We have NOC!!!!!!!!!!

10 weeks and 3 days...we finally have our No Objection Certificate!!! Our baby girl is officially ours!! Now we just need the judge to pass it and sign it and get her passport so we can bring her home!! Please pray all of that goes quickly and smoothly!

 

Britt and I have really been struggling the past 2 weeks in this wait for NOC. Our faith has definitely been tested. I think God let us get to a low point to #1 fully rely on Him and #2 to practice what we preach.

 

Thursday I posted this to Facebook..."I love when God sends us reminders...I got in the van to run to the bank and Lion and the Lamb is on Klove..."He's roaring with power and fighting our battles!" Then turn the music back up after leaving the bank and God is on the Move is on..."God is on the move, on the move, hallelujah, God is on the move in many mighty ways!" To add icing to the cake is hearing Matthew singing along with them!! #beGodaware #adoption"

 

Friday I woke up and saw that 2 other families had NOC and we still did not. We were discouraged, but at the same time had a peace. So thankful for Ms. Becky and Christie, 2 sweet friends from church, for sending us God's truth and encouragement that morning not even knowing what was going on!

 

Then today (Saturday, Feb. 18) I am sitting at Eli's basketball game when I see this on my phone...

(Our agency director is in China right now...when Britt showed Eli the text he thought it meant we were getting a baby from China now, haha!)

 

I am so glad my momma and sister were there to share in this awesome news with me!! They were suppose to come last week, but it didn't work out, and like my sister said, if she had come last week she probably would not have been there today! Just a little God-wink!

 

Britt was on the sideline coaching Eli's team. We tried to get his attention from the stands but could not. So I sent Ms. Pat's text to him. We watched as he pulled his phone out and read. His eyebrows went up and then he looked up at us with a huge smile and we started cheering! I am sure people around us were like what in the world is up with these people!? Haha! I wish I had videoed it!

 

We appreciate your prayers! Please keep them coming as we move into the court phase!

 

 



Waiting...

It's been 9 weeks and 4 days since we received Article 5. I was hoping to update my blog once we had NOC, but week after week has gone by and still no NOC. It has been a tough wait. Here is what we know...

 

1) On 12/22/16 the orphanage sent us the Power of Attorney to sign, which allows them to go to court for us after we get NOC

2) CARA (the adoption authority in India who issues NOC) has looked at our file. On 1/17/17 they sent an e-mail to our agency requesting a child consent form to be signed by Matthew, our 3 year old. Mommy helped, haha!! 

3) It's been 3 weeks and 5 days since CARA requested the child consent form. From reading info on the India Adoption page, many times CARA will request updated medical on your child if the last medical is over a year old. The last medical info on Mary-Lynn is from July 2015. So I am starting to wonder if CARA has possibly requested updated medical info from the orphanage.

 

Please continue to pray that we get NOC soon! There will be more waiting even when we get it (being registered in court, court dates, verbal orders, written orders, passport), but at least we will be moving on to the next part. Adoption is not easy!

 

I really, really want to be with my baby girl on her 3rd birthday, which is May 14. But we just don't know if we will be or not.

 If we are with her on May 14th God is good, and if we are not, God is still good!!

 

 

My sister told me about a Waiting Well Webinar that was on Facebook yesterday. It came just when I needed it!! I want to share what Libby shared with us in hopes that it brings you encouragement in whatever it is you are waiting for...

 

-God is in the waiting!!

 

-Give Him the pain and ask for it to be used for His glory!

 

-No one likes to wait, but this is where God shows up! God is up to something!

 

-Charles Spurgeon: "If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting is beneficial to us: it tries our faith, exercises patience, trains submissions, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord's people have always been a waiting people."

 

-Sometimes we have an "If I'm good, God should be good to me" mentality. In other words, we think He should do what we want when we want it because we are "good" people, we deserve it.

 

 

-Elisabeth Elliot: "In the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love + patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done."

 

-Be God-Aware! He is moving even when we do not see it.

 

-His ways are so much higher than our ways. He has a plan and we need to trust Him!

 

-God is in the waiting, there is a purpose, even if it doesn't make sense on this side of Heaven.

 

On 1/6/17, another sweet adoptive momma sent us a picture of our girl when she was there picking up her daughter! They do come home eventually!! We really appreciate your prayers; please keep them coming!!