons of taking the boys, we feel
like sometimes the Lord leads us to take risks for the sake of the Gospel
and this is one of those times. We are also convinced that our time in-country
with Dee Dee will be invaluable and we want them to be a part of each step as our
forever family comes together.
Our agency will arrange all of our accommodations while
overseas. We will be staying in a more ‘city-like’ place. Not The Bush,
for sure. We will have a translator should we need it but believe it or
not the native language there is English. We will essentially be staying
in an American compound with other American families who are doing the
same thing as us. We have read up on all the safety precautions to take while
there, and as previously mentioned, been given all the required vaccinations.
We will work with our agency and travel agents to insure our flights and living
arrangements while in-country. We have no idea how long we will be staying. Josh
and I both really can’t imagine leaving Dee Dee once we meet her, so we
have decided to see the adoption through in-country. While staying overseas most
families are able to be with the child during the whole process. So even though
she is technically living in the orphanage, once we get guardianship papers she
can stay with us until the remainder of the paperwork, medicals, visas, etc.
have been processed. We believe, no doubt, that this will be a special bonding
time for our family!
Basically we are just waiting patiently at this point. It
could be a few weeks or a few months. Everything is kind of up in the air for
now, so we would really appreciate your prayers. We know that the Lord’s plan
is in place and everything will happen or not happen when it’s supposed
to. We are just trusting and waiting…
All of this to say, we will be limited on internet
and phone access while we are in-country, but this will be our new means
of communication to our family for day to day updates. Of course, we will try
to make some phone calls while we are there. Please check the blog frequently
for updates and such. We will more than likely not be able to post pictures of Dee
Dee (or at least her face in the photos) but we do want to send some pictures
your way. We are excited to see the first interactions of the kids and we want
all of you to be a part of that as well.
We’ll keep you updated as we know more!
