Yes, it’s been over seven months since my last blog update.
That’s not to say that there hasn’t been anything going on; it’s just so hard
to wait when things seem so close.
In the past few months, we have been earning our hours of
study through webinars and book reading. We have also inquired about several
sibling groups on the waiting child list through our adoption agency. In early
April we inquired about a sibling group of three. After what seemed like the
longest week ever, this sibling group was placed “on hold” for us. This is
different from a referral because we are still waiting for ICAB (Inter-Country
Adoption Board) in the Philippines to review and accept our dossier…the same
dossier we sent to them seven months ago.
I can’t say much due to confidentiality requirements at this
stage of the process. I can say that this is an older sibling group. One boy
and two girls. I can also say that they are all beautiful! There were many
things that drew us to these children, things that I will get into later when
we have an official referral and a court date is set. For the time being, we
continue to pray for these precious children who have been waiting for a
forever family for quite some time.
Having a child or children “on hold” basically means that no
other set of parents can pursue the adoption process with them unless we back
off on our desires. We do not see this happening. We still have to wait for
ICAB to even approve us, so in the extremely remote chance they do not accept
our dossier, the children will go back on the waiting list.
When our dossier is reviewed and approved the children go
from being “on hold” to being a “referral”. This part of the process should
move relatively quickly as we have already said we would pursue adopting them
once our dossier passed ICAB. Then a court date is set, plane tickets are
purchased, and…off we go!
Sounds all very lovely, doesn’t it? However, my heart has
been aching since we first set eyes on the sibling group’s pictures. These
children are mine in heart, and every day they are not here with our family is
another day they grow older, another day we are not making memories with them,
and another day they spend in an institution.
I am asking all of you who read this to pray. Pray that ICAB
will see fit to process our dossier quickly. Pray that God will work out all
the details to come. Pray that we will be able to fund the remainder of
adoption costs. Pray especially for my patience through all of this. Pray for
our children who are waiting in the Philippines, who do not know that there is
a family in Vermont who already loves them very much and who cannot wait to be
under the same roof with them.
We thank you for your prayers and continued support.
