Harts in Durham

Well, I’ve probably been silent on here long enough. I said in the beginning that I would update on our adoption as things went along. And then I never really did. At first it was because we were worried about putting too much identifying information out there. We wanted to protect us, our adoption, and especially the little girl we are adopting. Things seemed to be going along smoothly and we didn’t want to rock the boat. But, when we set out we said that we wanted to be open and transparent about the ins and outs and ups and downs of adoption. So, even though it’s hard, I want to share what’s going on with us right now.

For the last month and a half we’ve been hearing news of a possible shut-down of intercountry adoption in Uganda. This would mean that it would be nearly impossible for us to continue with our plans to adopt our daughter. This is obviously very hard news for us. What made this news especially alarming is that we are literally just two steps away from completing our adoption. We’re waiting on some paperwork from our little girl’s home village, once that paperwork is submitted, we will be able to apply for a court date…the date that we would travel to Uganda to get legal guardianship of our daughter. When we chose to adopt from Uganda, we went into it with our eyes wide open. Basically, we knew that something like this–or some other situation completely–could happen and we would have to walk away from this adoption. We just weren’t prepared for it to happen so late in the game. When we accepted our referral, and then a private investigation came back quickly and verified the facts we had already been told, we thought we were in the clear.

I don’t know if I can really put into words just how much this has affected us. When it looked like the act that would change the rules for intercountry adoption would certainly pass, I think we reached a real low point. I couldn’t do the simplest things without crying. I had let myself get comfortable enough with the adoption to start imagining incorporating this little girl into our everyday lives. When I was at the grocery store, going to church, going out to dinner, I kept thinking (and sometimes saying), “It will be so awesome to do this with a little one in tow,” or, “Won’t it be so great to introduce our daughter to…(fill in the blank with whatever activity we were doing).” Now I’m trying to let go of those thoughts and I frequently find myself missing and longing for something I never had to begin with. We felt so called to this adoption, to this specific child, why would God allow something like this to happen?

We have spent the last 6 weeks praying fervently for something to happen. For God to move in a miraculous way. One of my very best friends said to me, “Julie, God keeps his promises. God is not done yet.” And for now, I’m choosing to hold onto that.To trust that God can still make a way for us to bring this precious one home, even when it seems like our hope is slipping away. Will you pray with us?

I’ll be back with more when we get some more concrete details. Thank you friends, for loving us, and for caring so much about our little girl already. We’re so grateful for the support we’ve been shown :).