Hi Everyone,
I wanted to give everyone an update on our adoption process...I know it has been awhile.
Since our last writing, which is when we had just gotten back from our court trip and meeting our son, we have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Waiting to hear that we had the court decree. We were greatly anticipating getting it within a week or so of our court date, however that didn't happen. It was December 11, 2012, five weeks from court that we received that court decree. We were happy that we finally received it and that we could move forward, but were then praying that the rest of our process would go smoother and quick.
At the point of receiving the court decree, our agency could then begin to gather the several documents needed in order to submit our case to the US Embassy. The first of which was our little guy's birth certificate...which ended up taking a whole other month to receive due to a delay with getting a MOWA letter that was needed in order to get the birth certificate. So I'll calculate that for you...that puts us at January 18, 2013 when we FINALLY got that. So as you can imagine, not as smooth as we had hoped, for sure.
Moving on to the passport, we received that in a few short weeks on February 5, 2013.
Then we received the medical report (that required passport be in hand) from the his medical exam on February 11, 2013.
It has now been 14 weeks since we last saw those big, beautiful, brown eyes, held our little boy, his little hand wrapped around our fingers. This has been SO hard, and oh how we miss him so.
This has been a tough last few weeks. Amongst all of this going on with the adoption, my grandmother became suddenly ill, and on February 3rd she went to see her Lord and Savior. The loss of her has been devastating to me and my family. We have peace in knowing that she is now celebrating with Jesus, no more suffering, no more pain! But...it's hard not to feel that hole in your heart...that a piece of your life is gone.
Needless to say, the Lugo's have been in a valley of discouragement for some time. Not understanding why our adoption process has been delayed in some areas (though I must say... I know we're waiting a lot shorter time frame than many adopting families--so please do not take offense to that. We most definitely feel what those of you who have and are waiting feel). It's hard not to get discouraged when something isn't happening when you want it to. It's been so hard to comprehend why God would allow my grandmother to join Glory before getting to meet her new great-grandson. But also praying in her last days, that He would bring her home because seeing her suffer was too much.
But in all of this, we have learned that God has His timing, and it's always perfect. It doesn't mean I have to understand it...but I have to accept it. Even though I hate that my sweet grandmother will never get to hold him...He is faithful to bring us through. I think that He knew our family would need something really special, something that we've been waiting for, our little boy...to help us heal from the loss of my grandmother. God knows exactly what we need at exactly the right time.
The encouragement we needed came today...we got word that we have been submitted to the US Embassy, February 13, 2013!!!!! They have already screened our file as well, so the investigation of our case can begin.
We want to thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts. Please pray along with us that the Embassy investigation would go speedily and that we get "cleared" very soon. We hope to be traveling by the end of the month to pick up our little boy, who we've been longing to bring home and become a family of 5!
I wanted to give everyone an update on our adoption process...I know it has been awhile.
Since our last writing, which is when we had just gotten back from our court trip and meeting our son, we have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Waiting to hear that we had the court decree. We were greatly anticipating getting it within a week or so of our court date, however that didn't happen. It was December 11, 2012, five weeks from court that we received that court decree. We were happy that we finally received it and that we could move forward, but were then praying that the rest of our process would go smoother and quick.
At the point of receiving the court decree, our agency could then begin to gather the several documents needed in order to submit our case to the US Embassy. The first of which was our little guy's birth certificate...which ended up taking a whole other month to receive due to a delay with getting a MOWA letter that was needed in order to get the birth certificate. So I'll calculate that for you...that puts us at January 18, 2013 when we FINALLY got that. So as you can imagine, not as smooth as we had hoped, for sure.
Moving on to the passport, we received that in a few short weeks on February 5, 2013.
Then we received the medical report (that required passport be in hand) from the his medical exam on February 11, 2013.
It has now been 14 weeks since we last saw those big, beautiful, brown eyes, held our little boy, his little hand wrapped around our fingers. This has been SO hard, and oh how we miss him so.
This has been a tough last few weeks. Amongst all of this going on with the adoption, my grandmother became suddenly ill, and on February 3rd she went to see her Lord and Savior. The loss of her has been devastating to me and my family. We have peace in knowing that she is now celebrating with Jesus, no more suffering, no more pain! But...it's hard not to feel that hole in your heart...that a piece of your life is gone.
Needless to say, the Lugo's have been in a valley of discouragement for some time. Not understanding why our adoption process has been delayed in some areas (though I must say... I know we're waiting a lot shorter time frame than many adopting families--so please do not take offense to that. We most definitely feel what those of you who have and are waiting feel). It's hard not to get discouraged when something isn't happening when you want it to. It's been so hard to comprehend why God would allow my grandmother to join Glory before getting to meet her new great-grandson. But also praying in her last days, that He would bring her home because seeing her suffer was too much.
But in all of this, we have learned that God has His timing, and it's always perfect. It doesn't mean I have to understand it...but I have to accept it. Even though I hate that my sweet grandmother will never get to hold him...He is faithful to bring us through. I think that He knew our family would need something really special, something that we've been waiting for, our little boy...to help us heal from the loss of my grandmother. God knows exactly what we need at exactly the right time.
The encouragement we needed came today...we got word that we have been submitted to the US Embassy, February 13, 2013!!!!! They have already screened our file as well, so the investigation of our case can begin.
We want to thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts. Please pray along with us that the Embassy investigation would go speedily and that we get "cleared" very soon. We hope to be traveling by the end of the month to pick up our little boy, who we've been longing to bring home and become a family of 5!
