Our Sweet Nora & Toby

Our sweet Nora.  I just love this latest photo of her--all dolled up in cute hair twists with colored bands at the ends.  Doesn't she just need to come home so I can play with that hair???

Truth is, she does need to come home, but we just aren't there yet.  My last post here was 20 days ago and unfortunately we are sill in the same spot as we were then.  We are still stuck in Archives (the last step of legalization)--waiting for our adoption decree to come out so we can move forward to MOI.  We were told this legalization stage would be 4-8 weeks.  We've been here for at least 9 weeks now that we know of and no news of when we will get through this last step.  Just "hopes" from our director that it will be "this week" only to come to the end of another week without it.  Maybe this next week will be the one we receive better news.  We had high hopes of getting Nora home in early spring, but with this latest hold up and the time frames we've been seeing in the next three stages, it's probably more realistic to think we have at least 3-4 more months to go.  However, one thing (and pretty much ONLY one thing) is certain in adopting through Haiti--no one's time line is the same, so we will see what God has in store for ours.  Some get stuck in a stage for months on end while others fly through in a matter of weeks or even days.  My new word for the process itself is...maddening.  That pretty much sums it up.  The reward at the end is certainly more than worth it, but that does not make the steps to get there much easier.

In more uplifting news, we found out the orphanage where Nora is cared for has a new house mother.  Supposedly she is very good with the children and much easier for our head director to be working with.  Less drama amongst the staff of the orphanages is ALWAYS a great thing!  This new head mother seems to be more on top of the care of the children around the orphanage so we are grateful for that!  I'm thinking I've never seen Nora with colored bands in her hair, for example, or for her hair to be done in much other than a ponytail on top of her head, so I'm glad for the changes she seems to be bringing.  Here are a few pictures of Nora and her friends in the orphanage.

They are all so precious.  Only three of the babies pictured here (besides Nora) have adoptive families to call their own.  If you are ever feeling called to adopt through Haiti, there are plenty of children who need you.  (Which is probably something I should have posted on a separate post from the word "maddening"-ha!)  Our orphanage is now working through a specific US agency--All God's Children International.  Recently Haiti has been undergoing lots of changes to the rules of how you can adopt there--it's crazy for me to look back and see all of the changes even from when we began our process to now!  AGCI was recently one of only 19 US agencies approved to continue their work with the Haitian adoption process, so if you were wanting to further inquire about giving a Haitian child a family, I would encourage you to contact them! (All God's Children International)

So as we wait the next push forward in our adoption, life continues on here in Goshen.  Toby had a great 5th birthday last weekend and this weekend we celebrate him still being alive and healthy as it marked the 5 year anniversary of his heart surgery that saved his life.

Two nights ago when we were ending the day with our family time together, Toby said the thing he was most thankful for that day was Nora.  It started my tears flowing as I silently sent up prayers of thankfulness for my children loving on their sister the most they possibly can.  Someday it will be interesting to hear what all they remember about the past year and a half from the perspective of young children.  Last night during our family time again, instead of Toby saying he was thankful for Nora, he said he was thankful for himself...and Nora.  Once again I teared up thinking how appropriate that was as well.  We are so thankful for Toby's life too--his presence in our family is irreplaceable and completely perfect.  He will never know or remember how close we were to losing him, but we will never forget it.  I can't wait for Nora to meet the big brothers she has...and I know they can't wait to meet her too!