Monday, September 30, 2013

Prayer Needed

Well we have had an eventful week here.

I had yet another bout of diverticulitis. I went to bed last Tuesday night with some discomfort. By 2 am I was in tremendous pain. I woke David up with my crying. I went to the doctor Wednesday and got 2 antibiotics and some pain killers. By Friday I was fine.

My niece Sarah got married Friday. Desiree was the flower girl. She had a blast.

Speaking of Desiree, she has been saying that when she gets older she will live with her dad. I asked her who told her that and she said her father. If you ask her if she wants to live with him, she will tell you yes, she does. And why wouldn't she? She can have anything she wants. He never tells her no; about anything! If she wants ice cream for breakfast he lets her have it. What kid wouldn't want that?
But on an unconscious level she is terrified. She has been having dreams of me leaving her. She now has to sleep with the lamp on. She cries when I put her to bed at night now. I can't even leave her in the nursery any more because she is afraid that I won't come back.
So David and I have decided to get full custody of her. We want her to have a strong sense of security and permanence. Our daughter, Desiree's mother, is 100% in support of us. Her father has said that he will sign the papers, but he hasn't yet. I hope he does the right thing and thinks of her more than himself. If he doesn't then we go to court.

We received some bad news about our adoption of Nathaniel. The DRC has suspended all exit visas for adopted children. The exit visa is the very last piece of paperwork in the adoption process for DRC. Without it even a legally adopted child cannot leave the country. They have said this could last for up to 12 months. I am praying that they will reverse there decision quickly.
This stems from an article about internationally adopted children that were "re-homed" after they were brought to the US. The article stated that adoptive parents would list their child on websites and give them away to virtual strangers who had not gone through the rigorous background checks that adoptive parents go through. Many of these children were abused.
I agree that this is a horrible situation, but it is a very small percentage of adoptions and the article does not tell of all of the wonderful adoption stories that exist. And the children living in orphanages are not immune to abuse. I ask for your prayers; that the suspension will be over quickly and for Nathaniel's safety.

Blessings,
Melissa

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What we have been up to lately

Well a lot has happened since my last entry. We received our placement agreement which means that we are officially matched with Nathaniel. Our home study is FINALLY finished and has been approved by the GA office. Now we are waiting for it to be approved by the corporate office. We have begun gathering the documents for our dossier.
We got a loan to pay for some of the fees that are currently due. We were quite surprised that we were approved for it since our credit is not so good. And David cashed out his 401K to pay for the rest of the fees that are currently due. So we are no longer in danger of loosing him!!!
We also had a spaghetti supper fundraiser at our church. It was a lot of work, but we had some really great people helping us. Between ticket sales and donations we raised $1,800. So grateful for our church! They have been so supportive through this whole process.

AS I had mentioned in a previous post, Desiree broke her leg and had rods put in to help it heal. She had the rods removed on August 8th. Everything went well. We were given the rods as a souvenir. She was up walking around in about 3 days. So thankful that we are done with this whole thing.

School has started again. Brandon is in 9th grade. Can't believe my baby is in high school. Desiree is doing great with school. She loves it.

Even though we have MONTHS to wait until Nathaniel comes home, I have been in a nesting mood. I have been wanting to get the house ready for him. So we rearranged Desi's room and set up the crib.

This is Nathaniel's side of the room. We did it in Winnie the Pooh.



And this is Desiree's side. She wanted her side decorated in Princesses because, you know, she IS a princess.

I think I have gotten you up to date on everything here.

Blessings,
Melissa