It’s morning in Burundi. Today, in Burundi, is our court hearing. If all goes as planned today a judge will declare (and later sign documents) that we are the parents of sweet twin boys. This step is HUGE for our family. Our hearts are so full with joy and excitement. But today my mind continues to wonder and my heart aches for a young mother in Burundi. Today is very different day for her. It’s very possible she has no idea what is happening today, but maybe she is aware or at least her heart knows.
I may not ever meet this women face to face in this lifetime, but my earnest prayer is that I will see her in eternity. Today, she is the focus of my prayers. I know without the slightest hesitation that my boys’ birth mother is strong and courageous. That will be easy to share with them. She did the hardest thing a mother could ever do and her decisions will place her babies, our babies, in our arms. She fell in love and then said goodbye. I pray today that our boys’ birth mother will have peace that she made the right choice, a good choice. I pray that she will have peace that her precious boys are going to be safe with a loving family. This women on the other side of the world, whom we may never meet in this lifetime, is a part of our family. She will always be connected to us. We long for our boys to be home, but we also long for them to know the love of Christ. This is true for their birth parents too. We want God to get the glory for every part of this journey. We pray for salvation for our boys’ birth parents. I pray, today, for our boys’ birth mother’s safety. I pray for health, guidance and protection. I pray she finds rest and comfort in the arms of Christ.
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A blanket is such a comfort and how often do we take it for granted? At this house, we love being curled up under blankets. There is something so special about having your very own blanket. Through Hope 4 Burundi we can help support women by purchasing these sweet blankets (pictured below with adorable animals they have already created through another family's fundraiser for all the children at our boys' shelter) and then bless the children by giving them each their very own blanket. Please consider making a donation to our fundraiser through PayPal, [email protected] (pay as friends and family). 100% will go to Hope 4 Burundi to make blankets for the children at our boys’ shelter. Our goal is to raise $250.00! We are excited to partner with Hope 4 Burundi to send all the children at our boys’ shelter a blanket. This is a great way to support women in Burundi, as they make the blankets, and provide the children with their very own blanket. We are working together with two other families to cover the cost of these blankets for every child at our boys’ shelter. These two families are very dear to us. Even though we have never met face to face, we will always be connected through our beautiful children. To learn more about Hope4Burundi check them out here: You turn 4 today! Happy Birthday my sweet boys. You will wake up in just a few hours and It will be your birthday. Your whole life is ahead of you and yet you have lived a lifetime of experiences already. We continue to pray that God will prepare your hearts for Him and for us.
We long to hold you in our arms and tell you how much you are loved. We long to hear your laughter and find joy in the things you find joy in. We desperately want you to know, on your 4th birthday, that you have been always been loved, you have always belonged, and you have and will always be God's child. In six days a court hearing will declare we are your parents, but our hearts have known that since the moment we saw your handsome faces (and years before that). We are fighting our way to you. We will never give up. We will come as soon as we can. We have loved you since forever. We are, everyday, closer to our forever together. Happy Birthday, Harrison! Happy Birthday, Ennis! We love you! Dark tunnels come and go in this life. As time moves on, we learn and grow (hopefully). We realize along the way some tunnels were not as dark as we thought and we know some were pitch black. What changes isn't that we don't go through tunnels, but how we react while traveling through that space. We also grow in knowing that tunnels may look different through other's eyes and we can't judge their tunnel. I find myself in a tunnel right now. It’s not the darkest, longest, or most challenging, but it's dark today! We were so hopeful to hear we had a court date back in May. Since then we have seen no progress from the Burundian courts (maybe it's there, but we are seeing no movement on several fronts). Our boys have also learned of us, although we have no idea how they processed that news or if it's being positively encouraged or discussed. July has begun and still we have no prospect of a court date being set. We will watch our boy’s birthday go by this month without them in our arms. We will celebrate, but not how our hearts desire to celebrate. Each day that passes pushes our travel dates further into the fall. God knows where this tunnel lets out, but right now we sit in the dark unable to see the other side. "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act." Psalm 37:5 I have to trust the engineer. My job is it sit still, putting my trust in Him, and He will act. We all know I struggle with the sit still part, I am a work in progress. I don't know about you, but when I am in a tunnel I sometimes need reminders that the engineer can get me through. I shouldn’t, but I do! I have to ensure my eyes are on the engineer (God) not the darkness around me. I am thankful for those who support me, love me and push me in the right direction. I can make plans, I can have hopes, but if everything I do isn't grounded in God it will not last. I am finite, He is infinite. It is only through God that I have an impact in this world. I have been so focused on my desire to have my boy’s home, I lost focus in my prayer life for things that matter so much more. I long for the boys to be in our arms, but I also long for them to know deeply and profoundly the love of Christ. God has promised He will bring the children He ordained for our family home. That prayer was yes and Amen. I don't need to meditate over that any longer. God is doing it, even if I don't see the courts (or other things) moving. I have to shift my focus from myself, sitting in a dark tunnel, and look outward to others. God is still growing me. My flesh wins many days. Satan's whispers take hold easily when I am sitting in that darkness. A friend sent me a song this week for an unrelated reason, but God knew I needed to hear it now. It unwrapped so much in my heart. 1) God is working, even in the winter when we don't see the seeds underground. 2) God promised my children and He is a God who keeps His promises. I have nothing to fear. 3) I can only do my part and I have to leave the rest of the work in others hands where it belongs. 4) When I am focused on me, I am not standing for others, I am not able to fight on your behalf, and am definitely not shining God's light. 5) My love grows my children and I have to keep my eyes fixed on God so when my children follow me, they can see Him standing right in front of me. Here is the song she sent me by Andrew Peterson: My greatest joy is being a mother, but the trees I plant can only grow with God's love watering them. I have said it before, but I am disillusioned that these four beautiful humans are mine. They are on loan to me and God had marked out their days.
I have to hold my blessings loosely. I have to look further out, past the tunnel. Our wait seems so long, but we know it’s only the beginning of the journey. And the journey is short in this life. Eternity is our goal. I have to keep my eyes on God and know he has all the details. I have to trust He knows the way out of the tunnel, how long it will take, and what the scenery looks like when we emerge back into the sunlight. Parenting is the hard part of this journey and while I am very aware we will struggle through some really hard days, I know we will have many joy filled days too. God is faithful and I trust today that He is leading us though this tunnel to bring our sweet boys home. I trust today that He is also the engineer that is conducting the train of my children’s hearts. We have not journeyed to our boys alone. We continue to be in awe of the love and support of our friends and family. As expected, this last stretch of the journey seems so much harder than the other steps. We are so close and yet so far away. We are still waiting on our court date to be scheduled. Once our court date is scheduled, we will have a general timeline for when we will travel to bring our boys home. We hope that we will be in Burundi around 60 to 90 days from that court date. I wrestle with the timing every day, but we continue to seek God’s will and ask Him to continue to move things according to His will. We were blessed recently by our friends on the last day of our Home School co-op. Dusty was able to take the day off of work for his birthday, we finished our Civil War simulation with our students, and then our friends threw us a beautiful shower to celebrate our boys. We were overwhelmed by their generosity and their love. We ended the shower in a time of prayer for our boys, our family, and the transition that we will all be making soon. In the meantime, there is still plenty to do as we prepare our home and our hearts for our twin boys. We are working to complete our 5th home study. We are finishing construction and getting excited about decorating in the boy’s room. Their big sister and I created some costume art work for their room last week. We love the way everything turned out. We still have a few things to complete, but we had a blast creating for them. We were a bit concerned about packing for them as there was no reference for size in any pictures we had received, but on May 23rd our boys received a package we sent to them. This was exciting because our boys now know about us. They each received a photo album with pictures (labeled in Kirundi) of each of us and pictures of our house, a ball, toy cars, and a little outfit. We do not know how they reacted to this news or if their 3 year old brains even understood, but we continue to pray that God prepares their hearts to be a part of our family and more importantly to be open to Him. We also pray that the staff is positively preparing the boys for this transition. We did receive one picture of them standing side by side wearing the clothes we sent. I touched those clothes and now my babies are wearing them. Until looking at that picture, I had no idea I could be jealous of a shirt! Seeing them in those outfits will help us to pack accordingly when we travel.
Summer has begun at our house. I am actively planning schooling for my now Jr. High and High School students. I love planning school for my children, but I have to say this time has been different. I have spent the last few months ensuring we will have complete and full transcripts when High School is complete. Couple that with laying out how high school and preschool look together has had my brain swimming. We are ready (as much as we can be) for the challenge! Thank you for your continued prayers for our court date to be assigned, for our boys and their caregivers as they prepare for our arrival, for easy and fast turnaround times on visa applications, and for our time traveling and meeting our beautiful boys for the first time. We truly don’t have words to express how your love and support have carried us through this long (and sometimes painful) journey. We continue to pray for our boy’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well being. Thank you for joining us in prayer as we continue to wait. We are getting so near our boys being home. We are waiting on our court date to finalize the adoption. God continues to be faithful, but even still I find I am overwhelmed with all that needs to be done before we get on the plane. I find my mind racing throughout the day with what if's and lists to be accomplished. When I feel overwhelmed all I know to do is to take it to God. Please join us in praying these and your own prayers over our boys, our big kids and our family. Prayer of Gratitude
Jesus, my Savior, you have blessed this family beyond measure by granting us these children that have grown in our hearts. Father, I want to say thank you. Thank you for granting me the desire of my heart, just like you did for Hannah. Thank you for your faithfulness to our journey. May your name be glorified forever, for you have replaced our tears and fears with joy, thanksgiving, and admiration. Let these boys be a reminder of your goodness and mercy to us. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Prayer for Protection and Travel God, my Fortress, we are so grateful for keeping our boys safe all through the waiting season. Let your hand of grace be upon them as they wait to join our family. Lord, send your angels to go before us as we travel. May they shield our boys and us from any manner of danger. May the staff watching over our boys be filled with the Holy Spirit. Grant them wisdom so that they can ensure safety. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Prayer of Protection All-Powerful Father, I bring our twins before your throne of grace today. I come against any manner of sickness, diseases, or developmental struggles being planned against us. Lord, protect us against any schemes of the devil. Hide them under your wings so that they can develop to maturity without affect. Thank you for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Kingdom Work Prayer Gracious God, you perform wonders that cannot be fathomed. You have made everything beautiful in its time. We are overcome when we think of how you are carefully weaving our family together. You have implanted gifts and abilities and personality into our boys, we pray that what you have given our children will be used for your kingdom and your glory. Amen. Prayer for Healthy Development God, my Creator and Sustainer, I thank you for what you are doing in our family. Your word says that every perfect gift comes from above. Thank you for creating these beautiful boys. Thank you for their mother who choose life for them. Lord, you have already scheduled the days that our children will be in this world while they were still being knit together in her womb. That is amazing, dear God. Lord, I pray that these perfect gifts may continue developing in our wait without any complications. Be a shield around our twins that they may continue to develop in full health. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Prayer They Trust You God of enduring faithfulness, our boys were brought into a world where people have their hearts on so many things but you. I worry that they may go after the pleasures of this world instead of trusting you. Help us to teach these children how to trust and live according to your word. Remove things that may draw their heart to other things that don’t bring glory to your holy name. Let our boys put their hope in you only. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Prayer for Service to God Sovereign Lord, you are mighty to praise. You created man so that he can worship and serve you. May these boys serve you with their whole heart from childhood. May our twins do things that align with your plan for the glory and honor of your holy name. Father, I pray against any evil plan from the camp of the enemy that may cause our boys not to serve you diligently when they grow up. God, let these boys be a blessing to everyone they serve. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. In Your Image Prayer God of my praise, when I think of the incredible complexity of life you gave our boys, I can only bow in worship of my great Creator. I think of the little fingers and toes created by you. Our boys were created in your image. We are excited to see what our sweet boys look like in person! I praise you that these boys are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are marvelous – this I know very well. Amen. Parenting Prayer Lord, our gracious Advocate, we are so excited to love and raise these twin boys, but so afraid we will make mistakes as parents. Help us to be excellent parents and teach us what we need to know along the way. Bring wise counsel into our lives from our family, church, and friends. Help us develop healthy and sound parenting skills so that we can be confident and unfearful. Help us through the sleepless nights and the new challenges of parenting. May we rise to the occasion! Amen. Know the Love of Christ Prayer Lord of unfailing love, you are the true definition of love. You gave yourself up for us while we were yet sinners. Lord, let these children that you are weaving into our family come to know the love of Christ on a deeper level. Show us ways in which we can demonstrate the love of Christ to them. May we be a practical example of what unconditional love is to these boys by the way we talk, treat others, and live. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen. A Home Where Jesus Reigns Prayer Abba Father, we are so thrilled that our boys will be home soon. We desire to welcome them into a home where Jesus reigns. Help us to love you with all our hearts, souls, and minds. Empower us to love each other as you love us. May this be a home where kindness and thoughtfulness reign supreme and selfishness is banished. May our boys grow up with the security of knowing they are loved profoundly and seeing the love of Jesus shining through our lives. Amen. Light of the World Prayer Jesus, my Light in the darkness, your word says that we are the light of the world. Let these boys be the light of the world as they grow up. May the light of Christ illuminate through them. May they make a difference in this world for the glory of your name. Let them be a true representation of Christ. When people see them, let them see Jesus Christ and him crucified. We pray this trusting and believing. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. You Are with Our Boys Prayer Father, you are the Creator of all things. Our boys are a world away. We cannot see our dear little ones, but you are with our boys and know everything about them. You know their eye color, what their hair will look like, and what their personality will be like. You already have a plan for these little lives. Thank you for blessing us with this gift and entrusting us with its care. Prepare us for this new season of parenthood. Amen. Blessing Prayer God of blessings, I pray that our twin boys are blessed. May they be always at the top and never at the bottom. Let these children be a source of joy and comfort to other people and us. Lord, may your countenance always shine upon this child. May grace and peace always follow them. Let our children find favor with you and man, and may they walk with wise people only. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Spoken Words Prayer Faithful Father, your word teaches me that the power of life and death are in the tongue. Help me to control what I speak over these boys– both now and throughout their life. Help me to speak faith-filled words that build up my child – words of a bright future, of good health and a bright mind, words of victory. Remind me to avoid pessimistic predictions and harsh words that tear down. Protect my child from other people’s negative words as well. Amen. Purpose Prayer O God, my Promise-Keeper, we bring our twin boys into your able hands. You have ordained these children for a particular purpose. Lord, may your purposes over these children’s life be established. I build a hedge of fire around them right now. Please crush all the plans of the enemy over them, in the name of Jesus. Father God, connect these boys with their destiny. Let them be a fruitful branch of your holy vine. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Prayer to Know Identity in Christ Lord of the highest heavens, the world is filled up with people who are discontented in life because they don’t know who they are in Christ. Almighty Lord, I pray that these boys may come to know their true identity in Christ as they grow up. May they find contentment and completion in Christ alone. Let the joy of the Lord be their strength all the days of their life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen. Prayer for Good Plans God of hope, how wondrous to be granted the joy of raising these twin boys. Your miracle of life is so exhilarating! Many are the wonders you have done and the plans you have for us. None can compare to You! When I begin to worry about my boy’s development and safety, surround me with the confident assurance that your plans are good plans. Amen. We have an article 5, official letter from U.S. Government to Burundian Government saying the adoption can move through to finalize!!!!! We are so excited to announce that an Article 5 has been issued and sent to Burundi. We are one step closer to our boys being in our arms. Now what? We wait for a court date to be set in Burundi to finalize our adoption. We don't have a clear timeline on this part of the process. Families have waited as little as 2 months or as long as 10 months for a court date. We continue to pray for God's perfect timing. Once a date is set, an attorney from our agency will represent us in court. After court approval, Burundian Law dictates a 30 day period of public post of the adoption. After the 30 day period, the Central Authority will finalize everything and we will receive our court decree. From that point we will obtain our visas and schedule our flights to travel. As soon as we get our official invite to travel we are off to Burundi! Dusty and I will spend 5 days in Burundi. We are among a few families to be the first to adopt from the shelter where our boys live. It is at least a 3 hour drive from the city. We will truly get to see the beauty of Burundi as drive up country to meet our boys for the first time. After our required time in Burundi, we will head to Nairobi for 5 days where we will have medical appointments for the boys and get all our final documents from the U.S. Embassy to head home. We continue to prepare our physical space at home as well as our emotional space. Please join us in prayer as we walk the final leg of the adoption process. We are joyous to begin the journey of a family of 6. Additional updates: A few weeks back a representative from the Central Authorities office traveled to different shelters and obtained additional photos and hopefully videos of children that had been matched. We are anxiously awaiting this update. We have also sent a package to the boys. It contained for each of them: an outfit, ball, toy cars, and a photo album of all of us, our house, and our yard. We are not sure when a trip will be scheduled to take this to our boys or if they have been told about us yet. Again we know that God will allow this information to be shared with the boys at His perfect timing. Prayer needs: Continue to pray for our boys and their caregivers. Join us in prayer that the Central Authority will meet again soon for a matching committee. We are nearing 9 months since their last meeting. While we are past this point, so many loving families still wait and so many children are now “paper ready” and wait for a family. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." Psalm 28: 7
I started keeping this blog for a few reasons. First of all, I wanted to have a record of my thoughts and experiences through this journey. Second, I wanted to share updates and news with family and friends who are walking this road with us. Third, I wanted to be vulnerable about this journey in hopes that it might encourage or speak to others traveling down this road or considering it. Adoption is not for the weak of heart. It is HARD. But with God all things are possible. Philippians 4:13. I wanted to take a minute today to ensure that you can see clearly how mighty God has been throughout our entire journey, despite my honest and raw emotions about the struggles and heartache in the process. I never want God to be the background story. Adoption and orphans have been dear to our hearts for a long time and our journey has led us down roads we never thought we would travel. I am so grateful that God choose us for this path. We are like every other family in 2021, 2020 was not what we wanted or expected. And while our reasons might be different, we, along with others, struggled with fear and anxiety. I can honestly say that our adoption process prepared us to handle 2020 because we had a lot of practice giving things to God and allowing Him to take control. We truly suffered little stress throughout the year because we were in the practice of going to God. I would like to say that’s always the case, but the reality is (for most of us) we live in a convenient world with everything easily at our finger tips and it’s easy to go anywhere and everywhere, but to God to solve our problems. We, as a family, intentionally pull away from the things of this world when we can because it allows us better focus on God. Sure it makes us a little weird, but we are okay with that-this is not our home. What I have found in our wait is that the harder it was and the more intense the stress, the more desperate I became, and it was in this depth of stress and lack of control that I would reach out to God. When I did that a peace would overcome me and I knew I could press on, I could take hold of that for which Jesus took hold of me. Daily I struggle to be more like Him and less like me. I can only do that when I press into Him. It was in these times of dealing with the pressure that I became an overcomer. I could face the next moment/hour/day because I KNEW that God was in me. I KNEW my strength was His. I KNEW my power and courage were His. He is in me and I needed to let Him shine through me to show myself, my children, and those around me how great He is. His strength won the day, not mine. I long more than anything in this process that I have grown nearer to Him and that others can clearly see that I am carrying Jesus, that I might become Jesus to those around me, those struggling in the role of mom or the desire to be in that role. Both journeys are hard and I can’t imagine facing either without Christ. Jesus never promised that he would take our problems from us, but He does promise to take us through them. Psalm 23:4 tells us, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” God is in the valleys of this life. Our world is so shiny and loud that sometimes we can’t see Him until we are in those dark valleys of life. I have learned to love the moments when it is just He and I in the darkness, It’s when I feel the safest in this world. I am thankful for my valleys and the lessons they have taught me, the ways they have grown me, and how they have shaped me to be more like Him. After time in the valley, whatever may lead me (or you) there, I can give thanks and share with others that there is a place we can find refuge and healing. We find it in the shelter of His wings. I can declare that He is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God and I trust Him! Those who have read my other posts know I stumble-often, but this journey has helped me to do even that at the feet of my Lord. He allows me to question and falter when I am in His shadow, His grace is sufficient. We keep moving forward. Both in life and in our adoption process. And God NEVER falters, NEVER fails, NEVER quits. God is faithful! I pray that whether you are in a valley or on a mountain top today, that you know this faithfulness of God. I wanted to celebrate it in this post. I wanted to ensure that is shines through all the struggle, hurt, and fear of this process and this life. A sound mind-what a place of peace. I will take hold of the power that God has given me through His son Jesus Christ and strive daily to walk boldly where He leads me.
So for an actual update: We are waiting on our I800 approval. We hope it will come any day. Truly it should not be much longer. That is a great step forward. It will mean that the U.S. acknowledges the boys are our family. Once it arrives we will file for our Article 5, the letter that comes from the U.S. embassy in Kenya to Burundi stating the U.S. government approved us and that the court process can begin in Burundi. After the court in Burundi finalizes the adoption we will receive a court decree and we can make arrangements to travel. There are a few additional steps sprinkled into all of that, but that is the jest of it. We ask you to join us in prayer that God will continue to move our paperwork in His perfect timing. Continue to pray that God is preparing the boys for us and us for them. Mostly that God is preparing the boys hearts to welcome Him. Pray for the health and safety of the boys and their care givers. I am not going to lie, I question God often when it comes to waiting on our boys. Some days I go back and forth with God every couple of minutes. I always have faith, but often a huge lack of understanding. If you have read any of my previous posts, you know I have and still question God’s timing. I have to release that and repent of that daily. We struggle. I hold on. I give it away. I take it back. I repent. And God grows me. I find more than ever I long for His comfort when the wait is too much. I find solace in the fact that only He knows my heart as I do.
I have known since the beginning that every step forward in this adoption process would be a step harder. That has proven to be true each and every time we meet a milestone. And here we are at what I am counting as the second to last step, with loving and cherishing our boys for life as the final step. We have a referral in hand, pictures on the wall, and the boys so far away, both in distance and time. We were matched with our boys at an official committee meeting in Burundi in July 2020. We received notification of that match in late October 2020. And today, February 2021 we finally received the last document needed so we can officially file our paperwork with the U.S. Immigration. We have been waiting on one sentence to be translated since October. That one sentence has been the only thing holding us up since mid-November. Why? If you knew the number of times I have asked that question. Why? It doesn’t make sense no matter how you spin it. It just doesn’t add up-- until you consider the prayer of our hearts. We have prayed fervently since October that God will move each step at His perfect timing to ensure everything happens at the least restrictive timing. Here I am again asking, “How does waiting longer make more sense, God?” Covid, covid rules, covid rules changing, vaccines, travel restrictions, unrest in our country, inauguration, and many unknowns…it’s easy to allow fear to drive my emotions. I can’t see a path where wading deeper into the muck of our world is better than us going to Africa sooner to bring our boys home. I can’t see it! But God can! He has gone ahead of us every step of the journey and I know He is there now. I don’t understand, I don’t always see it, but I have faith that He is working all things for the good of this situation. I will continue to fight to be faithful even when the road ahead is so dark that I can’t make out the slightest shape of the path. I can’t see it, but God can. I wanted to write this post to give Glory to God now for the amazing things He is working out. To honor His faithfulness to our family even when I don’t see or understand His plan. I have faith He is moving mountains in our process. Fear is running rampant in our world today. It is easy to get caught up in it. I find I slip on that slippery slop more than I would like to admit. But whether I am fearful of the direction of our country, fearful for my children’s future, or fearful about bringing my boys home, God is bigger than all of it! And just like that, we became a family of 6! We waited and waited and seemingly out of nowhere we received the phone call. We wept as we heard they were ours. We are ECSTATIC to announce that we have accepted a referral for 3 year old twin boys. There is still a long process from here. It will still be 10 months to a year before we travel to bring them home and a lot has to happen before then. We have completed our referral acceptance to our agency and we are waiting on two documents to arrive before we begin filing the next phase of documents.
Our next big step will be to file for our I800. This is a petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to classify an adoptee as an immediate relative. This form, upon approval, gives us permission from the U.S. government to bring the boys home as our children to live in the United States. This process could take a few weeks or a few months. Once we receive our I800 approval we will complete another form that will alert the U.S. Embassy in Kenya of our approval. They will then create an article 5 letter. An article 5 letter states that we are approved as suitable adoptive parents and that the child(ren) will be able to enter and reside permanently in the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Kenya will create this letter and send it to the Central Authority in Burundi. Once the Central Authority received this article 5, he will send our paperwork through the court process in Burundi. This is really an unknown time frame, but it has averaged around a 4 month process in the past. The counts in Burundi will work through a process to declare us as the boy’s legal guardians and they will finalize that by issuing an adoption decree, sometime called a court decree. An adoption decree is the document issued by the court upon finalization of an adoption, stating that the adoptee is the legal child of the adoptive parent. After an adoption decree has been issued, we will finalize our travel plans to bring the boys home. We will be in Burundi for 5 days and in Nairobi, Kenya, where the U.S. Embassy is located, for 5 days. We will have plenty to keep us busy around here while we wait. We are excited to transform our loft into a bedroom for our sweet boys. We will complete paperwork as needed and try to be patient when timing is out of our hands. We know God has been and continues to be in every part of this process. We are praying that all our paperwork moves and arrives in His perfect timing and during the least restrictive time, allowing things to move smoothly once in place. We appreciate that you understand that the boys are not ours until our court decree arrives. We must take great care to protect them in any way we are able. At this point that means nothing personal about them can be shared on this blog or any social media platform. We appreciate your care and attention in this matter. We ask you to join us in continued prayer. Prayer for our peace and patience. Prayer for the boy’s physical, spiritual, and emotional safety. Prayers that God will prepare their hearts for us and ours for them and more importantly that God will prepare their hearts for Him. |
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AuthorMy name is Deidra Miller. I have been married to my wonderful husband, Dusty, for 17 years. We have two biological children and our family is growing again. We prayed for 2,786 days and God answered our prayers. More days (almost 4 years) have been added as we wait for God's perfect plan for our family. We can't wait to meet our beautiful twin boys! Archives
October 2022
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