We filled out our very first piece of paper to start this adoption process in June of 2011. That same month our girls were brought to an orphanage thousands of miles away, in the beautiful country of Haiti. We didn't know who they were yet, but God did. He had called us to this adoption process and we stepped out in faith. We had NO IDEA what all this process would entail, or how long it would take, but God did. He had every step, every detail, in His hands, all throughout this very long and often arduous journey.
Today, November 12, 2013...the very last step, the very last paperwork necessary for our girls to be able to come home was completed successfully. In just a couple of days, our orphanage will pick up the Visas that will allow our girls to become legally ours according to the US government. Then they will pick up our IBESR exit letter and we will have everything we need to finally bring them home.
God has been faithful every moment of every day, even when we lost faith or doubted His plan. This is really just the beginning of his plan for Chelley and Naika to be part of our family. We all have major, life-changing, and often difficult transitions ahead of us. I will be blogging more about that in the days before we leave to pick them up. For now, we are rejoicing that we are finally able to count the days until our girls will be in our arms and in our family forever!!
Today was one of the most stressful days of our adoption process thus far...which is saying a lot!! Trusting God is a lesson to learn over and over each day, or each hour, or each minute and even though He is faithful in all he does, it was hard for me to rest in that today as we waited to hear the results of this final step.
Finally, at 12:40 pm, we received word from our orphanage that their Visa appts were successful and that we could come to pick up our girls NEXT WEEK...Fri., Nov. 22nd through Mon. Nov. 25th!!!! We will leave Rochester on Thurs., the 21st and get as far as Miami that night. We'll get to spend the night in Miami celebrating with the 3 other families that will be traveling with us to pick up their sweet kids from GLA as well. This will be such a blessing and is a huge answer to prayer that we will be able to experience this with these other families that have become so dear to us over the last several months. Then we fly from Miami to Port au Prince early in the morning on Fri, the 22nd. By 10:30 am Eastern time, we should be holding our girls in our arms!!! And this time we won't have to say goodbye!!
We will get to do some shopping at a local market and get to tour the new building site for GLA about 40 minutes farther up in the mountains. We will get to go to church with our kids at GLA and will have time for them to say goodbye to their nannies and friends and vice-versa. It will be a whirlwind trip, an emotional roller coaster, and a monumental life change all rolled into one weekend!! Then on Monday, the 25th, we will leave GLA, fly from Port au Prince to Miami and then on to Chicago. We will stay in Chicago that evening and then fly home to Rochester in the morning on Tues., the 26th. For those of you who are counting, this is 2 days before Thanksgiving, and 6 days before Naika's 3rd birthday. We are thanking God for hearing the prayers of our heart to allow us to spend Naika's birthday with her!! And we are amazed that we'll be celebrating one of the most meaningful Thanksgivings ever with our entire family whole and together. God truly does delight in giving His children the most amazing and precious gifts!!
There are so many more details I could share right now and so many important things that need to be shared about our upcoming transition. I promise I will be sharing more posts in the next 9 days that will help you know how to be praying for us and for ALL of our girls, as well as ways that you can be helpful as we navigate these major changes in our life and family. For now, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for walking with us on this journey and for sharing in our joy as we close one chapter and prepare to begin a brand new adventure.
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