Catching Up . . .

I can't believe that it's been 2 months since I last updated our blog . . . so much has happened!! I'm not even sure where to start, but from the beginning makes the most sense, I guess!

Let's see - we finished up our home study interviews & house visit and received the final "approved to adopt" home study in late November. Right in time for me to travel back to Jamaica with our church team during the first week of December.

Just a couple of weeks prior to traveling to Jamaica, I called the Jamaica CDA worker that we had been working with to let her know that I was coming to bring my home study report and final documents. I was promptly informed that she had retired and no one knew where our file was!! Oh boy, that was not a fun (or "in faith") moment for me. In fact to be completely transparent, it led to a major panic attack!

Just days before leaving for Jamaica, I was able to get in touch with a CDA worker who found our file. She stated that we were missing several documents from our file and that I would need to bring them with me. These were documents that we had already submitted and for which I only had copies and couldn't get originals before I needed to travel.  I asked, begged her to please double check and get back to me. Right in line with how things were going with the CDA, I didn't hear back from her. And when I called two days before I left for Jamaica, I was told that she was out for the rest of the week and no one else could access my file. ARRGGHH!!

Fil wasn't able to go to Jamaica, so I went with 3 other people as part of our church's missions team.  We were a small, but mighty group. After a long flight to the island, I was met at the airport by the biggest smile on all the island! Our son-to-be had ridden down the mountain to meet me at the airport. What a wonderful "welcome back"!! It was so hard to "play it cool" and not just wrap him up in a big momma bear hug.  Oh, I couldn't wait to tell him the good news!!

Fast forward to my trip to CDA - all the paperwork that I was told was missing, was actually there! Our home study was the only document left to submit and that was turned in during my visit. WHOO!! HOOO!! We are all done with everything that is within our control to do on the Jamaica side of the adoption

This is what was waiting for me atop the mountain when we returned from CDA. I think it was God's way of reminding me that He is faithful to fulfill His promises:

Mid-week, my son-to-be and I SKYPE'd Fil to chat with him. But really it was all a plan for Fil and I to tell, ask him if he would allow us to be his parents. What a precious moment that was. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my heart when he said yes!! Fil then asked him what he wanted us to call him. After a long, excrutiating 6 minutes (well maybe it was only like 36 seconds), he told us he wanted us to call him son!! In that instant it was like all the space and time that had separated us since his birth melted away and he was mine, ALL MINE! Despite what the courts, public records, or any legal document might say. He was my son, fully in my heart.

The sunset the night we became a family of 5 in my heart:

The morning after we asked Keddar to join our family. He told all the boys in his home that he was being adopted and that I was his new mommy! He then went to school and told his teacher that he had a new name: Kedar Graham. Check out the name on his spelling test!

The hardest thing was leaving my son on that last day. It felt so guilty - like I was abandoning him. It was one of the most difficult "good byes" of my life. He kept asking me when I would be back and when he could come home. It was so hard to only be able to say "I don't know. As soon as I can."  The CDA says it could be anywhere from 3 - 6 months!! Actually they said it would be a "couple of months", but when I asked if that meant February, I was told "NO! Not the American kind of 'couple'. It could be 3 - 6 months."

When I got back from Jamaica, we sent off our paperwork to US Immigration (Homeland Security) so that we can get our federal fingerprint clearance.

So, now we must wait and pray. We have done all that we can do to get him home to us. The rest is up to God and His perfect will and timing.  In the meantime we are preparing our hearts and our home.  We are also raising the last monies needed so we can finalize the adoption here in the states.

Thank you for your continued prayers and  . . . if you haven't already donated to our Piece of the Puzzle fundraiser, please prayerfully consider doing so!

God bless