Confusion

Me, Adeline, Lovely, Brian, Walker, Ellie, and Brison

We got some great news about our adoption, out paperwork is moving super fast! We made it through the courts in three weeks. The only problem is that I thought we were past this point already. I thought we were moving onto MOI after Parquet, but I midread my information. After Parquet (which it left on December 31, 2007) it moved onto the courts (which it left last Friday, the 25th). This the email we got last Friday...

From LaDawn (at the Bethany main office) - Great news to start the morning ... the Shira dossier is through in the courts, and is moving on for the Attestation Signatures on the girls' Acts of Adoption today! Once the Attestation Signatures have been received, the adoption documents all need to be legalized, and then GLA can apply for the girls' passports. The Shira are another step closer to having their daughters at home! A big Congratulations to them!!!

From Léa (at GLA)- This has to be the fastest adoption I've seen! I am sending this dossier for attestation signature tomorrow. I am happy for Brian and Allison!

So we are very happy about the progress of our paperwork, we just thought it was in a different spot. I don't know how long the attestation signature takes and then the documents have to be legalized. THEN the paperwork goes to MOI (see last blog entry about this).

Praise God for sending our paperwork through as quickly as He has! Hopefully the girls will be home sometime this Spring!

We got to visit friends who recently brought home their two girls from Haiti (they now have 6 children). That was very exciting! We got to hear more about the girls and about the orphanage and what to expect when we travel. The above picture is from our visit with them. When we walked through the door, the oldest immediately asked us if we were Falancia's mom and dad. They thought we were bringing the girls when we came to visit, but their parents told them that our girls were still in Haiti. Shelby, their mom, told me how she met Falancia and told her she knew her mommy and daddy. Falancia proceded to follow Shelby around for the remainder of her visit to the orphanage for that day. We can't wait to go get our girls!

Well, thanks for reading! Hopefully we will get an update on the girls soon and I will pass it along. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Love,
Allison

3 Weeks!!!

We got some great news at 4:30pm on December 31. Our paperwork came out of Parquet after being in there for only 3 weeks! Considering we know some people that have been stuck there since April, we are thrilled! We were expecting at least 2-3 months, if not longer. Earlier that day I had just read Matthew 8:13, where Jesus says, "...it shall be done for you as you have believed...". I said a prayer after that, "Please God, bring the girls home tomorrow." Then I got realistic and prayed, "Please God, have our dossier out of Parquet by Valentine's Day". I prayed this knowing that God can do anything and will honor our requests if we truely have faith in Him. He delivered my Valentine's gift an hour later. Isn't God great!?! Honor Him and He just loves to give us gifts.

So now our paperwork is onto MOI (Minister of Interior), this is where the girls' passports are issued. This is suppose to take 6-8 weeks, but some have been there since May. Back in September there was a huge backlog of like 300 dossiers. The dam seems to be breaking and dossiers are being signed and passports are again being issued. Please pray that this trend continues. The longer kids stay at the orphanage, the more the orpanage has to turn away others. These kids being turned away, most likely die from malnutrition. So the sooner our girls come home, the sooner another three children can enter the orphanage. It is just a vicious cycle. Anyway I digress, once the passports are issued, we are onto the US Consulate for the girls' visas. This is another area where there has been a hold up, but we are hoping the kinks are being worked out there as well.

So right now Brian and I are praying that the girls are home around Springbreak, which is in the beginning of April. I would say this is the earliest we expect them, but it is all in God's hands. Like I keep saying, He will bring them home at the perfect moment! Needless to say, this is earlier then we were recently expecting, so now we are starting to "nest". Making lists of things that need to be done before they get here. First probably being a new and larger vehicle...

So please keep us in your prayers, as you are all in mine. Thanks for listening and caring!
Love,
Allison