The last few months we have experienced a lot of waiting. The court process was no joke! We had 11 court hearings before becoming legal parents to our son. The waiting for and in between each hearing was so tough. But we finally passed court February the 19th and our son officially became a Smith! Yay!
So now what…...?
Right after we passed court with a verbal court order we had to wait on the official “written” court order. We received the written court order on March 5th! This document was given to our Son’s orphanage where they will now apply for his passport and birth certificate. Because the written court order was not in English we had to get it translated into English over the weekend and are hoping to apply for our travel visas this week! Borders are still closed for international travel to India with adoptions being an exception! India is allowing adoptive parents to get emergency visas so that they can get their children! Huge Praise! So thankful to the Lord for making a way for us to go get our son in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
These 4 documents are what we have to have next in order to book flights!
1. Emergency Visas
2. His passport
3. His birth certificate
4. Article 23
Will you pray with us that these 4 things come quickly and that we don’t run into any issues such as typos? This battle is not just physical, mental, emotional, but so much spiritual. Satan does not want children in families. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
Prayer is powerful!
Once we have these 4 things, we are ready to book our flights and go get our son! As far as the timeline goes on how long this takes…...that is a great question! Ha-ha! The timelines vary and there isn’t really a clear answer to that. We could potentially be in India as soon as a month from now or it could still take several months (praying that isn’t the case.) Nevertheless, we have started packing some because there is so much that we have to take with us! It is so exciting!
Thankful for all of the prayer, encouragement and support that we have received from so many of you. I know we say this every time but without so many of you praying for us, supporting us and cheering us on, this journey would be so much harder.