Last year at this time we were in Haiti visiting our baby girl for the first time. Sometimes it seems hard to believe that a whole year has passed since the first time we held our princess in our arms. Other times it seems like an eternity as we still long for the day when we will finally bring her home!
I try not to think about what she may be doing at any given moment in the day. It's almost too much to bear... knowing that she is growing up and we're missing it. I think it is even more difficult as I spend nearly every waking moment with our 2 1/2 year old son. I could give you a list a mile long detailing every little milestone he has reached, every adorable thing he has done, every exasperating stage he has been through... I certainly haven't missed much! My parenting experience with Gavin has been a completely different experience than that with Esther. I've only spent a total of 3 weeks with my daugther and she is 2 years old. I don't know what her favorite color is. I don't know what makes her giggle or what her favorite game may be. I even have to guess at her shoe size! I long to be the one who wipes away her every tear, rocks her to sleep at night, the first smile she sees in the morning. I want to be her Mommy... not only holding her close to my heart but holding her in my arms as well. Esther was 12 months old when we first saw a photo of her precious face. She is now 27 months old. We have watched her grow up mostly through the occasional photo. Dear Lord, please hear our cry. Please bring our sweet darling home to her family that loves her dearly. Oh, how my heart desires for this prayer to be answered!
We are currently waiting for our file to be released from IBESR (Haitian Social Services) and sent to the president's desk for presidential dispensation (president's signature approving the adoption). We've been waiting for this to happen since July. We hope to get a court date shorty after receiving dispensation. We will then fly to Haiti to appear before the judge. At this point we hope to legally adopt Esther. After these steps are complete we will begin the process of aquiring a passport and visa for Esther so that we can legally bring her into the US. That all sounds simple enough but somehow it takes many many months to complete and is far more complicated than I could ever begin to explain. So we wait. I'd like to say we've become experts by now but that would be far from the truth. Sometimes we wait well and other times we just plain stink at it. I don't really know where I fall at this point today. Probably somewhere in the middle... I know we serve a faithful God. I remind myself of this on a daily basis, some days more than others.
Please continue to pray for Esther. Please pray that God would find favor with her and move her dossier through the system quickly. Please pray that our family will all be together one day soon! Thank you for lifting our sweet baby girl up to the Lord:)
