Actual life changing news

We found out today that Vivine's passport application was approved. We are now in Haitian "Immigration," the office that prints the passports. Other recent adoptions I know of have taken about two months to go from "Immigration" to homecoming. We are getting close now!

This approval is a major milestone because we have completed all of the Haitian steps that go wrong as often as they go right. I know of families that have come as far as we have and then encountered major roadblocks, but those kinds of barriers at this stage are rarer now than earlier in the process. All our lawyer has to do is get the passports printed, submit our paperwork to the U.S. Embassy, take the birthparents for an interview, get medical tests for Vivine and make a visa appointment for us.

But first the riots have to stop. Wait, what? That's right, Haitians have been rioting in downtown Port-Au-Prince all week long, right outside the Immigration office. It's too dangerous for the orphanage director to go downtown to get Vivine's passport. So we pray the riots will end soon and the subsequent visa process will go smoothly. We are almost there; close enough that it's time for me to make a pre-homecoming to-do list. Yay!

I almost forgot. It's God who brought us this far, and there should be no doubt about that. If God were not on our side, we would have succumbed to the emotional exhaustion of the process long ago. Without God, I know the struggle of the adoption would cast such a huge shadow on my life that nothing could bring me pleasure. But God has comforted me through the sorrow and helped me to find joy in Cardinals games, Coach purses, getting As, cups of coffee, glasses of wine, time with friends and the love of a good man. Because I believe God is good, I can find goodness in what he created even when life isn't going how I want.