Answers Part 2

In terms of the actual adoption process, we made significant progress over during the 2 weeks in country. We had some hurdles, but nothing insurmountable. It was generally a time of positive relationship building with key individuals. There are definitely stories to share of God's movement on our behalf!

Here’s another specific prayer request we've had over the last year... and the answer... 
 

• Signed Paperwork! You’ve all heard us talk about “the signature”. We waited months and months and months for the signature. We received feedback indicating the individual required to sign didn’t support adoption, refused to sign, was not open to discussing further, etc. There have been other difficulties, too, but the outstanding signature was the key issue lingering in the background. Even if a judge granted the adoption, we needed this sign-off as well.
  
  We visited this individual's office one of our first days in country – to just introduce ourselves and be available to talk if she was interested. We figured any preemptive relationship building would help. Afterall, we’d be coming to her for the final sign-off…
  We waited quite awhile in her building (waiting hours for people to address you is common there!)... Then we were escorted to her office, where we sat with the kids on our laps. She didn’t really speak directly with us - we just listened to her talk with a few colleagues - the conversation went in circles. We couldn’t understand it all, but we could discern that the tone was NOT positive… and then all of a sudden, she stopped, looked at us, and briefly said “I see the bond. These children are attached to you. I approve and will sign.” She took photos of us and sent us on our way…
  
  Hallelujah!
  
  We’ve been praying for her to have a change of heart, but not just towards our specific case. The bold prayer is that her heart is changed towards adoption, in general, to give more children an opportunity to be raised with a family, not in an institution. Continuing to pray that while she did approve ours, she becomes open to approving others, as well.

 

So now that we're home and have been issues an actual court order, we can start moving forward with the US side of things... like applying for visas. Praying it moves quickly so we can bring these kiddos home with us as soon as possible!