Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Hoping and praying

Time for another update. I really wish there were more exciting updates spaced closely together but we'll take every piece of good news and savor it whenever it comes!! 

So, our son was supposed to have a visa appointment Nov. 20. That didn't happen. I was completely and totally ANGRY. I was angry at our attorney, at our agency, at the government, at myself, at the world......you get the picture. Really in the grand scheme of things this wasn't the huge deal I made it out to be in my head. But I was irrationally upset when I received the email from the embassy telling us our appointment had been missed and none of our documents had been dropped off. Thank God my husband is much more level headed than I am. He has forbidden me from sending any more angry emails to our attorney, our agency or anyone else regarding our adoption. He's a smart one ;)

So, that day didn't start as well as I thought it was going to. I had been up at 2am praying for the interview that didn't happen. I was a hot mess at MOPS that morning trying to communicate with people halfway around the world and figure out what in the heck was going on. The moms there who don't know me probably think I am actually a total and complete hot mess since at the meeting before that we had learned about his visa interview. This adoption has kind of made me a hot mess but I think any mom who is unwillingly separated from her children would be.......

THEN to top it off I got THE email for our daughter. Whoa...perspective. I did not in any way, shape or form want to admit it that day but everything really was being worked out and it was going to be ok. Now, both of our kids have an appointment scheduled together on the same day at the same time for their US Visas. 

This is absolutely amazing and a total answer to prayer. Our I600 was approved on Sept. 6 but not into the system until September 13. And two months later we had visa appointments scheduled. Going off of the wait many other people were having I was shocked to have BOTH of our kids make it through the investigation process so quickly. We were settling ourselves in for a long, long wait.

But, making it through this part of the process so quickly now puts us in the awful, AWFUL position of having everything our kids need to come home except the exit letter. Once visas are issued we will be missing two little pieces of precious paper allowing our kids to leave with us. This suspension could last up to a year. 

Thinking about that makes me hyperventilate. 

We LOVE these kids. No, we haven't met them YET but we love them. We are committed to doing whatever we are able to do to help them heal, to make them a part of our family and to give them a loving home. We aren't going anywhere and we will see this process through until the end and bring these kids home to a family who is anxiously waiting to welcome them. If I could tell the DGM one thing it would be that. I truly do believe they are doing a disservice to MY kids. Yes, I will agree that there are probably parts of the process that need to be refined and fixed but punishing my kids and my family by keeping us apart is cruel and wrong and I wish they could see that. Just because some families had documents dated before a certain date does not make them more qualified to bring their kids home than ME. 

We have been anticipating bringing these kids home for months. And, we've come to a place where we can't wait any longer. We should be making a trip to bring them home at the end of this month. We are still hoping we are able to bring them home as soon as possible and we are asking for others to pray for that as well. But until we can bring them home we will settle for a visit to their country and we will continue hoping and praying for the day we are able to bring them home and complete our family.