We passed court!!!

  

Where do we even begin to talk about all God has done in the last few weeks and months? We are truly in awe of the movement that has happened in our adoption process to get us to this point. We want to share an update explaining where we are at currently in the process and share what is next so that you can be praying along with us, but also rejoicing with us at God’s goodness!

On January 16^th of this year we got the call that our huge packet of paperwork called a dossier had arrived in India and our adoption petition case had been registered in court. We had an advocate representing us in court and we shortly after learned that our first court hearing would be on February 12. The wait from our registration date to our first hearing was really hard but at the same time we were so encouraged by the many people who shared that they were praying for us and for our court process!

Often court in India is very unpredictable and requires multiple hearings and can span over months before a case is disposed. Sometimes families are required to travel to India to appear before the judge or appear before the judge via Zoom. We were really unsure what to expect or how challenging our court process would be. After preparing ourselves for what could be a long process and praying over the first hearing (along with SO many others praying!), we were overjoyed to get an email on February 13^th that our next hearing would only be a few days away on the 17^th. We continued to pray and had so many others committing to pray over this second hearing.

The morning of the 18^th we woke up to the most amazing news… we had passed court!! The judge had given us something called “verbals”… his verbal approval of our families adoption of our little girl. We were really in shock! Our process from registration to verbals had only taken a month! And as far as we know we only had two hearings spanning less than a week! That was unbelievable movement and such a tangible reminder that our God is sovereign over everything… from judges, to court hearings, to paperwork. It was also a wonderful reminder to us of the power of prayer and what a blessing it is to have friends and family praying for our family, our daughter and this adoption process. We are so grateful to God for the many people who have prayed for us and for a court process that was much smoother than we could have imagined! We are so incredibly excited to be the legal parents of such a beautiful little girl and we cannot wait to welcome her into our family and home!

So what’s next? At this point, we are waiting for the printed and signed court document from India to be sent to our daughter’s home so they can use it to apply for something called Article 23, as well as her birth certificate and passport. In the meantime, we will be having phone calls with our agency’s travel coordinator to begin making travel arrangements and applying for emergency visas to be able to travel. Once our daughter’s home has the written court document (which can take anywhere from a few days to a month), it is estimated that the next steps could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. We are hopeful that we will be able to travel in the next few months, Lord willing!

We are so incredibly excited to see and experience India and to get to know our daughter’s birth country! We will likely be in India for about 10-14 days to complete the adoption process and bring our daughter home. We can’t wait to meet her and hold her in our arms and have our family all together! What a sweet day that will be! We would love your prayers for the following things:

 1) Would you pray that our daughter’s home would get the written court document soon so they can move forward with the next steps? Along with that, would you pray that the next steps in the process would go smoothly and that we would be able to rest in God’s perfect timing? Please pray as we navigate various COVID related travel restrictions that God would protect us from COVID and would allow us to travel without any delays.

2) Would you pray for our daughter? From the video calls we have had and the conversations and communication we have had with her caregivers, we can tell that she is so very loved. It is such a huge blessing and relief to know that she is being so well cared for and loved, but at the same time it breaks our hearts to think about how hard it will be for her to leave all that she’s ever known and come to a place where everything will be essentially brand new and unknown. We are praying that God would prepare her heart for the adjustment into our home and family and that she would attach to us quickly. Adoption is such a beautiful thing, but there is always loss involved as well, and our daughter has already experienced profound loss in her young life. We ask that you would pray for God to protect and comfort her little heart and she would know how loved she is!

3) Would you pray for our two boys? They are so incredibly excited to have a little sister and she is prayed for daily multiple times by both boys! We cannot wait to watch them love on her and we know they will be fantastic big brothers! We also know this will be a huge adjustment for both of them and we ask that you pray for them to be understanding and gracious as we all adjust to our new normal as a family of 5. Please pray for their little hearts while we are away in India and that they would do well while we are separated for a few weeks.

4) Please praise God with us for all He has done so far in our process! From providing the necessary finances, to matching us with our beautiful little girl, to moving the process along in His perfect timing. We are praising Him for the wonderful community of family and friends that He has surrounded us with! What a huge answer to our prayers that has been! God has been so good and taught us so much during this process. We are so thankful for that!

Thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement! We cannot begin to say how much that means to us! We are excited to be nearing the end of the process and can’t wait to bring our sweet girl home! Lord willing, we will be able to introduce her to all of you soon so you can see and meet the child you have been praying over for so long!