What Happens Next?

Most people I talk to are very surprised when they hear that we still have a year or more of waiting before our daughter comes home. For those of you new to the international adoption world let me fill you in on what happens next.

Jonathan and I have submitted paperwork to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for approval to adopt little girl "A." Once we get that approval we will fill out more paperwork which will allow us to obtain Article 5 from India. That is a crucial piece of paperwork that will come into play further along in the adoption process.That is what is left of the paperwork we need to complete...at least I think that's all.

Everything else is a matter of waiting on India and their timeline. Here are the key pieces of the process over in India and they will hopefully give you a glimpse into the rest of our journey.

ARC: State Approval. Currently we are waiting to receive ARC. There is an unknown wait for the state approval. It all depends on how often the committee in our daughter's state meets and what requirements they have for families adopting out of their particular state. We have been told it will most likely take months, possibly even up to 9 months or longer. We will obviously be praying for a quick review of our case.

NOC (Non-Objection Certification): Federal Approval. Once a family receives ARC their case is passed on to the federal committee. This committee meets regularly so this approval should happen somewhat quickly once we have passed state approval. Sadly, we have heard of families being turned down at this point. We have also heard of families receiving ARC and NOC within days of each other. Once again...there are no guarantees. Families must have Article 5 to receive NOC approval. At this point in time we will be allowed to send a photo book to our daughter, up until this point she probably will have no idea that she has a family pursuing her.

Court: Once families receive ARC and NOC approval their case goes before a judge. This is another step in the process which has an unknown time-frame. The court process can happen in one sitting or the judge may take numerous appointments before approving a family. Often times families are given verbal approval and then wait weeks to receive the actual paperwork.

Passport: Once the orphanage has the court approval in hand they will apply for the child's passport.This process could take weeks or months. Are you seeing a pattern here?!? There is just a lot of uncertainty with timeframes. I believe during this time we will work with our agency to arrange travel plans and obtain entry visas for India. This is the last step before travel!!!

Anyone confused yet?!? To sum up, currently we are waiting on ARC (state approval) and the timeline we have been given from acceptance of referral to travel is 12-14 months. So obviously we don't expect to hear any news soon but you will certainly hear from me when we have something new to report. Please continue to pray for our daughter as she waits for us and please lift us up as we prepare to become a family of 4.

Our God Hears

We have been MIA for the past 2 + months not out of neglect but as we have been overwhelmed by the goodness and graciousness of our God. Let me start out by telling you about His first, sweet provision. Our adoption is now completely and totally funded. Every single penny has been supplied on our daughter's behalf and that is an absolute miracle. Our mighty God provided everything we needed in a little over a year. Talk about awe inspiring!!

Now for the even bigger news...Jon and I have wanted to shout this story from the mountain tops for months now and it has been killing us to have to keep this news secret! Get ready for a God story.

Remember how we felt lead to pray big prayers? 

Remember how God lead us to ask for a quick referral and for the first referral to be our sweet daughter?

Well...

only TWO days after my last post,only TWO days after we felt led to pray in big ways, my husband and I received a very unexpected phone call from our agency. We were told of a sweet little girl, only 18 months old who needed a family. Our coordinator asked us if we would like more information. Our answer...

YES!!

Within minutes my inbox contained an email with the name, face and medical information of our daughter. As we stared at not one but FIVE pictures of our child we were just overwhelmed with so many emotions. After all of those years knowing that we had a daughter in India, the tears, the waiting, the wondering...it was all worth it just to finally see her face. Currently we are not at liberty to share her picture online but oh how I wish we could show you how completely beautiful she is. She is just gorgeous and has utterly stolen our hearts. Just staring at her picture makes this momma's heart so full! She is a beautiful petite little thing with gorgeous dark eyes and a crazy head full of black hair. From what we we have been told, she is in a place where she is being well taken care of and that small bit of information makes this wait a tad more bearable. Oh, how we long to have her in our arms!

You are probably wondering why it has taken us so long to finally post this news. The weeks and months of waiting have been due to talking with some doctors, waiting on specific paperwork and spending countless hours in prayer. There are numerous God stories to share that took place over the past couple of months, but I'll save those for later. God deserves all of the glory and praise and there simply isn't time and space to adequately share all that He has done but our hearts are overflowing with praise!

Anyways, we have received her official paperwork from the orphanage. It has been signed by us and is now on the way back to India. In a later post I will detail what comes next. We still have a long wait ahead of us, but I wanted to pause and take this moment to rejoice at all the Father has done. He graciously granted our request. God is all powerful. He answers the prayers of his children. Yes, His Father heart beats for the fatherless and he longs to see them in families. Even in the midst of this less than perfect situation He is making all things new and bringing about redemption and wholeness. Praise God that there is one less orphan and that this family has finally gained our daughter! Now we just have to get her home!!

I will close this out with some verses the Lord gave me when I was fearful and doubting. These verses happened to be the next passage in my reading plan and after a difficult day of wrestling with the wait God granted me this beautiful passage to cling to. Dear friends, our God fulfills His promises. 

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

I will bring your children from the east

and gather you from the west...

Bring my sons from afar 

and my daughters from the end of the earth!"

- Isaiah 43:5-6

Praise be to our glorious God!!