Are We There Yet?

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.