YAY!!! We received our documents last night from the translator!!! We reviewed them (about 10 times) and made corrections. We sent them back to our agency, so they are out of our hands for the moment! This morning, we received and email that our documents had been sent on to the translator for the changes to go into effect. YAY! They will then wait for our Certificate of Non-Appeal and send all of the documents together back to Congo to be submitted to the Dept. of Foreign Affairs....YAY!!! And YAY again!!!
Please continue to pray for things to move along quickly...our goal is to bring our son home by the end of this year!!!! Thank you all for your prayers!!!

Well, it may be a small step, but our Congo court documents came in!!!! They are with a translator right now, being translated from French into English. We will then make any corrections that need to be made and send them back to the translator to be retranslated. At that time they will be sent back to Congo to be presented to the DFA=Department of Foreign Affairs for processing. This step could take up to around a month. Once we get that approval, we apply with the US to be able to bring our son home. The US could take up to 6 weeks. At the same time, we apply for our Embassy Appointment in Congo and Visa processing...then, finally, we go get our son!
We are still praying that we will be able to travel to get him by the end of this year...please pray in faith with us....

Okay, so here is our most recent update:
"Our DRC office is diligently trying to push as many cases through as
possible before the upcoming elections. Also, a high priority is to
get the corrected documents for the cases that have already passed
court. Our office staff is pushing daily and the court has said they
expect to release around 4 cases this week - however we have also been
told that the corrections would have been issued by now. It is not yet
known whether the court will begin the appeal period when documents
are issued, or if the "clock" is already ticking. As soon as we have
ANY further information on this, Terri will let you know."

"During times like this, its really important to maintain some
perspective on the country that we are working in and that you are
adopting from. Otherwise it can be absolutely maddening to wrap your
head around the delays. One of our adoptive families once described
the local copy center - a woman on a street corner with a small copier
with the power cord going down the street. During my trip, I saw what
I lovingly refer to as the Congolese Petsmart - a chicken, a monkey, a
goat, and a stray dog - all either in a cage or tied to a tree on the
side of the road. So, as you might imagine, nothing in Congo works
anything like it does here and definitely NOT in the timeframe we
Americans are used to. Please remain patient. We are doing everything
we can and will continue to keep everyone updated."

Basically, we continue to wait...and Pray... thank you all for your prayers!

Reading Up

So, we are trying to read up on Transracial Adoption. There are many issues, apart from what we are used to, that may arise as we raise our new son.
We are reading books and educating ourselves of the cultural differences that we need to be aware of and embrace. We want our son to feel accepted in his own skin color and to be comfortable with his family and his culture.

We have read:
Brown Babies, Pink Parents

We are reading:
Inside Transracial Adoption

We are planning to read:
I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla
Growing Up Black in White
Outsiders Within
From Ashes to Africa

If you'd like to make a book suggestion, we would welcome your input.
Please continue praying for our journey.
We are hoping things will be moving along again soon.
Blessings,
Tina

Apparently several documents that came out of court at the same time ours did had typo issues and are being re-done. Apparently ours is one of them. This basically means that the waiting will be longer. Since they still use typewriters in Congo, this may take a while....
In the meantime, God is working in our lives... He is molding our character and getting us ready for our new addition. :)

God is good, and may I just say, God is good ALL the time...

We were able to take the family to a Buffalo farm in Alabama on Saturday and had a blast! I will try to post a photo soon. We went fishing at a pond on the farm and Joshua, our youngest, caught about 3 fish!!!! The only other fish that was caught was by Hannah, but He jumped off the hook at the very last minute!!! Awwww, so sad :(  But, did we ever have a great time together! We also hope to get some Buffalo meat in the next several weeks...;)

We are currently reading some transracial adoption materials that have been very informative for us and are helping us to be prepared for what to expect...

Keep praying for our journey and we will do the same for each of you!
P.S. Tina's aunt Betty Gail unexpectantly passed away a week ago and we would appreciate your prayers for the family!
Blessings to you all!

Still no news, but in the meantime, we are checking into the vaccine's that we will need to have before we travel to Congo. Some of the ones that we will need are:
Yellow Fever (mandatory)
Typhoid
Hep A
Hep B
Malaria (pills)
Polio
Tetanus (optional)
We are planning to start these soon to avoid possible side effects when it is time to travel.
Also, we are starting to put together a travel list and purchase things that we may need for our trip...
If you are interested in sending donations for the orphanage, we will be glad to take them with us. Send us an email or call and let us know what you would like to send.

Some ideas are:
Small toys
Medicines (Childrens ibuprofen, lice medication, vasaline...)
Small dry erase boards with markers
Childrens books (simple ones with picture of item and English name)
Cloth diapers
Bath soap (bar)
Pacifiers
Sippie Cups
Inflatable toys
Small sports balls
Crib toys
School supplies (pens, markers, coloring books, etc...)
Sleepers
Baby-safe dolls
light blankets
Cash donations for food or other items...

If you are interested in sending items, please let us know within the next month so that we can be prepared ahead of time.
Thank you all for your sweet prayers and support!
Blessings to you all!!!

New Photo

Boy, I feel blessed. We got 2 new photos last week and today received one more! Our precious Isaiah is standing up in this one! It was kinda sad to see him making such progress without us, but we are so thankful to be able to see him. He is holding on to a pole and looking as sweet as can be! God is so good to us! We are trusting Him daily for His provisions and His timing!!!