Adoption of Miriam Joy
Shortly after our arrival home from Ecuador with our 2nd adopted daughter, Kearly in March of 2012, the Lord seems to have opened another door and our hearts to another daughter, Miriam. She resides currently at the Emmanuel orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa.
We believe that Miriam is around 6-7 years old and as we once again proceed through the familiar paperwork trail, we anticipate that by summer of 2013, and by God’s good grace, she will join our family.
As our adoption process started in May 2012 to bring Miriam home from Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), we had gotten to the point where all of our paperwork and documentation, including Miriam’s was completed and ready to go by the fall of 2013. Then in September of 2013, we received notice that things were changing and only those whose paperwork was certified as ready would be moving forward. Praise God, we met that criteria and were excited to move one step closer to bringing Miriam home.
In October 2013, the Congolese government changed course and issued a suspension on issuing “exit permit letters” which would allow Miriam to leave the DRC and return to the USA and join our Forever Family. The DGM will only issue exit permits to adopted Congolese children whose adoptions were approved by the Congolese Ministry of Gender and Family’s adoption committee before September 25, 2013. Praise God, once again we fit that criteria!
With encouraging news, we were actually set to travel on December 2, 2013 to receive Miriam. All airline travel and hotel accommodations were booked and in place and our oldest daughter, Lauren would be staying at the house for the first part of the trip to care for Emma and Kearly while Michael would be in the DRC. Then, just days before we were to leave, we received notice yet once again that things were changing, and the government extended the current suspension and would not be issuing exit permit letters at that time! We were forced to cancel our trip and currently remain in a holding pattern. The suspension is expected to last until at least September 2014.
The sad fact is that Miriam is our daughter now! Based on Congolese law, if we chose to live in the DRC, we could receive her tomorrow and she could live with us forever…she would just never being able to leave the DRC. While our hearts are broken as we live apart from our daughter, our eyes remain fixed on our God who knows all things and who holds all things in the palm of His hands…including Miriam. We continue to pray for the hearts and minds of those making the decisions to be open and to allow the many children waiting to come home to their Forever Families.
October 2016 Update
In March of 2016 we were finally able to bring our daughter Miriam home from the DRC, our 4 year wait was over! Miriam has transitioned well into our family. She has started school and attends ESL classes but mostly is mainstreamed. She has tons of friends and LOVES American food. Since she arrived, she has learned to swim, ride a bike and scooter. We have learned that she has an amazing gift to run like a gazelle. At a recent children’s running program she came in first every week for 5 weeks for the ½ mile run. Miriam has been a tremendous blessing to our family.
~Linda