We’ve recently added a bunch of new pictures. We just got Andy’s 18 month pictures and they are really cute but there are 190 of them, so we only posted a few.  I’ll try to post some more over the next few days as I have time to look at them some more.  Enjoy!

Well…today we met with a new lawyer for a consult.  She was recommended to us by a District Children’s Officer that had worked with an American couple that we know on their adoption from the Sally Test Center.  Mrs. Odede was very nice and had a lot of information.  She also knows the two women that we are working with at Little Angels and called both of them while we were in her office and she is going to see the DCO that we are working with this afternoon.  Also, she will be in Nairobi later this week and is going to take Susan (from Little Angels) to meet with the National District Children’s Officer in Nairobi who has to give us her final blessing before we can wrap things up with Eden.  She was quite surprised with all that we have done so far and was very impressed with our guardianship/custody and exemption orders.

Little Angels had asked that we update our home study from the US which was completed in 2009.  It’s not possible to do that while we are here and Little Angels is concerned that we won’t be given the go-ahead on Eden without the proper paperwork.  So, Mrs. Odede has recommended that we look in to getting another travel order for Eden (an extended one that lasts even until she turns 18) and then try to get a visitors visa with multiple entries to the US.  This would allow us to come home for the birth of Grace and stay until Grace is over 1.  While in the US, Mrs. Odede said that we can continue with the adoption process, getting our paperwork submitted with Little Angels and waiting for them to grant us permission to adopt Eden.  Then when we return we would have 3 months or less of wait time for the court proceedings to take place and then Eden would be officially ours.

There are several benefits to this plan.  One being that we could all be home together for Grace’s birth.  Another being that we could possibly get a custody/guardianship order from the high courts now and in two years (around the time the adoption is finalized), we would be able to get her I-130 visa since this is a hang-up with the USCIS office.  Finally, it would give us the best chance of being able to finalize Eden’s adoption without spending an extended amount of time in Kenya.

There are also some drawbacks.  This of course drags out the adoption process which we are eager to finish.  We don’t know that we would be able to get this visa for Eden to come back to the US.  And we would probably be gone for several months in the fall of 2013 which would be the beginning of Eden’s second year of preschool and Andy’s first year.  I hate the thought of disrupting their schooling, but I think I could home school them for one semester without them losing too much and they could start back in January.

Anyway, it’s a lot to think about and, as always, hinges on a lot of things going our way.  We need to get with our lawyer, Were, and come up with a plan.  Thankfully we have great prayer warriors out there and we know that God has brought us through so many obstacles unscathed already that we are up for whatever comes next.

On a side note, August was a rough month for us.  I told Ben I felt like it was our ‘hump month’.  We made it through August and I personally feel much better about things.  I can make it until October, and maybe even December if I have to!

Yesterday while I was eating my breakfast, Eden turned to me and said, “Mommy, I’m not an angel.”  Thinking that someone had said this to her regarding bad behavior, I asked who told her this.  She then informed me that God told her.  While she was riding her bike He told her that the angels are SO busy and that they are always praising the Lord.

It was a very enlightening discussion; I can’t believe how grown up she is!  I can’t think of any other explanation for her newly acquired knowledge as we have never discussed angels before and I can’t think of any movies or songs we’ve listened to recently that might have brought this on.  I’m so thankful that she shares these things with me and for her sweet heart.  I also think that I will encourage a lot more bike riding from now on!

Caroline from Little Angels came to our house today for a home visit.  She arrived around 10:30 and went over all of our paperwork and watched the kids play for a bit.  Then we answered a lot of questions for our joint interview, had lunch, and then each did an individual interview and concluded with a quick tour of the house.  It went well and she seemed happy with the information we gave her.

As always there was a mix of good news and bad news.  She is going to try to complete her report quickly so that the committee can review (and hopefully approve) Eden’s adoption this month as they only meet twice a month.  She was not able to get the district children’s officer to write a letter, but she was able to experience some of the frustration that we have had with them and said she would include their lack of help in her report.

We have a few things to gather for her which we will hopefully be able to do this weekend or Monday and then she can proceed.  Overall, we felt very good about her visit and really appreciated her time and help as well as the information that she gave us.

On Wednesday we are traveling to Nairobi for the day to meet with someone at the embassy regarding Eden’s visa.  We are anxious about this meeting and hope that they are able to answer our questions and give us good news.  It all hangs on whether our guardianship order from 2009 gives us legal and physical custody and whether the courts had the right to give us guardianship.  I’m not exactly sure how we prove those things, but hopefully it will be clear to the embassy that everything has been done properly.  If they determine that everything is fine we can apply for her visa in October.  If they think that things are not correct, the 24 month waiting period would begin when the adoption is complete.

Please pray for safe travels for Ben and me, that the kids will do well without us for the day and that the embassy will grant Eden an immigrant visa in October!

Our lawyer met with the district children’s officer today to discuss our case. Diana had reviewed our file over the weekend and wanted to talk about some things with Were. They met this morning and she told him she has no objection to us being granted the exemption! She will go to court with us on the 25th in case the magistrate has any questions.

After we get the paperwork finalized for the exemption on the 25th we can apply for the adoption! We are so thankful that God has worked everything out so perfectly and with such speed!  Thanks for all of your prayers!