It's come to my attention that if I do my very best to keep our blog up to date, it will increase our chances of being successful with our fundraising efforts. And since there's not much I won't do to get little A home, here I am stepping out of my comfort zone. I vow to be better about this from here on out. Even when there's nothing to really talk about, I'll come up with something. :)
So here's my update........
On March 24th, the world stopped spinning for a moment. After stalking the court website for a while, it finally produced what I THOUGHT I had wanted to see. We had been registered and given a court date. But it wasn't until JUNE 9th. I was heartbroken. I was furious. Basically, I was a mess. Due to all the delays in getting the corrected NOC issued, we were pushed back to June due to the courts closing for most of the month of May for summer vacation. It was horrible, but we tried to make peace with it.
Soon after, we learned that a fellow adoptive family had completed their journey, and would be traveling to the SAME CITY that little A lives in. Their daughter resided in another orphanage, in the same city. On a whim, I asked her if she'd be willing to stop by and give little A some drawings from Cece and a note letting him know we hadn't forgotten about him. Well this dear friend did so much more than that. Turns out that her agency's in-country representative is friends with people at little A's orphanage, so the visit was approved. Mere hours after taking custody of their daughter, she went and spent over an hour with little A. She showered him with love. She told him that mommy, daddy and didi (big sister in hindi) are coming just as soon as possible. She did something for him and for us that I can never properly thank her for. And if that wasn't enough, she sent us many photos and some much-treasured videos of little A.
Again, while we aren't permitted to share them publicly, there's one video in particular that's become my favorite to watch. Little A watches as the photos and drawings are handed over. He looks at them with some interest. They then tell him they are from didi (big sister). He appears to understand. But when they say her name, he gets it and gets THE BIGGEST smile on his face. I'm eager to watch their love bloom.
But with that visit came news of just how severe his scoliosis is, among other things. This new info fueled our urges to get him home sooner. We reached out to our pediatrician and a specialist in the treatment of scoliosis. Both wrote letters on our behalf. They were presented to the judge on April 17 when he was hearing the cases of two domestic families adopting from the same orphanage. They pleaded with the judge to move up our hearing due to his condition.
That day a miracle happened. While he could not squeeze in our case on April 17, our June 9th hearing was moved up to April 24th. This was HUGE!!!! As far as we know, this has NEVER happened before. We basked in the glow of our victory.
I was a nervous wreck last Friday, refreshing the court website more often than was logical. I equated it to a woman checking every movement to determine if it was the beginning of labor. At 11:52 am, it finally updated.
We have another court date, tomorrow, Saturday May 2nd. The orphanage people involved with our court case are rather confident that this will be our last hearing. They are also very optimistic that the judge will sign the written order before the summer vacation starts. That part is key, as if he does, we can move onto the final steps (getting his new birth certificate issued as well as a passport for his flight home). AND with that, we could possibly travel to get him as early as June!!! If this does not happen, we will be stuck waiting out the summer vacation.
So PLEASE join us in prayer that tomorrow our judge will find in our favor and sign the written decree before leaving for summer vacation. Truly hoping I can be back really soon with happy news!
