Y'all Ready For This?

There are big updates in the works.  The plan, as of right now, is that I will travel to the Congo to get our daughter in about a month!  Before you all get too excited, however, please know that we don't get to bring her home right away.  But in about a month, Mbo will legally be ours by Congo law.  What this means is that when I travel to the DRC, she can come and live with me, while we wait together for the final paperwork for her to come home.  A basic breakdown of it is this:

1. Court papers are filed, petitioning for our adoption of Mbo.
2. Congo law states that family members have 30 days to contest this.
3. At the end of the 30 days, she's ours!  And she is issued three things: a CONA (certificate of non-appeal),
    a birth certificate, and a Congo passport.

At this point, she's ours, and I will travel so that she can live with me while we wait for:

4. U.S. 1-600 (where the U.S. government allows us to adopt her)
5. U.S. VISA
6. DGM appointment (where the Congo gov. signs paperwork allowing her to leave the country)

And then:

7. HOME!

Unfortunately, this does mean I'll be in the DRC for about a month.  Ryan will travel with me for the first part of the trip and then he will return home to take care of our kids while I work on adding another one to the family!  I know this seems a little crazy, living in the Congo for so long, especially being away from Robby & Ella.  But the truth of it is this: my daughter needs me.  She needs her mama.  She needs clean food and water (and enough of it!).  She needs adequate medical care and a bed to sleep in. She needs a mom to love her and take care of her.  And so... I'm going to get her.  Simple as that.  My child needs me, and I'm going.

Because this is a public forum, we won't be posting a lot of details about our travel, at least until we're home.  

This next month is going to be crazy busy, full of preparations to travel.  We started that off yesterday with immunizations to travel.  While I knew shots would be expensive, and I had planned on that, the total amount made me want to puke!  DRC requires yellow fever shots to travel.  So I researched that.  And booked an appointment, knowing that it would be around $350-$400 total for Ryan and I to get those done.

What I didn't plan on was all the other shots we needed!  We got yellow fever, meningitis, and polio vaccines, and Ryan also got a tetanus (I've had one recently enough).  We are also taking typhoid oral vaccinations.  Our total for the day?  $950!!!! And that's not counting the anti-malaria drugs we'll need-  Craziness!  And the best part?  Insurance doesn't cover it.  Boo!

As expensive as that doctor's visit was, protection against these illnesses is worth it.  Seriously.  Worth it.

There's always a lot more to say, but for now, this update is already lengthy!

If you're a praying person, we could use it!

Specifically:
1. Safe travels both to and from as well as in country (Congo transportation is freakin scary!)
2. That God will help our paperwork to go smoothly and easily.
3. That our time together in Congo will be meaningful and well-spent.

And the biggest of them all
4. That God will protect the heart and mind of our daughter, and help keep her safe from the serious consequences that come from being abandoned and without a family.

We love you all and thank you for the support you've shown our family.  This hasn't been an easy process, to say the least, and we truly appreciate you all!

Grief

It's one o'clock in the morning.  And try as I might, I can't either sleep or let go of the thoughts plaguing me tonight.  Thoughts of Mbo. Thoughts of Josue.  Thoughts of another little boy or girl who may belong to our family.  Tonight, I tucked Robby into bed, for the hundredth time, and I was thinking about the quilt I've made him, the fleece throw, and the comforter I've yet to buy.  And I thought, well, our kids will never be cold! And then, of course, it hit me.  Again. Always. That the blankets I've made and those I've planned for, they were supposed to be for Josue as well.

We stand by our decision. We've made the only one possible for our family, for Josue.  But what I really know is that a world away, there is a six year old little boy, not so different from the one sleeping down the hall, who doesn't understand why.  Why he was going to have a family, and now he doesn't. And I don't understand either. Why, when talking about our family, is it our family and Josue, separate equations? Why such a small child should be left, for what will probably be forever, without a real family. Why I had plans for blankets and clothes and toys and photo books for this little man, and now... nothing?  And my grief tonight, is overwhelming.  I want to crawl into my Abba's arms, as I did Ryan's tonight, and just be held.  I want to know that, while I can never be a mom to Josue, my Abba will always be a father to him.

But tonight, it doesn't feel that way.

Tonight, I am raw and aching and struggling to understand.  I can't comprehend the abandonment of so many babies, with empty stomachs.  I can't understand a world in which grown men (and women) do despicable things to little children. Or the bureaucracy that keeps Mbo from me.  What I know is that I have a bed set up, waiting for my little girl to fill it and a closet full of clothes waiting for her to wear them. What I know is that I have full cupboards and warm blankets and so much love in my heart and my arms ache, and I can't share it with my daughter!  What I know is that tonight, tonight I grieve.

Josue

This post is one that I had hoped never to write.  Thursday, we found out new information regarding Josue, and unfortunately, we are not the right family to adopt him.  Josue needs to go to a family that doesn't have younger kids in the home, and with the addition of Mbo, we will have three.  While I can't express how heartbreaking this has been, Ryan and I both feel very at peace with this decision.  For our family and for Josue, there is no other choice to be made.

Unfortunately, even with our closest friends and family, we can't share the details of this decision, and we ask that you respect that.  What I can and will talk about is God's grace through this.  As you all know, the waiting process through all of this has been excruciating!  It has taken months and months longer than we ever expected, and we still don't know when it will all be finished.

But through that wait, we firmly believe that God has been working behind the scenes.  I can't even begin to express how many factors God had to bring together for us to get the information we needed exactly when we needed it.  His grace and protection of our family has been amazing.  Had we accepted a referral for Josue in December, February, April... we wouldn't have known any of this information.  And while I, with my whole heart, wish that things were different, the truth of the situation is that Josue needs a different family.

We are moving forward with our adoption of Mbo, and we are not sure yet exactly how we will handle a second referral, but I will obviously update when we know.  Until then, please pray for a little boy across the world.  Josue needs his perfect family to bring him home.  And, oh, how I wish that was us.

It's here! It's here! It's here!

We are so VERY excited to announce that we have (finally) received our referral for Josue and Mbo.  What this means is that we have their medical information and their pictures, and we can officially move forward towards adopting them!  We're looking at anywhere between 3-6 months and they'll be home!  We won't be posting any pictures on this site or on Facebook until after they're home, but if you're a close family member or friend, please send me your email (or address) and I'd be happy to forward one to you!  Yay!

Latest email from our adoption specialist

I had an email this morning that contained both very concerning and very exciting news.  The exciting news is that, after weeks of waiting on tenderhooks, we should have our referral any time!  We expected to have them weeks ago, but unfortunately, the Congo lawyer didn't get them done for whatever reason.  Things in the Congo just flat out don't go according to plan!

The concerning news is that my five year old daughter, half a world away, has shoved something up her nose... and apparently needs surgery to get it out!  It sounds like a fairly minor problem- kids stick things up their nose all the time.  But do they usually need surgery?  And not just surgery, but surgery in the Congo? And not just surgery in the Congo, but surgery in the Congo without their mommy?!  So obviously, I'm a little nervous about this, especially as our adoption worker doesn't have ANY details yet about what it is that she stuck up her nose, how detailed (read dangerous) the surgery is, or when she'll know more!  And I'm concerned, of course, about the safety of the procedure and more importantly, the accessibility of medication should there be an infection after the surgery!

Pray, please.  Pray that God will be with His daughter as she goes through a scary procedure without a mommy or daddy to comfort her.  Pray that He will guide the doctor's hand as he removes this object.  Pray that He will work miracles to bring our children home soon and safely.  And pray that He will give peace and comfort and love to Josue and Mbo as they sit 8,500 miles away from the people who love them.

Referrals coming soon....

We're waiting to receive our referral information on our kids, and I'm going nuts waiting to see their beautiful faces!!  I got an email from our social worker, Claire, letting me know their info would be ready by around the end of the week (which would have been yesterday).  Unfortunately, we didn't get it yesterday, and I'm having trouble focusing on much else!

While we won't be posting their pictures on here until after they're home for safety and confidentiality reasons, if you're a friend or relative that wants to see their beautiful faces when we have pictures, email me.  Should everything go quickly and well, hopefully Josue and Mbo will be home in August! (Apparently Claire got her name wrong before, and it's Mbo, not Nbo)

I'm just so very, very excited to "meet" my kids!  It's been a long time coming!

On a completely unrelated but (not even close to) equally exciting news, Ryan is graduating today!!!  He'll be getting his MBA through Northwest Nazarene today.  So very proud of that man.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that our referral comes through soon!

News from the Hanson home

We are very happy to let you all know we were offered a potential match with a beautiful (so I'm told) little five year old girl named Nbo. Should everything work out the way we hope, Nbo and Josue will be ours in the next three to six months! Like Josue, we don't know much about Nbo, other than she is between the ages of five and six, and we don't know how to pronounce her name! We should receive their profiles soon, including family history and medical information. I'm not sure how much we will share on this blog, to be honest. But what we can share, we will, and I can't wait to show you all pictures of my newest beautiful babies.

Fundraising has been going pretty well, and we have so very much appreciated all the support from our friends and family. This week, Ryan turned thirty, and we asked that people donate $30 to celebrate and help us bring home our kids. That brought in over six hundred dollars, for which we are extremely grateful. Anyone that wants to contribute can donate through our adoption fundraiser page through a fantastic non-profit called Adopt Together, which makes donations tax deductible. That site is http://adopttogether.org/thehansons

One of the amazing things we've been doing to prepare for our adoption is visiting a church in Boise made up of African refugees, called New Heart International Church. In fact, the pastor is from the Congo, as is a large percentage of the congregation. It's been so very cool to meet so many wonderful people there, and we look forward to growing those relationships. I'm excited to think of what a fabulous experience this will be, not only for our Congo kids, but for all of us American grown as well! We haven't been able to visit as often as we'd like, mostly due to Ryan's schedule. He's graduating with his master's degree in a few weeks, and this last bit of coursework is a killer! I'm so very, very proud of him, though. He's worked so hard and so long, and soon, it will all be over!

I'll leave you all with a couple of pictures of my beautiful kids on Easter. I love their (not so little) faces!