What's in a Year?

So I really meant to write this post a couple weeks ago.

But it didn't happen.

I don't know why it's taken me a while to sit down and type it out...

I think it's because I want to make sure I'm not creating a "woe is me" type of blog.

We need and appreciate prayer for our son in Congo.  And we also need it for us.  But we aren't looking for sympathy or others to feel bad for us...there are MANY other adoptive families that are going through far worse situations that we are.

Anyway.

All that to say, October 15th marked one year of knowing who our son is.  

It's been one year since we've seen Tobi's face, given him a name, and known he was ours.

To be honest, it stung a little.

A year ago, we really thought we'd have Tobias home by now.

Chris and I stopped and looked at our kids at home...and saw how drastically they've changed...in one year.

In one year I've gone from being pregnant to laughing at a giggly little 7 month old.

We've gone from changing Noelle's diapers to helping her with her big girl panties.

We've gone from helping Joy write letters and numbers to watching her learn how to spell before our very eyes.

Before we had kids, it was hard to gauge what had changed in a twelve month period.  But now, our kids give us constant milestones to look back on and remember what has transpired.

Our kids are growing up.

Three of them are growing up right in front of us.

And one of them is growing up far far away.

Only The Lord knows how much we've missed.

HOWEVER, we see how much grace God has extended to us.

The reports that we've heard about Tobias and his character are so encouraging.  He is a sweet boy.  And he is being cared for by precious brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yes.  He needs to be home.

But we take great comfort in the fact that he has such wonderful examples to look up to until he can look up to us.

So along with this one year anniversary, we've also received some adoption related news.

As I wrote about in this post, Congo has ceased issuing the exit letters to adopted children.  That means kids that are already adopted won't be able to leave the country with their parents until this ban is lifted.  And although the ban is still in place, Congo is slowly allowing children that meet specific requirements exit.

This give us hope that by the time we are at the stage where we apply for that exit letter, maybe things will be back to running as they should be.

And remember the investigation I wrote about in this post and this post?

WELL, it looks like it's finally going to happen!

The Embassy is scheduled to start our investigation on November 18th!!!

This is great news.  It means progress.

Shortly after this, we are told Tobi will finally be moving to Kinshasa to start his Passport and Visa applications also.

AND in other news, we got word that they might know who Tobias's birth mother is.  When I wrote about how Tobias became an orphan in this post, we didn't know who his parents were.

But it looks like they've found her.

This is actually a good thing.  As long as she isn't trying to take him back (which I think is probably rare), it could actually expedite our investigation.

It means they get information about Tobi's abandonment from the source and don't have to do as much "investigating" is what I've been hearing from other adoptive parents.

So that's good news...unexpected news...kind of a shock to us, but it's good.

I pray that this will be an opening to learn more about him so that we will be able to tell him more of his beginnings as he gets older and is curious about it.

So continue to pray for this time.

*For the investigation and interview with Tobi's birth mother to go smoothly and swiftly.

*For Tobi's move to Kinshasa to be a peaceful one for him.

*For his passport and visa process to be expedited.

*For this ban on exit letters to be lifted so that we can finally get our son and bring him home as quickly as possible.

And a bunch of other stuff too, but I'll leave it at that :)