The Adoption Rollercoaster and the Mighty Hand of God

You’ll have to read the previous few updates (at least the last one from earlier this morning) to fully appreciate this one.  We received some amazing news this morning that might not be so amazing if it weren’t for the news we’d received throughout the last week.  Actually, it would be amazing either way because of the consistent inconsistency of this journey.  I want to share the story because the details are noteworthy.  I’ve summarized the bare facts at the bottom of the post for those who won’t want to read the whole account.

Three families (including the Tatlock’s) had court hearings on Friday with the same judge who presided over our case.  What happened in the courtroom was strikingly providential and cannot be explained apart from the mighty hand of God.

Mark Tatlock was the first parent to be seen.  The judge started with the regular proceedings, and our lawyer (Betty) began going through the details of the case.  The judge stopped her and asked how long the father had known the children.  Betty told him that the father was present if the judge wanted to ask him directly.  The judge declined.  It is very rare for the judge to speak to an adopting parent.  But a few minutes later he said that he did want to hear from the father.  He asked Mark how long he’d known the children, why he wanted to adopt, and how he’d come to Uganda.  I can’t think of a better person I’d want answering those questions than Mark Tatlock.  It was no mistake that the judge asked Mark and not someone else.

Mark answered all of the judge’s questions, explaining how he had come to Uganda to teach at a pastor’s conference and how he had met Danyne (co-founder of Amani) and gotten acquainted with the orphanage.  At the end of the dialogue the judge smiled broadly and said that he was very pleased with Mark’s answers.  He expressed confidence that this certainly was not a case of child-trafficking, an issue that weighs heavily on the minds of Ugandan officials and has received international attention in the past week.

The lawyer then continued reading the details of the case.  When she got to the part about the children coming to the United States, she was very specific about the wording that the U.S. embassy wanted to see on the rulings.  This is vital because the U.S. embassy recently denied wordings based on the omission of a single word.  The judge was very careful to make sure that he knew exactly what was being required; he even reiterated his understanding of what Betty was saying, and she told him he was correct.

At the end of the hearing, our lawyer boldly asked if they could get a written ruling by the following Monday (it was already confirmed that the ruling would be positive).  This boldness was especially surprising in light of her customary tendencies and her recent hesitancy to follow the specific instructions of the orphanage (which led to the denial of our ruling).  The judge laughed and said, “Betty, you know how busy we are!”  She pressed him and asked about Tuesday or Wednesday.  Finally he smiled and said that he would write the Tatlock’s ruling on Friday — a one-week turnaround!

After Mark left the room, the other two families came in one after the other.  The judge asked Betty if these two cases were the same as the first.  Betty answered yes.  The judge then asked them the same questions he had asked Mark, giving them the opportunity to share their hearts and explain their intentions (again, very rare).  He also gave them positive rulings and said that he would write the rulings on Friday along with the Tatlock’s.

The judge saw Mark for forty-five minutes.   The other two cases took ten minutes each.  A friend named Erin Littleton also appeared, seeking custody of two children that her and her husband fell in love with while volunteering at Amani last year.  The Littleton’s are being required to provide some extra notarized documents for the court, but this is less surprising because their adoption circumstances are different than ours.

During these hearings, the judge also mentioned that he trusted Amani (the orphanage), Danyne (the orphanage director and co-founder), and Betty (our lawyer).  This is wonderful news because it indicates the potential for a good relationship with the Jinja court which could lead to a streamlined process for the rest of the families (at least streamlined by African standards, which any family should embrace after observing Judah’s process).

After all three cases had been heard, Betty reapproached the judge.  She needed to inform him that the three rulings that he had given on June 15 (including ours) were misworded and needed to be rewritten (even though it was her omission, not his).  She said that one word needed to be added to the rulings in order for them to be accepted by the U.S. embassy.  The judge laughed and said, “That’s it?”  He took the misworded rulings, crumpled them up and threw them away, and immediately signed and sealed the newly-typed rulings that Betty handed to him.  The orphanage has already contacted the U.S. embassy and has confirmed that these rulings will be accepted.  In fact, the embassy said that as of today, they would’ve accepted the old rulings (apparently some of the conversations with embassy personnel over the past seventy-two hours may have had an effect).

The only difficult news is that there is a brand new law in Uganda (courtesy of child-traffickers) that calls for adopting parents to be present to pick up their children’s passports.  This means that one of us has to fly to Uganda again since the passport agency lost our original application for Judah’s passport and therefore it wasn’t completed and picked up before this new law went into effect.  Cindi and I both love Africa and we certainly don’t mind being there, but tickets this time of year with such short notice are in the $2,500-3,000 range.  This is why we had planned for Judah to return home with another adopting family (which would have been legally acceptable a week or two ago).  Now we will be paying for Cindi to get on the exact same flights as our friends who were going to bring Judah back for us.  This ate at me for the first few hours this morning as we tried to find out if there were any way to avoid having to fly again, but the Lord has since calmed my heart with thoughts of what His providence must have in store.  He is our Father, and He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  So I will send my wife to go get my son and we will entrust ourselves to our Father who paid with the price of His Son’s life to bring us into His family.  I will pay money to go get my son; God gave His Son to go win His enemies.  I put my hand on my mouth.

Cindi has reserved a flight for this Tuesday, July 3 to fly to Uganda, pick up Judah’s passport in person, apply for his visa (24-hour turnaround), and bring him home.  But she will only get on the plane this Tuesday if the passport agency says that Judah’s passport is already in process.  She will come back on July 13 or 16 if everything goes smoothly.  You can pray for Cindi’s health, for the timely completion of Judah’s passport and visa, and for grace to walk by the Spirit in the midst of uncertainties and decisions.

This week has been a rollercoaster.  But a rollercoaster is different than an earthquake, because the twists and turns of the roller coaster still stand upon solid ground.  I am way past thinking that this adoption is locked up and certain, no matter how good the news is.  But the more the rollercoaster twists and turns and dips and dives, the more sure I become that we are indeed on solid ground.

SUMMARY

• The judge rewrote our ruling and it has been accepted by the U.S. embassy!
• A brand new law says that an adopting parent must be present to pick up the child’s passport, which means that one of us has to go to Uganda again.
• Cindi has reserved a flight for Tuesday, July 3.  She will only leave if Judah’s passport is already in process (hopefully we’ll find out Monday).
• We are praying that the passport will be ready for pick-up by Thursday, July 5.
• Once the passport is in hand, we can apply for Judah’s visa (24-hour turnaround).
• Once passport and visa are in hand, Cindi can bring Judah home (hopefully mid-July).

(There’s actually a whole lot on my mind besides the adoption, but we know that at least some people check here for adoption updates and I don’t want to leave anyone hanging.  I hope to write a lot more about a lot of other things in the very near future.)

Another Adoption Update: Significant Uncertainties

There probably hasn’t been a time in our adoption process where your prayers were more needed than now.  Although the Lord turned the heart of the judge to give us a positive ruling two weeks ago, uncertainty has prevailed since then.

I won’t explain in detail for a few different reasons, but I’ll summarize so as not to leave anyone hanging:  The embassy has denied the wording on our ruling, our lawyer has been hesitant to follow orphanage instructions and may be replaced soon, the passport branch is demanding two things that they have no legal right to ask for before they process Judah’s passport, and significant child-trafficking issues have recently been exposed leading to a big government conference which has everyone on edge.  The potential exists for changes in adoption legislation, changes that would obviously impact adoption processes throughout Uganda.

Right now most of what we know is tentative, and the implications are speculative.  Anything else I could say would be imprudent — speculations standing on possibilities.  I want to share enough that you can be informed and can know how to pray, but not so much to create a fever pitch of exaggeration.  The spectrum of possibilities is broad; we rest in the fact that God knows and controls both ends of that spectrum.  Cindi and I will be praying intently over the next few days.  As always, we appreciate your partnership and concern.

You might also pray for Cindi as she’s had a hard cough for eight weeks and she either cracked a rib or strained a muscle coughing a few days ago.  She’s one of the toughest people I know in dealing with sickness and pain; she simply doesn’t talk about it unless I ask.  So when I can tell she’s in pain, I know it must hurt.

These times of small, momentary trials are a blessing in that they provide us with the opportunity to demonstrate that God is our treasure.  When happiness coincides with good times, it is often because we treasure good times.  But when happiness coincides with hardship, it reveals that there is a greater treasure than good times.  May it be so with us, in small trials such as these and in the greater difficulties to come.

“Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”
In all this Job did not sin with his lips.   — Job 2:10

Ridiculous Video of Judah

I have a number of things I’d like to write about and share, but various aspects of the adoption are in full force right now and I feel compelled to let people know what’s going on.  Just so you know that I hope to keep other content coming, as well.

I never posted all our videos of Judah after returning from Uganda.  Not all are great in quality or content, but some are gems.  This one of singing time in Baby Room 2 is definitely worth watching.  You might want to read the description below for a bit of context (I was taking the video).  When the video first comes on, they’re singing:

Read your Bible, pray every day, pray every day, pray every day;
Read your Bible, pray every day, if you want to grow.

The second verse goes I will make you fishers of men…

At the end of each stanza, they raise their hands.  Judah obviously enjoys this part because he does it all the time at various points in the song.  But he usually clasps his hands over his head in a big fist-mallet instead of just putting them in the air roller-coaster style.  But the best part is when they sing the next song:

Who made you and me, you and me, you and me?
Who made you and me?  Our God above!

They proceed to name the kids in pairs, going from left to right and singing the names of kids who are seated next to each other.  After Hannah & Tolo and Matthias & Brian, the staff starts singing “Who made Jeremy and Judah?”  Judah pretty much turns into an absolute ham when he hears his name (1:50 – 2:15).

Adoption News: Almost Home

A few days ago I mentioned the big news that our Ugandan judge has written a positive ruling for our adoption.  If the wording on the ruling is precise and accurate enough to be accepted by the U.S. embassy, Judah should be able to come home sometime in the first half of July.

There are still a few steps left in the process before Judah can come home.  For those of you interested in the details, I’ll summarize as clearly as I can.  I don’t blame anyone who can’t follow my description or who doesn’t care to read the details.

• The judge has hand-written a positive adoption ruling for us.  This means that we have official, irrevocable custody of Judah.
   
• Our Ugandan lawyer typed up the judge’s ruling, turning it into a signed court order.  This contains less detail than the initial ruling.
   
• The U.S. embassy has seen the court order, and they have judged that it does not contain enough detail to warrant a visa for Judah.  They want to see the judge’s initial hand-written ruling to determine whether or not the judge has given us specific permission to bring Judah to the States and adopt him here (technically, we only get legal guardianship of Judah in Uganda; we then bring him to the States and actually adopt him).  The embassy is not being overly strict or unnecessarily demanding — they simply want to make sure that the words on the judge’s ruling indicate that he understands the process the same way we do.
   
• If the U.S. embassy does accept the ruling, all Judah needs is a passport and a visa for him to travel.  If the embassy does not accept the ruling, our lawyer will have to type up a revised court order (probably only adding a few words or phrases), have it signed by the judge, and have it approved by the embassy.
   
• Because the passport officials (who are different than those at the embassy) have already accepted the court order, the passport application will be filed on Monday (a previous passport application was misplaced, so this is the second time).  Once the embassy confirms the court order and the passport is finished, we can apply for Judah’s visa.  Since the embassy handles the visa, it can be done in 24 hours (!).
    
• So the three things we’re waiting for are: (1) the U.S. embassy needs to approve the wording on the hand-written ruling; (2) we need to get Judah’s passport; and (3) we need to get Judah’s visa.  Once those things are done, Judah can travel.
   
• We have two different trusted friends returning from Uganda on July 1 and July 13, so if the three above things are completed before either of these dates, we will do our best to get Judah on one of their flights and we will meet them at the airport here in Southern California.

In the next few days I hope to post some other exciting adoption news along with a meaningful picture and some fun videos of Judah.  Thank you, again, for your prayers, and for sharing in our joy.

Perhaps the most significant thing in all of this is the answer to this question:  Would God still be good and worthy of our joy and devotion if the entire adoption fell through tomorrow?  In other words, would God be good if the news were bad?  The answer to that question shows that we are incredibly secure, and it also reveals the unshakable foundation of our faith and joy.  What a wonderful place to stand.