Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

By Wes (May 18, 2007 @ 4:02 am)

Well, it’s been quite a day (and its only 12:55 pm!). Let me fill you in briefly on the morning’s happs. We are so grateful for a number of things:

1. Judge Kubo was a gentle, soft, but firm speaking man. We were not petrified to be in chambers with him (as we were with our judge for our first hearing to get our guardian granted).
2. We got in at 10 a.m. – this was significant since we spent an hour in there. Had we been further down the list it would have been a lot of waiting in a short hallway.There is a limit to how much of that waiting an 18 month old can take.
3. Everyone was present who was required to be there – although, this was where the drama occurred. At 9:45 our lawyer (and us for that matter) had still not seen any sign of Madahana. Upon calling him we discover he’s out of town! our lawyer quickly phoned to the Children’s Dept. and the head supervisor said he’d be there right away. We were all summoned into the chamber, our lawyer requested we wait 5 minutes for Alex and glory be! he showed up in 3. If no one had been present we would have had to take another future date for our hearing. And so we were able to proceed.
4. Jean didn’t have to speak at all! Yeah! Wes did a great job responding to the questions in a calm, non-rambling manner. And after all the positive recommendations from everyone else I guess he didn’t feel the need to hear me yammer on about how much we love/treasure/need/want our Julia.
5. Judge Kubo will give his ruling in 2 weeks – so sweet! Only problem with that is that the 1st of June is a national holiday here and so we won’t get our judgement until 8 June.

The upshot is, it was a very good hearing in our estimation and from what we could tell. This is huge!! This was the most important happenning in the whole process so far, and it went well. High fives all around!

So, what is the next step? Good question. We wait! (surprised?). Until the judge gives his official ruling and files a report that he writes, we can do nothing but wait. After he does this, our lawyer then applies for the adoption certificate, after which we go after the travel papers. After those things are in hand, the Kenyan side of the adoption is complete (and this will be a great great day!). In order to get to Canada for some visiting this summer, we would then have to get a travel visa for Jewel (good for a couple of months, but only takes a couple of days to get).

Anyways, in order to look forward with hope, we can look back to how God has been with us so far, and specifically in today’s answers to our (and your prayers). Thanks for your thoughts and wishes for us.

The Big Day is Here!

By Wes (May 17, 2007 @ 10:22 am)

Well, we are finally, finally, finally, on our way! Yea and verily, the hour has come (okay, not the hour, but very soon) for us to actually go into court and hear our case presented to a judge. YES! There has definately been a waiting period, which we have been in since February, and now it seems we will be able to get some forward motion going (sing the Switchfoot song with me if you know it!). God is awesome, and He has carried us to this point. We leave the rest up to Him as well – He does know all, and we see only a glimmer of the big picture – who are we that we wish things and want things, when it is His hand that moves? We are so thankful that we are at this point. Please continue to pray with us as we go through tomorrow’s process. A few things in particular (if you want to pray specifically):
1. health for us for tomorrow – Jewel has been having some stomach issues this week and today. Jean too is feeling the start of something. It will be a long day, without the comforts of home to rely on…so less issues the better
2. calm hearts and the words to say – We will probably be asked some questions, and so having clear thoughts and the words to express them will be needed.
3. an early hearing – we have no idea when in the day we will be heard. We get there at 9, and then wait until we are called, and it could be 1/2 hour or 4 hours. The earlier the better.
4. a favorable and quick verdict – the judge we have isn’t exactly renowned for quick verdicts (could be weeks down the road). But, things can happen – who’s to know? So, the quicker the better. This judge is said to be ‘in favor of adoptions’ (this is a good thing), and so we are looking forward to a fair and good hearing tomorrow.
There is much more, but, suffice it to say we covet your prayer cover for us tomorrow. Thank you!! We’ll keep you all posted.