We have written guardianship

We received the news this week from Mary at Holt that the judge in the Higher Court of Mumbai has issued us full guardianship of Anjali. What this means is that we have cleared all of India's court process and there are no objections by their government to us adopting Anjali. This is a big step in our journey to her as often the court dates get cancelled or postponed which means we would continue to wait. But we have cleared their court system and for that we are so thankful because we know that it brings us that much closer to getting our precious little girl.

It is clear to us that once again God is in control of all of the details -big and small and has a plan in place. He is so amazing!! We are now waiting to get the official piece of paper that states our guardianship of her and then her passport. We are hopeful that we will still travel mid to late November. We are not able to schedule the actual travel date until we have her passport in our hands.

Thanks so much for following us along on this journey. We are SO thankful for all of our family and friends who have shown love, encouragement and support to us. It means so much to us and we thank God for the way He has blessed us with so many who walk along side of us through this journey.

What's going on at our house

Kevin has been busy making some new beds for the girls. Anjali will be sharing a room with Mariah so we are re-doing the bedroom. When it rained so much a couple of weekends ago Kevin was busy in the garage making the beds for the girls. It was good weather for what he was up to. We had seen a picture of some beds that we liked so Kevin being the handyman he is said that he could make them. I am so proud of him and the hard work that he put into making the beds and a window seat to go in between the beds. It is going to look great once they are painted white. Mariah and I shopped this summer for the comforters and we found just what she had in mind. She is excited to have a bright colored room with the polka dot comforters. We are excited to see what Anjali thinks of her new bedroom and sleeping in her big girl bed.

He has a plan

"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 a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

These verses may be very familiar to many of us and special in various situations. These verse have taken on a new meaning for us since we started the adoption process and we are reminded more than ever in the last several months that God has a plan and knows EVERY detail about His Plan. He knew long before we did that a child born so far away from us in India in February 2005 was our daughter and that he had us chosen as her parents. God is amazing and sovereign! He is in control and guides all events in His plan for His glory. This is not always easy to "live out." There were times we wanted the adoption process to go faster or "according to our time frame" but we knew that God's timing would be perfect and that all things would happen when He planned them to happen. People say that we have had to learn a lesson in patience and yes that is true when you are going through a long process like this. But it is more than patience, it is being still and knowing that in His time he will reveal his plan and trusting Him with all the details. This is not easy either as we want to help God out in this area with how we think things should go.
We continue to learn daily to trust him completely and know that He will protect us and guide us as we prepare to travel to pick up Anjali.
We received a progress report on her yesterday and she is doing well--she likes to go to Bawaldi (preschool) and the report states that she likes to wear new clothes to school. What a girl!! Continue to pray for Anjali and that God will prepare her for this major change in her life. We thank you for your prayers for her and our family!!

Our Family video

One of the things that we needed to do for the dossier paperwork (things that are sent over to India) was to make a family video to introduce ourselves to Anjali. We had a great time as a family making this video this summer. We sent a slightly different version with more narration over to India so that she could her our voices (and also English words). She is fluent in Indian (Hindi) but does know some English. The staff at the orphanage show this video to her with the hope that Kevin and I will look familiar to her when we meet her. They are also working on English words with her. She sings the ABC's in English and also knows some nursery rhymes in English. We pray that she will continue to learn our language and that she will catch on quickly to it once she is home with us.

Our Journey to Anjali

Our adoption journey began in March of 2007 when we filled out the application to Holt International. We had been praying about where God was leading us and after several conversations with other couples who had adopted and researching information about various countries we felt called to look into India. We were very interested in the culture and realized how many kids there needed homes. We completed our homestudy in June 0f 2007 and lots of other paperwork that was necessary to get the process going. It was frustrating at times to complete it all but taking it one day at a time was the key.

We received our referral for Anjali (age 3.5) at the end of April 2008. The minute we heard about her we just knew she was the one whom God had planned and specifically selected for our family. We knew the minute we seen her beautiful face that she was meant to be with us. We know that God has a plan for her and our family and we are excited to welcome her to her forever home in a couple of months.

Earlier today I received an email from our adoption agency informing us that Anjali has been told her parents are coming for her. At 3.5 it is hard to tell how much of this she understands but the staff report that she does know when other kids leave. The staff also said that if they ask her if her parents are coming to get her she shakes her head yes.

We received verbal guardianship last week and are currently waiting for the written order that states that. Once we have the written order and have her passport in our hands we can make travel plans to travel to Mumbai to pick her up. We are hoping to be traveling in a couple of months.

Thanks for joining us on this incredible journey and we will keep you updated on our progress as it happens.