Dear Julia,
We have a big week coming up! We are going to go visit your birth family and ask your uncle to give the family’s permission for me to adopt you. This is a big step for everyone. Even still, I want you to know that regardless of what any legal piece of paper says, I am still your Mommy and forever will be.
We still want that piece of paper, don’t we, baby girl?! Once I am legally your forever mom and we can get through the process of you becoming a US citizen, then we will be free to come and go wherever we want and we won’t have to ask permission from any government to do so! Oh, how that will make our life easier and less stressful.
But you know what? We serve a big God and He is true to His word. He will not leave you abandoned. He will hold us and guide us through each step in our lives, including this one. He has done that so far and we can see the amazing things He has done, and won’t it be great to look back a few years from now and see all the awesome things He is going to do?
I love you, baby girl!
~Mommy
“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
“'For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
A brief update of where we are on the adoption front....
We put Julia’s adoption on hold while we were in America. She would have been unable to receive a visa if there was an adoption “in process,” so we paused the pursuit of that while we went for an extended stay in America. Now that we are back, we have resumed the adoption process.
The main piece of the puzzle that we do not yet have is the family’s release for her to be adopted. They agreed to give me full guardianship, but adoption is a whole other ball game. In this culture, adoption is not widely received and is not understood. The perception, especially in their rural village home, is that if a child is given for adoption, there is money exchanged and the baby is “bought.” Therefore, the family would have money that they are expected to share. For the family to simply say that they were not paid, it would not be believed by the community. Therefore, they are put in a tight situation. The last time we discussed the issue, Julia’s uncle, the one who acts on behalf of the family, was unable to commit to officially releasing her for adoption.
On Tuesday, we will be traveling to Julia’s birth family’s rural home to talk to her uncle. Before we can progress to any next steps in our adoption process, they must free her for adoption. They will have to go to Nairobi, meet with a social worker, and sign over their rights. By all cultural standards, this is highly unlikely. By God’s standards, it is one small step that He is in control of.
Once the family signs over rights to free Julia for adoption, there are still many steps before we are able to breathe easily. I am not able to publicly share all the details of the process, but we covet your prayers and need them desperately.
Please remember us on Tuesday. Pray that our miracle working God goes before us to prepare and warm the hearts of the family, that they would be open towards this anti-cultural decision and be willing to do what is best for Julia’s future, placing that in higher regards than the community perception. We serve a mighty God who is sovereign, fully provincial and has good plans for His children!
(And thanks to Kara at Kara Bryant Photography of the beautiful photos of me and my beautiful daughter!)
