The Road is Getting Bumpy

Well, I said it would be a bumpy ride as we continued on our journey to adopt Olivia and I wasn't kidding. Today we had a conference call for updates from our adoption agency. They do this about once a month to keep everyone informed. Bill is out of town so I needed to be home in time to join the call. Unfortunately work was crazy so I lost track of time and didn't leave the office early enough to make it home before the call started. I missed the first 15 minutes which discussed the Hague and the delays in the process. Oh, well I'll have to catch up on that when the transcript comes out.

I was lucky enough (if you can call it lucky) to join the call just as they were telling everyone that they were "STOPPING ALL VISIT TRIPS TO GUATEMALA". I can't believe my ears, WE CAN"T VISIT OLIVIA. Talk about disappointment!!!! We were hoping to visit her this summer now we have to wait until the adoption is final to be with her. I can't tell you how saddened we are that we will not be able to see and touch and kiss and care for her until the adoption is final.......who knows when that will be.

We understand that it is in all of our best interest but it is still hard to accept. We were told that the reason for this is because a Foster Mother and Gladney staff person were bringing a baby to the adoptive family, who was waiting in the lobby of the hotel, when the police approached the Gladney staff person and accused her of selling babies. Luckily this was a pick up trip not a visit trip so they had all the final adoption paperwork in hand to show that this was a legal adoption. They were left alone once they proved the adoption was legit. To be safe our agency does not want anyone to visit because of situations like this. When you visit the adoption is not final and there is nothing proving the legality of the pending adoption and the child could be taken into police custody and turned over to an orphanage and that would be the end of your adoption.

We definitely want her home with us so we will of course do whatever it takes to make that happen, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.

The agency did say that they would try and get videos of the children to send to us with our updates. That will give us a better glimpse into their development. Hopefully that is something that they will do sooner rather than later.

In the meantime we continue to wait and pray that everything will go smoothly and quicker than predicted. Hopefully tomorrow I will have updated pictures.

Along with prayers about the process, I also pray that God helps me to have patience and tolerance as we continue toward bringing Olivia home. I must remind myself constantly that God is in control and has planned the exact time for Olivia to be united with us forever.

In the grand scheme of things not being able to visit only affects our hearts not our adoption, so I guess it's not the end of the world.