Adoption Update!

The last update I left you regarding our adoption was here. God had revealed that Yaa and Adjoa were not the girls we were to be adopting. It was clear to see, but really hard to accept. For about 2 weeks we allowed everything to sink in, and wanted to be attentive to the Lord’s guidance as He worked on our hearts. Part of that involved processing the news that two other girls, sisters, had just been brought to our in-country social worker’s orphanage. We were the ‘paper-ready’ family in line to be matched with them once their paperwork was also complete. The timing was impeccable as I blogged about here.

As the days went by, this just felt like an obvious door that had been opened by the Lord’s hand. On February 17th we emailed our agency with the official word that we would walk through that open door. We had decided to pursue the adoption of these two new sisters that had been brought to the orphanage.

From there things have really been moving!

One day later we received word that the social investigation report had been completed for the girls, and that we were just waiting on their medicals. This in itself was HUGE. The girls had already been relinquished for adoption, but sometimes it can take anywhere from 1 month to a few months to receive the full social investigation report. On February 22nd we received the ‘official’ referral information for our girls. OUR GIRLS! From there we signed the child placement agreement which is our commitment to adopt these girls specifically.

And then here is where the Lord’s providence really shines through. Because we started the adoption of Yaa and Adjoa back in August, I literally had our entire dossier (the paperwork for Jake and I) ready to go. I was only waiting on one form that was to be sent to us once Yaa and Adjoa were officially referred to us (what we were waiting on when their adoption fell through). So, as we had waited on Y and A, it also gave me 6 months to get our dossier in order, which it was. Upon accepting our new referrals and receiving the final form that I needed, I was able to FedEx our dossier to Ghana the very next day. [In case you’re wondering, the dossier is so important because our in-country social worker needs it in order to present our case for a court date.] Our program coordinator said that she doesn’t think she has ever had someone receive their child referrals and then send their dossier 24 hours later. But thanks to Yaa and Adjoa no time was wasted. Even BIGGER than that – by agency rule, I could not send our dossier until the appropriate fees were paid. $2000 is due to our agency when we are officially matched with our referrals. Then $5000 is due before court, when the dossier is sent over. Because of how the timing of this has all worked out, for us these two fees happened to be due at the same time! Not only that, but we also needed to send over our foster care fees for the upcoming month of March ($150 x 2). Thankfully the Lord knew this was all coming and had been filling our adoption fund all along as I have been blogging about! A few hours before I FedEx’d our dossier I called in our fees to make payment to our agency over the phone. We had $8,748.81 in our adoption account so I was able to pay the $7,300 due, which allowed us to send our dossier. WOW. I just keep rehearsing in my mind that if we had not originally been led to Yaa and Adjoa, none of this would have fallen into place. It is still quite amazing/shocking to me the path the Lord started us on to get us here.

Perhaps you may also remember that we have had a March Ghana trip planned for some time. Now we will get the chance to meet our daughters on this trip coming up in just a few weeks. This same scenario had also happened within Justice’s adoption. Jake and I had planned a December 2009 trip to Ghana months before we were matched with Justice. And then it worked out to get to meet him while we were there. Our social worker is hoping to be able to get us a court date while we are in Ghana. This would be UNBELIEVABLE if it could work out – please pray to this end.

As things fall into place I am also on the look-out for the enemy’s attacks, of which we already received his lovely flaming arrows last week. Have I mentioned that satan HATES adoption?

I am tempted to hold my breath and not enter into all of this until after we have passed court. However, I am reminded of what I learned in our last adoption – that God is Sovereign over all the details. He will close doors and open doors as He directs our path. We need to trust HIM and walk by faith, not by sight. He will lead us to where we are supposed to be.

Proverbs 16:9 ~ In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.