No news does not mean good news in the adoption world

This is a post that has been in the back of my mind for a few months now and I just never get around to posting. Well, after hitting an all-time low today, I feel it's time to post.

Back on August 21st we received word that our Article 5 has been approved - that's the last step on the US side of the adoption (and basically the last step we had any control over). It had a few spelling mistakes on it, but we brought it to the attention of the Embassy and they fixed it immediately. Since that day, the ball has been in India's court so to speak. The steps needed from there to bring "little brother" home are ARC (state level approval), NOC (national approval), court and finally passport. Each step cannot happen before the step before. Since August 21, I have started each week with the thought "this is our week to get ARC". At the end of each week, I'd feel defeated. But with each new Monday I'd get a renewed sense of hope. At first, we still had hope to have him home by the end of the year. But the weeks and months went by and it became painfully clear that it most likely will be spring before we have gotcha.

In November, "little brother" celebrated his 5th birthday. FIVE YEARS of not knowing the love of a family. At our begging, the orphanage threw him a small birthday party. When they brought out cake and sang to him, he was confused. Apparently this is the first time they've "celebrated" him. He didn't understand what a birthday was, and it breaks my heart. I pray it was his last one there.

In the meantime, families waiting for ARC in the state of M@h@r@shtr@ were "piling" up (as many as 4 that we know of). Last week, two of the four families we know of to be waiting, got ARC - the two that had been waiting the least amount of time, the two that were at the top of the stack so to speak. So of course I got excited and emailed our caseworker to find out if we too got ARC (I mean, we should, right? How could that committee meet, give out approvals to some and not to others? Oh wait, this is Ind!a.....). As of today, we are still waiting to hear what our status is regarding our ARC approval. And the 2 families that got ARC? In the meantime they have also gotten NOC and are now waiting to be filed in court. While I WANT to be happy for these families, it's.so.hard! Why them and not us? Why does our guy have to wait a day longer than he already has?

So anyway, our caseworker will be calling our orphanage tonight (Ind!a is 10 and a half hours ahead of us) to try and get some answers. Did we get ARC? If so, great, file whatever paperwork that is necessary so that we can get NOC soon. If not, why the heck not?? It's been confirmed in the past that the committee did not see any other paperwork was needed from us to issue ARC, so what's the holdup?

In the meantime, please pray for our situation, and as always, pray for "little brother". I pray that he knows we are doing everything we can to get him home as soon as possible! Please pray we have good news soon!

~paula