Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Home again....

Well....Drew, the boys and I are back from Liberia after something like 30 (gosh-awful) hours of traveling. We got in late last night......slept like rocks.....and I'm hoping that after another good night of sleep tonight, we'll all get back to feeling like ourselves.

It was an incredibly bittersweet trip. Bitter because it was so very hard to leave Amos and Kalee behind after spending the week together as a family.....playing on the beach....singing and laughing together....eating together around a big table every night. Both boys cried as we packed up their things and loaded up the car at the house we were renting. And both cried again when we said our goodbyes at the orphanage.

The trip was sweet, though, because we made incredible progress toward finalizing the boys' adoption:

-Just prior to our trip, the State Department announced that the US Embassy in Monrovia was moving ahead in tandem with the Liberian government to process adoption cases like ours that already have valid court decrees.

-On December 22nd we had a very positive meeting with Consul Steven Harper at the US Embassy where he confirmed the few remaining steps to complete our case.

-On December 23rd we met with two key members of the Liberian Ministry of Health who agreed to complete our case history. In fact, while we were there last week, MOH staff tracked down and interviewed the boys' biological father and visited the boys' mother's village to confirm her death and other necessary details.


All this to say.......Drew and I are oh-so-cautiously optimistic that the case history will be written up and complete in another few days. Having the case history will allow our adoption to quickly proceed to the US Consular's office where DNA testing should confirm that our boys' biological father is in fact who he says he is......and then....visas will be issued for Amos and Kalee to come to the United States. If every thing goes smoothly (and I hesitate to even write this) the process could be complete by the end of January.

After my first visit in August, I said goodbye to Amos and Kalee not knowing when I'd see them again. I didn't know what was going to happen with adoptions in Liberia or when things would move forward.

This time....I said goodbye without such a heavy heart. I left being able to say that Drew or I would be back for them very soon. I could tell Amos and Kalee that this long, painful wait is almost over....that it won't be long now until they can come home.

This time when I waved to them and said, "I'll see you soon," I really meant it.

Please continue to pray with me that God will make it all so and that He will see Amos and Kalee safely home to us.


5 comments:

The Crawfords said...

What a wonderful update! So overjoyed for you. Continuing to pray for you and all the details. Would love to get together after we get back from Pittsburgh! Love ya, Jo Anna

jim dixon said...

So glad the whole family was together for the first time and that the process is finally moving ahead. We will continue to pray that the end of the ordeal is the start of a great adventure for all the DMD's.
MeMaw/PawPaw

jena said...

I could read your beautiful post clearly on my screen up until it said, "I'll see you soon". Then something happened and all of a sudden it was like I was trying to read under water.

Joining you in praying your boys home....
Jena

Jeremy and Kamina Johnson said...

YEAH! Praise God. I am so happy for you! What a ray of hope for all the children waiting for their families in America.

Reed said...

We love reading this news!! What a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2010 will be full of blessings. We will continue to pray for y'all. We love you, and can't wait to meet Amos and Kalee. God Bless You, R & R, J,B,& S.