A wee little bit of news...

Well, we have a wee little bit of news...we got news that our Certificate of Non-Appeal is in and it is with the translator now. Yay! We are still waiting on 2 documents: the Certificate of Indigence (proof that Isaiah is an orphan) and the Parental Authorization.
We will then proceed to file for approval with US Immigration. Once that is done, it is time to file for the Visa's and an Embassy Appointment...it is looking like March may be closer to the time that we will travel. Thank you all for your fervent prayers...please continue to pray...Blessings to you all!

I wish I could tell you that we have news, but the truth is that we may not have news for quite a while. The reason is that in DR of Congo, they are having issues with strong violence and killings...these things are above the ordinary violence that happens daily and are due to the upcoming elections. They are expecting things to only get worse. They are having to stop progress in other areas (including adoptions) in order to focus on these issues.
Please join us in prayer for the orphanage that Isaiah is in and the workers who are taking care of him and the other children. Their lives are at risk during this time and we must pray for God's protection over them.
It is looking more and more like it may be February or March before we will know when we will travel. Please pray for patience for us...it is so hard to wait for our son to be able to come home.
On another note, we heard a kitten meowing in our bush. We saw her run into the back yard. She went through the fence, Hannah (12) climbed on the fence and tracked her down. We secured her and brought her home. She was about 6 weeks old and beautiful! We bathed her and fed her (and boy was she hungry!). We made signs to go around the neighborhood to see if someone would claim her. No one did. We are now looking for a home for her. She is so sweet. The kids love her and want to keep her. We just can't. Our other 2 animals are very jealous. Please pray for us...lol
Thank you all for hanging in there with us through this journey! I know it seems as though it is taking forever, but God's timing is perfect and we will trust in Him. We love you all!

Waiting on God's Timing...

As we wait, we reflect on God's Perfect Timing. If we believe He is in control and if we trust that He is who He says He is, we will Trust Him fully for His perfect timing. It is only when our flesh contrasts His Will that we become discontent in the midst of what He is doing...I have to admit, my flesh is very weak! I see my weakness more and more as time goes on and as we wait. This is not necessarily a bad thing. When I am weak, He is strong. And when I acknowledge my weakness and His strength, I am able to trust Him more fully for His perfect provision. Perhaps this is where He wants us, stripped of ourselves and broken, so that He may clothe us with Himself and heal us of our brokenness to His glory. He alone deserves the glory for this journey that we are on. We simply joined Him in what He was doing and allowed Him to lead us.
This is similar to our salvation experience in that we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ, not to simply believe, but to trust in Him, to submit to Him, to surrender our all to Him. Only then can we live a life of "freedom" from sin and self. This gives new perspective to the verse, "to live is Christ, to die is gain"...We can live with freedom through Christ's sacrifice and we can die to self and sin, therefore, gaining that freedom in Christ...the peace that comes from this death and life is immeasureable... unattainable in any other way, but through the Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that He made to set us free.
I praise God that He has set a perfect time aside to bring our son home to us...No man can interfere with this timing. It will be exactly when He says it will be. Not a second before or after. Praise God that He is in control.
More of you, Lord, and less of me...
Blessings to you all...

No new news as of yet...but we did get a new photo of our sweet son! He is growing up so fast...it is kinda bitter-sweet to get pictures of him. He is standing up really well, could possibly be walking or cruising at this point...He's a handsome fella though...:)
I carry photos of him in my wallet, so if you'd like to see him, just ask...
The time is getting closer and closer to the end of the year and it is looking more and more like we will not be going before the years' end...:(
Not only will we be sad not to hold our son for the holidays, but we will not be able to receive the $13,000 adoption rebate that we would be eligible for if we bring him home before the end of the year. We were really hoping to be able to get this so that we could put it back into the heafty loan that we took out to fund the adoption. If we don't make it within this year, we will be paying it back for quite a while...
That being said, we serve a MIGHTY God who can move mountains, and we are praying for this mountain to be moved!!!

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!