Adoption: The Latest

Honestly, not even sure how to explain our day on Friday to those who don't live here.  I am sure you are getting a glimpse of how things in this country are run after following this adoption journey.  I think I have lost count of how many times we have been told that we would know on this date or that date...Friday was definitely the worst kick in the gut for us.  This time frame that we were promised, this date that we had set in our hearts and minds apparently didn't matter to social welfare at all.  We went to Lusaka and went directly to find our social worker, who again was not answering her phone, and found out she would be gone all day for a funeral.  After finding that out, I decided I would try and go meet the director, even though technically we were supposed to wait to hear from her.  We head to her office building and I go in.  As I am knocking on her door and not getting any answer, I ask a man walking by, "Is she in today?" Response I get, "she is out of the country".  

Excuse me???  

As the reality set in, knowing that we were going to have to wait yet again, I felt pretty defeated.  I couldn't help but think that she will just keep doing this over and over, and that we would NEVER get an answer.  So, I decided to try and do something about it.  No more of this waiting/stalling game.  I asked the man if there was someone else that I could meet with who might know of how the search for other applicants was going.  He directed me to a nearby office.  Of course, when I went there, she was at lunch so more waiting. Ha!  That's all I can do is laugh sometimes.  But after a quick grocery run for us in the waiting, we headed back so I could meet with her.  
Once again, I wasn't expecting what happened.   I shared our story with the lady, and the "interrogation" started.  It was all very similar to what happened when Mickey met with the director 3 weeks ago.  She stated that they needed to find someone who could give these two boys 100 percent attention, and there is concern about us having two kids of our own.  I tried my best to explain that we would not even consider adopting if we didn't think we could love these two boys as our own and give them everything we have just like we do for our bio kids.  I told her that God calls us all to care for orphans and that when something is from God, everything is possible.  We know God will fill our hearts with love for these boys...He has already shown us glimpses of that.  Next, she asked whether or not we had kids "that side", meaning America, to adopt.  She felt like it would be too difficult to mix cultures.  Again, I explained to her that God says in His word to care for orphans and He doesn't specify a specific country or only the ones in your culture.  We have actually been asked this before, and honestly, we just don't get it.  All that should matter is that a child who didn't have a family or perhaps was mistreated by family, is now in a loving home.  Case closed.  I also explained how my husband has been involved in Zambia for some time and that we will continue to have great involvement in this country.  We specifically chose Zambia because of this so that our adopted children would never forget where they came from and that they would have a daddy who was trying to help people there.  Lastly, she once again stated that we shouldn't have visited orphanages, because now the kids are sad and we are sad, and that wouldn't have happened if we would have waited for them to call us.  Excuse me while I chuckle.  First, I wanted to let her know that there was an easy solution for that, just let us have them. :)  But of course, I apologized for not having followed any procedure. I explained that we did everything with a social worker, so we didn't know that we were doing anything wrong.  
Of course, there was a lot more to the conversation.  I felt very on the spot, but also felt like God supplied with all the best answers.  To end the conversation, she basically just said, we would have to wait until Monday when the director would return.

This brings us all to today.  We called our social worker this morning and she actually answered her phone!!! Hallelujah!  This is a major feat here.  She informed us she needed the official birth records and to meet her downtown so we could meet with the director.  She explained she would inform her that the search for other families came up empty and show her the birth records so she would see that our bio kids and J/E are not the same exact age.  We were so excited.  We got dressed up and packed up for town.  The birth records were with the dad's sister, so we grabbed those, and headed to our social workers office.  She tells us the meeting won't happen until after lunch, so just hang out.  But of course, after all day of waiting in Lusaka, she tried to meet with the director but she wasn't around.  

Now, we are told, it is all supposed to go down tomorrow morning.  You can imagine how skeptical Mickey and I are, but we are hopeful.  If it is a yes from the director, we can go pick up the boys  Wouldn't that just be glorious???  On the flip side, the director could say that even though there aren't any current families for J and E, that she still doesn't find it in the best interest for the boys to come with us.  

So, we are asking for your prayers again.  We know you all want an answer just about as bad as we do. :-)  And we pray we will have one tomorrow!  

Finally, as I got home this evening from another long day in Lusaka, I turned on some worship music.  There is nothing like turning up some tunes and worshipping my Savior that gets my heart turned around.  This song was the first to come on and I feel like it could be the anthem for this whole adoption process.  Click on the link below if you want! 

We Won't Be Shaken by Building 429. 

Hopefully this will be our reality soon!