Garrett Adoption Update

Merry Christmas to All!

We are delighted to report that our home study is done and our INS paperwork will go in the mail tomorrow. Very exciting! This moves us into the stage where we gather documentation for our dossier. We have twenty pieces of documentation to gather (letters from the police, birth certs, marriage cert, copies of bank statement and tax return, letters from the bank, more letters of recommendation…you get the idea). We also need a psych evaluation which I have been asked if I think I’ll actually pass because I live with my joker husband. We shall see, won’t we?

On the dossier front, we have an urgent prayer request for you all. We received a phone call from our social worker last night. Haiti is changing the rules, and one of the rules they are changing could eliminate us from the ability to adopt from their country. The catch: none of the changes apply to us if we have our dossier in country by December 22. Most of the 20 items we have to gather are in process and we expect to have the bulk of them compiled early next week. However, over half of the items have to be translated into French (one of the two national languages in Haiti). The dossier also has to be processed at the Haitian Consulate. These things – all before it goes to Haiti. With the Christmas season upon us, we have no idea how that could change schedules in the offices we need help from. We also both need to get into our doctors again so they can fill out more paperwork for us. Matt’s doc is no problem. Mine is a bit harder to get into, but I am sure if she knows what’s happening she’ll squeeze me in. We have less than fourteen days to get all this done. Oh yes – and we have to get many dollars rounded up…like several thousand. Monday I have an appointment, so I’m going to take the day as a personal day and run around the countryside trying to gather the documentation from various courthouses, police station, etc.

The reality is, we serve a God bigger than us, bigger than Haiti, bigger than adoption. He created all of it. Right now we just strive toward the deadline. Until the deadline has come and gone, none of these changes mean anything. Now, we move fast and pray hard. If God allows a hold up and the deadline comes and goes without our dossier in Haiti, then we look for His new will for us. Until then, we focus, mobilize, and do everything we can to make it happen, trusting that Haiti is still His plan for us. Barring divine intervention, we will meet this deadline. A child is chosen for us in the heart of God.

In the meantime – please pray! We need diligence, accuracy, and great speed in compiling this documentation. We need county clerks and city police and a translator and doctors who can and will respond quickly to our requests. Also, it is our desire to be used by God through this process. Pray that as the roller coaster continues to click up and rush down, our testimonies for Christ will be pure and that people would see Him in us…that we would handle this with the grace and trust that should mark our faith…that we would behave in such a way that others would see that our God is as big as we know He is.

We knew this could happen. Adoption is not a right, it’s a privilege. Any country can change any rule at any time during the game. The ball’s in our court.

Thanks in advance for all your love, support, and prayers. We appreciate you!