Journey of Faith:Our Little Guy From China

Throughout this past year that we have been waiting in our journey to adopt from Nepal, I have been reading a lot about Nepal and adoption in general. Prior to choosing Nepal as the country our child was born in, I knew nothing of beautiful Nepal. I am not even sure I could have told you a year ago that Mount Everest was in Nepal. I am embarrassed to say that, but it is true.
I am now amazed at how this country has grown in my heart. Not just because I know it is the birth country of my son, but because it is truly a grand country. The rich culture, beautiful landscapes, and the meaning of family and friends to the Nepali people is why I have grown to love it so much.
I cannot say that I would have thought about Nepal if it had not been for this journey. I know that God has a perfect plan and his plan for us was to adopt from Nepal and to be connected with this country. Now I blog to tell all I can about this country and the need for adoption!
I cannot wait to meet my son! This will be the most special and blessed day of our lives. I also cannot wait to see what the future holds. My hope is that my family can travel to Nepal with us at least once when we bring our son back to visit his birth country. A LOT of things go through a person’s mind when waiting in the adoption process...

Last week was a rough week. I could not wait for the weekend. Then the weekend came. I payed bills and put together a kind of budget to see where and when we would have the rest of the money for the adoption. For some reason I have been paying way too much attention to money and I have been getting stressed about it. I just want to have our next payments ready and in the bank. Once we get a referral we have to have $9700 and the post placement fee of $2400. It doesn't help that our cat Romeo had to go in for emergency services last weekend. I wouldn't have had it any other way but to take Romeo in but gosh, I had no idea how my mood would be affected when I saw our savings account.
We went to church this morning and it is exactly what I needed. The memory verse for this week is Luke 12:31--"He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."
This has been quite an issue for me for many years as I have let my thoughts be consumed by this adoption. I do know that he will provide. He always has and always will. I need to refocus my attention to reaching people for Christ!

Nepal Tidbits:
Nepal's population is 29.5 million
Kathmandu's population is 1 million
UN Human Development Index: 142 out of 177 countries
Life expectancy: 62 years
Nepalis who live on less than US$2 per day:82%

Last week there was no news coming out of Nepal. Will there be some news this week?

I thought the last day of Tihar was October 19th, then I read on the web that some were saying it was October 20th. I figured the source I took it from was wrong until I saw on Nepalnews.com(written on Tuesday, October 20th) that…

“The people of Newar community are celebrating Bhai Tika, the main and final day of Tihar, on Tuesday. The other Nepalis, however, celebrated the same occasion on Monday.
As the Newar community observed ‘Mha Puja (worshipping one’s own body) yesterday, they are celebrating Bhai Tika today.
This is the first time that the final day of Tihar, Bhai Tika is being observed on two days.” Nepalnews.com

This might explain why I couldn’t find a definitive answer on the web.

Well either way, the festival is over and there is no word of anything, not a peep, nothing...waiting...

This just in from the PEAR (Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform):

US Embassy in Kathmandu Not Conducting Preinvestigations

On September 29, 2009, the DOS issued an Adoption Notice for Nepal that contained the following statement:
"As part of required processing for orphan adoption cases, the Embassy conducts a thorough investigation of each case. Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the investigation process may take several months, which could mean that prospective adoptive parents who travel to Nepal before the investigation is completed will need to spend a significant amount of time in country."
Some US adoption agencies and prospective adoptive parents interpreted this statement to mean that the Embassy would be conducting pre-investigations and completing the investigation prior to the family traveling to Nepal. PEAR contacted both the US Department of State, Office of Children's Issues and US Embassy in Nepal for clarification on the statement. According to both the Office of Children's Issues at the Department of State and the Adoption Unit at the US Embassy in Nepal, visa investigations commence after the final adoption decree and no pre-investigations are occurring at this time.
PEAR has been in continued discussions with the DOS to change the Adoption Notice to correctly reflect the process in order to avoid confusion and misinterpretation. At this point, the DOS and US Embassy are consulting on the proper wording for the Notice.We will update with any further information as we receive it.

I am a little bummed by this news. I just pray that when our time comes to travel that the investigation for our child goes smoothly and there are no issues to be found. I wish we could travel after the investigation is over but it sounds like that will not be the cast. It is not that I would not like to spend more time in the country of my son's birth, but Tim will need to get back to work right away. The 2-3 weeks is going to be tough enough on his job so we hope that this is all the time we will need to be in country at this time.

So I last posted that the two weeks of Dashain were the longest two weeks of our wait so far. What I was not aware of when I said that was that many Nepali people take off the time between the Dashain festival and the Tihar festival. They spend time with family and friends--how awesome. But now I can say that the last month has been the longest wait.

It sounds like the Tihar festival will go through October 19th and then the Ministry of Women and Children and Social Welfare should be back to working on adoption processing. I really do hope that we will hear lots of news in the next few weeks! I believe that there are matches made and waiting to be sent but we will see in the next couple of weeks if more PAPs (prospective adoptive parents) get referrals. I would guess that we will start hearing about travel approvals for those that have recently received referrals too.

Over the weekend I went to my cousins wedding reception in Zimmerman. There were a lot of kids there. As I spoke to people and watched the kids run around I couldn't help but think how I wished my son were here, he would have had a lot of fun. I thought that same thing when we went to an apple orchard a few weeks back. I think of him always. I pray that he is safe and that he would have peace to know that Mommy and Daddy will be coming to meet and bring him home soon.

The weather has gotten cold here in Minnesota this week. Over the weekend we saw our first snow fall (the photo below is what we saw at home over the weekend--this was way too early). Then on Monday we had at least an inch that stuck around for a few days. I need to get a lot done before our actual winter starts. I hope we get some decent weather so we can finish up our fall chores. Then we can settle in for the winter, maybe work on finishing another room in the basement and pray that we get a referral. I have been sick for two and a half weeks so far. I hope to get over this soon, however my symptoms have worsened and now I have more of them. I am so sick of my bed! So far I have been out of work for three days due to my illness. I hate that. I hope to get back on my feet this weekend. I have been able to read my Nepal books though!

Nothing to report on the adoption front but will keep you all posted when we hear more news!

These were the longest two weeks we have had during our wait so far. We love that Nepal has these festivals and we find the want to learn more about them is even greater when they are actually happening real time. But I cannot lie, for one waiting in this adoption process, it was hard. I think it was hard to wait because there was so much movement just prior to the festival and then all of the sudden nothing. We are very grateful that the program is moving.

The weekend was good. I went to my Mom and Dad's for most of the day on Saturday and spent the day with my family helping my Mom and Dad take down some trees. Tim was on a 4-wheeling trip for the weekend. My Mom and Dad gave me a bunch of gifts for my birthday already and two of them are books from Nepal (thank you Mom and Dad!). One is the newest Lonely Planet Nepal book and the other is a Nepali phrase book. I love reading these. It makes me feel closer to Nepal and my child. I love being with my family and if we are doing something to help them I love it even more.

So now it is Sunday night and I am thinking about work. I am also wondering what will take place this week in the Nepal adoption world. I will be taking Tuesday off to wait with my Dad while my Mom has a surgery. Then the rest of the week will be full of projects at work that I NEED to get done.

Dashain bids adieu, people back to work

Last Updated : 2009-10-03 2:15 PM
The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)

Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU: Hindus observed Kojagrat Purnima - the last day of their greatest festival of Dashain today. With this, the festival, which began two weeks ago on the Ghatasthapana day, is over. During the fifteen days of celebration the Goddess Durga in all her manifestations are worshiped with pujas, abundant offerings and sacrifices of thousands of animals.On the last day, it’s believed that the Hindu goddess of wealth Laxmi bestows one with wealth if found anyone awake till late into the night.According to Hindu mythology, the festival commemorates a victory of the gods over the wicked demons. The main celebration glorifies the triumph of good over evil and is symbolised by Goddess Durga slaying the terrible demon Mahisasur, who terrorised the earth denizens in the guise of a brutal water buffalo. The first nine days of Dashain signify the nine days of ferrous battle between goddess Durga and the demon Mahisasur. The tenth day, Dashain, is the day when Mahisasur was slain and the last five days symbolise the celebration of the victory with the blessing of the goddess. Another story related to the festival is the Ramayan, where Lord Ram slaughtered Ravana, the monstrous king of demons. It is said that Ram was successful in the battle only when goddess Durga was evoked. After receiving the blessing of Goddess Durga, people are ready to work and acquire virtue, power and wealth.

Adoption Notice

http://adoption. state.gov/ news/nepal. html

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular AffairsOffice of Children’s Issues

September 29, 2009
On January 1, 2009, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) announced procedures for processing adoptions pursuant to the Government of Nepal’s (GON) new “Terms and Conditions” for adoptions. The initial announcement stated that only 10 applications will be processed from each Embassy, Mission, or approved Agency in 2009. The GON provided copies of the new requirements, to all approved agencies. According to Nepali officials, the new requirements apply to all intercountry adoptions. There is NO provision to permit prospective adoptive families who had already begun an adoption to be “grandfathered” under the previous Nepali regulation. All but one of the prospective adoptive parents matched with children under the previous system relinquished the match so the children could be available for adoption under Nepal’s new Terms and Conditions. Some of these children have since been matched with new prospective adoptive parents.On September 2, 2009, the Nepali Prime Minister appointed a new minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare. This minister has authority to sign final adoption decrees. Since then, under its new “Terms and Conditions,” the GON has granted adoptions to U.S. families in four cases. As a result, these families have now approached the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu to complete their processing under U.S. law. The GON has also indicated that they will likely process several more adoption cases for U.S. families in October and that approximately two dozen additional case referrals have been sent to U.S. families. The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to meet with GON officials and is working with the Office of Children’s Issues to provide timely public updates. As part of required processing for orphan adoption cases, the Embassy conducts a thorough investigation of each case. Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the investigation process may take several months, which could mean that prospective adoptive parents who travel to Nepal before the investigation is completed will need to spend a significant amount of time in country.