We haven’t done the best of jobs keeping everyone up to date on our second adoption. We have been a little more hesitant this time around because we are more aware of all that can go wrong in any international adoption.
Our dossier (paperwork that goes to DR Congo) was finalized on September 20, 2013. On September 27th, the DGM (Direction Generale de Migration) in the DR Congo suspended the issuance of exit letters for children being adopted internationally and this shutdown is expected to last for 12 months. This exit letter is necessary in order to carry adopted children out of the DR Congo so even families who have completed all other parts of the adoption process cannot bring their children home from the DR Congo. Even if the children have been legally adopted according to Congolese law. All other adoption agencies in the DR Congo and in the US are working as usual so despite the shutdown, we continued to pursue an adoption from the DR Congo.
On January 24, 2014, we received a referral for a beautiful 2 year old boy! We cannot share a picture or his name so we will call him Y. I cannot explain how it feels to look at a picture of a child and hope and pray that someday he will be yours. It is heartbreaking to know of the circumstances as to which this child has been born and to know that his biological family, for some reason, cannot take care of him. It is also heartbreaking to know that if this adoption is not approved for some reason or another, Y will spend the rest of his childhood in an orphanage. How can this be better than him having a loving family, even if that family lives a continent away. I love him already and I am hopeful. We know that our agency is working in the DR Congo to collect the documents needed for court. So, we wait. We wait for a court date and then we wait to pick up our son. As of now, we will only travel to DR Congo one time. I am hopeful that all of this will occur before Christmas, 2014 but I know that all will happen in God’s perfect timing.
Today, it is Mother’s Day and I think this is what inspired me to write this post. Mother’s Day is a bittersweet day for an adoptive mom. I pray for the biological moms of both of my sons. Yes, I already feel as if Y is my son. I hope and pray that if they are living, they have peace over their decision to place their child in an orphanage so that they could be adopted. I cannot, in any way, express how thankful I am to have received the opportunity to adopt and to be the mom to a child that was born to someone else. Someone that is more brave and strong than I am. While at times parenting a child from a hard place can be extremely hard, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Seek The Substantial 
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