Our agency director emailed us this week to share some good news. You may remember, a few months ago, The Kingdom of Lesotho decided to become part of the Hague Convention regarding international adoptions. We weren't sure what that would mean for our adoptions. If you are not from the US, or are not familiar with international adoptions, let me shed some light on why that makes things difficult, in a very abbreviated sense. Our governments interpretation on how to be compliant with the Hague Convention can make things much more complicated for us adopting families, and switching from non-Hague to Hague can create many expensive and time consuming obstacles. BAM!
There is the history. Here is the news.... Lesotho has extended an opportunity for those of us American families who were already approved and in the adoption process to be eligible for the matching meeting scheduled in early February 2013. I believe this is a generous consideration on their part as many countries have changed adoption programs without making such accommodations. This is great news, especially for those families who end up being matched at that meeting. However, it is a possibility that we will not all be matched.
What if we don't get matched? Good Question!
If we aren't matched, we will have to make some decisions. I have to say, I am really liking this go with the flow wait for February thing. I will be pretty bummed if it comes down to us making another decision about this journey. Here are the options as I see and understand them AS OF NOW (these things change as we have all become well aware).
1. We can stay with the adoption program in Lesotho. We would have to update our information to become Hague compliant and completely re-apply a DIFFERENT application with the US government. This option feels a lot like starting over to me, and is not so appealing. However, I have grown quite fond of the Kingdom of Lesotho, and will feel sad to lose my perceived connection to this country.
2. We can stay working within our agency and move to the Uganda program. It is a more expensive option and I am less familiar with the time frame and legal arrangements. This, of course ;) , makes me uneasy. But there is still a need for babies to find their families. We considered this option briefly this summer, and felt the Lord told us to stay where we were (with the Lesotho program). But that was July, and the Lord's path does not always appear to be direct until you have lived all the way through it. .
I've included a map in this post so we all know where I am referring to :)
So, here are our prayer requests.
- That our choices be made for us. :) and if they can't or shouldn't be, that we hear the Lord's voice and are obedient to follow Him.
- For the other families in the four countries represented at the February matching meeting. That their hearts be ready for whatever news comes their way.
- For the babies, that they feel the comfort and love of their Father as they wait for their forever homes.
- For blessings to the people who have dedicated their lives to serving these children and their families.
- That the Lord continue to provide for us along this journey. That when the time comes to meet our son, there will be no financial barrier.
No comments:
Post a Comment