Gavin's First Karate Tournament
Elliot's Second Karate Tournament
In the process of adoption through India, a referral is not guaranteed until we have been issued a "No Objection Certificate" (NOC). We had initially planned to not share any news of an accepted referral until we had the NOC out of fear of sharing the great news only to have to share our loss of the referral later. We have experienced a miscarriage and know the pain of broadcasting joy only to be forced to then share heartache.
That said, we have had a change of heart (or rather I convinced George I could hold it in no longer!). In May when we chose India, it was because of a little boy our agency made known to us (I will call him "Thor" since our boys like that name, and we are not at liberty to share specific information about him until we are granted Indian court approval). Our Uncle Joe had just passed away after serving in India, where he was serving in ministry. We had explained to the boys that Uncle Joe was now in Heaven helping God to pick out our little brother. Shortly after that, our agency asked if we would consider a little boy in India! We accepted the referral and immediately dove into all the paperwork necessary to make it a reality. We had to have our home study modified and submit both a "change of country" request and extension to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) since our immigration approval was about to expire. We sent a completed dossier to India.
We received our I800A approval from USCIS, which means we are approved to adopt a child from India. Upon receipt of this approval, we immediately filed our I800 application to specifically adopt our own little Thor. We are happy to share that we have now received this approval! Our approval was then submitted to the US Embassy in New Delhi, India, and they have requested the preliminary paperwork for Thor's U.S. visa. We submitted that yesterday, so we now await issuance of Thor's Article 5 letter within a week. The Article 5 letter will shift the wait into the hands of India.
It is exciting to already have memorized the smiling face of the little one coming home with us eventually, but it is torment to not be able to go now and grab him up in our arms. It could be six to twelve months before we actually head to India. The timing is all in God's hands, so we are trying to be patient. (Forgive me for not sharing a picture of Thor here in that we are not allowed to share his picture until we are granted custody because of a confidentiality agreement for his protection.)
"How blessed is God! And what a blessing He is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth's foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of His beloved Son."
Ephesians 1:3-6
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