While We Wait

Here we go – it’s easy to say that God’s timing is perfect, but believing it is not always so easy. It turns out there was a tiny - and I mean TINY error (a typo on a 5-digit license# out of pages and pages of information and supporting documents) on our home study. Because of that number transposition, we are now waiting to have that one page corrected, resigned, re-notarized, etc. before we can mail our paperwork to Immigrations.

So, while we've been waiting on our home study, we have continued to educate ourselves about the Congo. I have to be honest - the more we learn, the harder it is to be at peace with the waiting.


Some quick statistics from various sources:


-The infant mortality rate is more than 8/100.


-4/10 children don't live to see their first birthdays because of the lack of safe drinking water, malaria, and other issues.


-1/5 children dies before their fifth birthday.


-There are 5 million orphans in the DRC.


-Some say that the DRC is the poorest African country.


-Some adoptive parents have experienced first hand the devastation and poverty in Congo. We’ve read of adoptive parents who have had their child pass away before they could bring him/her home (can’t imagine that one).


The statistics are daunting. We wonder how much difference our family can make. We’re just your average American family.

Leave it to a nine year old to put that one in perspective. I was talking about how there are so many orphans in Congo and Hallie (who refers to herself as the “ninester” since she’s nine years old) said, "Yes, but we're going to save one, Mommy. There's going to be one less. One orphan is going to have a forever family!" We've heard many adoptive parents say the same thing, but coming from the mouth of a child made me realize that “5 million orphans minus one” is not a cliché. It is a reality. There may be 5 million orphans in the Congo, but when our child comes home, there will be 5 million minus one!

Thank you for supporting us in this journey.