June was a long, long time ago. And there have been many reasons why this blog has not been updated once in the last four months, and maybe I’ll post about that another time. Right now, I just wanted share the latest on our adoption front.
In July we submitted to Rwanda our updated home study and USCIS approval to adopt two girls under 24 months. At that time, our lawyer informed us that our case would be reviewed soon. And that was the last we heard until last Friday, when our lawyer finally replied to my emailed request for an update in September.
He forwarded us an email from the Ministry in Rwanda responsible for adoptions that stated we had been informed of our approval to adopt on August 8, and at the same time were advised that there were no children matching our request available, and that we would be allowed a 6 month waiting period. Now, since we did not actually receive that email and do not know what details it might have contained, we have to do some educated guessing about what this means.
First, we guess that due to the date of our approval, our most recent and accurate documents were reviewed, and that we are approved by Rwanda to adopt two girls. Second, that our waiting period began on August 8, 2011, and will end on February 8, 2012. Third, based on information gleaned from a Yahoo group dedicated to Rwanda adoptive families, if no referrals are made by the end of our 6 month waiting period, our dossier will be closed, and Rwanda will no longer be an option for growing our family.
We are hopeful. We have seen God do many great things in this process, and we anticipate Him pulling the whole thing off with the kind of glorifying flair He seems to delight in (ie sending a young boy to kill a giant, feeding a massive crowd with 5 loaves and 2 fish, or prompting ordinary church members to give over $10,000 in one night to help bring two Ethiopian orphans home- that story here).
So, we invite you to be part of praying our Rwandan babies home. More than that, praying Gods will to be done for our family, and for His glory to be made known.
Thanks for the info. Aunt Patsy and Grandma Nellie are excited, too.