A helper for us…

The day after we met we had the chance to meet with the family from the States currently in the adoption process here in Kenya we had a chance to meet with the woman who will be our representative while we are here in Kenya. Our agency in the States, Carolina Adoption Services, has a representative here in Kenya and this was the woman we had the chance to get to know and have her hear our story. She is a great woman. She is Kenyan, an adoptive mother herself, and she loves the Lord.

Our meeting began with her not being too excited about the fact that S is pregnant. She seemed quite concerned and not “for” us proceeding at the moment. This was a bit nerve racking as she has the power to have us not continue from where we are at. She was willing to hear us out and by the end of our time together she was ok with us moving forward now. It was a big relief due to the fact that it didn’t start out too well. She told us we would have to adopt a child that is between one and two years old, which we already knew, and said she would be looking forward to seeing our paperwork come across her desk. We left our time with her feeling it was very good that we had the opportunity to tell our story and explain our situation in person.

Please pray for her as she works very hard for the children of Kenya and guides us through this very tricky adventure.

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Diesel fumes, humidity, sweat…

M and her beautiful daughter, Josie

You know you are here when this blend of odors hits you as you step off the plane. This is Africa. It’s the kind of scent that brings back memories immediately…you kind of like it, but wouldn’t want to be smelling like this yourself. We have arrived.

The first full day we were here, Sunday, May 5th, we had a chance to get together with another family from the States that is in the adoption process. They have been in Kenya since the end of December. Right now there are only two families actually in Kenya that come from a situation similar to ours, American’s adopting a Kenyan child and bringing them back to the U.S. We have gotten to know them over email and were very excited to meet them in person, to meet their sweet little baby girl Josie, and to hear about how the process is going for them.

As expected, their time in Kenya has been frustrating. They came to Kenya to adopt a baby girl that they had met and fell in love when they were in Kenya last summer. Under the new Kenyan adoption laws, you are no longer allowed to select the child you wish to adopt. They struggled with the Powers That Be for about three months fighting to adopt this child that they came for, but in the end they were not allowed to bring her home. Heartbroken, they sought God and His leading in their lives. During this time God led them to Josie. They knew that she was to be their baby girl. They are now almost done with the three month foster care process with her and will soon begin the court process to finalize the adoption. She is a cutie. Kait had so much fun playing with her.

While we were with them we also met another woman who was able to adopt a girl four years ago. Kait and Mary had great time playing tag and hide-and-go-seek.

It was so encouraging to see people having success in adoption. We often hear discouraging news, and it was great to see kids with their families. We are looking forward to what God has for us in our adoption story.

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Two down…one to go…

We have heard from our social worker here in the U.S. and from the adoption agency in Kenya. They have both said yes. We are still waiting to hear from the Kenyan Adoption Committee to approve us to continue. Our agency in N. Carolina feels comfortable with us moving along in the process, and our adoption is officially back under way. God is SO good!

We leave for Kenya in three days. We are looking forward to connecting with people about adoption while we are there.

Please pray that everything will continue to proceed smoothly and quickly. Also, please pray for S and the baby. S is unable to take anti-malaria medicine because of where she is in the pregnancy. We have done much research and have spoken to many people to get advice about this. We have taken and will take all precautions possible, but please pray that the mosquitos stay away!

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