4 December 2009--Back to the Court

Since we were not able to meet with the DA yesterday, Lino picked us up again this afternoon to go back to the court.  We got dressed up in nice clean clothes and cute hair-do's to show off our beautiful family to the DA and the people at CEJA.  After waiting for almost an our outside the DA's office, we found out that she was elsewhere and was not going to be able to meet with us.  Normally she likes to meet a family face to face before she signs off on the finalization of an adoption (the judge can't issue the adoption decree without the DA's approval).  This time, since it didn't work out, she agreed to sign off without meeting us.  We went upstairs in the same building to meet someone at CEJA who fought hard for us when before the Judge agreed to grant our petition to adopt our children.  She wasn't in the building either.  So, we said hello to a few people, shook a few hands and headed home.  On the way home, Lino got a phone call saying that the papers were all ready and being signed.  He went back to the court to check everything over with a fine-toothed comb.

Once again, things in this adoption process didn't turn out looking like we thought they would, but the bottom line is...

WE ARE A FOREVER FAMILY!  

The adoption is complete and now we just need to do some leg-work (Lino does the heavy-lifting) to get birth certificates, passports and visas.

Praise God for His Faithfulness!  (Really, just do it.  He's faithful all the time!  Go ahead and praise Him right... now.)

Court Appointment

We were able to meet with the judge today.  However, we were not able to talk with the Promotora (District Attorney) or the people at CEJA since the Promotora was not in the building and it was late in the day by the time we were done meeting with the judge.  We will dress up in our fancy court clothes again tomorrow to finalize the finalization.

The first picture is proof that God can make beauty out of ashes.  The second picture is one we snapped with the judge just before we left.  Goes to show that no matter how much control we think we have over our life, there are always things that our outside of our influence.  Especially when children are involved.

Adoption Finalization--UPDATE

Anyone who has read this blog since close to the beginning knows that its purpose is to document the process of adopting our children so that our children will have a record of the miracles (large and small) that God performed to form our family.  During the time we are traveling in Brazil to complete the adoption process, we are recording the steps (large and small) toward becoming a real live family together both for our children to read in the future and for our friends and family to read in real time.  This post is all update.

We have been scheduled to appear before the judge to finalize the adoption of our four amazing children on December 4.  Turns out that we're actually going to the court tomorrow and we're meeting with a substitute judge (not our favorite vacationing judge who is on vacation again).  We will still have the adoption decree in our hands on December 4 (Friday), but tomorrow at 2:00pm we leave the hotel all dressed in our fancy-best to head to the court.

So, friends, please join us in prayer that it will be a smooth experience and the beginning of a new and permanent life for all of us.  Also, please join us in celebrating the miracle of adoption that we are living today and every day thanks to God's great plan for our family!

Guess who's Almighty?

God is!

He did it!

We'll meet our children next Wednesday!

Praise Him because He is alive and well!

Wednesday, November 4!