It’s been a while since I’ve done an official adoption update, because there really haven’t been any updates to give. We’re so blessed to have so many people asking about our process, though, so I wanted to share about what’s going on.
We’re currently (still) waiting on CARA approval from India. This is the initial approval we need before we can move on to the matching phase. CARA approval usually takes an average of 12 weeks, but we’ve been waiting for about 23 weeks. Our agency, Lifeline Children’s Services, has been wonderful through this extended wait. They’ve reached out to us, encouraged us in the Lord, and prayed for us. They also told us other agencies are seeing extended wait times for CARA approval, but no one is sure of why. Since our wait time has been so long, our agency is reaching out specifically on behalf of our family about our CARA approval. We’re so grateful for this!
As far as when we’ll get to bring our daughter home, the answer is, we have no clue when that’ll happen. Once we have CARA approval, we can be matched with our daughter. This part of the process can take anywhere from 0 days to several months. After we’re matched, there’s still about 6-12 months until we can travel to India and bring our daughter home. We trust the Lord’s timing each step of the way.
For me, this extended wait time has been hard. To be honest, it can consume my thoughts more than it should. Each day I wonder if it’s the day of our approval. The Lord has convicted me of this, and I’m battling to not be so consumed by such thoughts. The Lord is the only one who my heart and thoughts should be consumed by. The Lord has been so good to sanctify me more into his likeness through this wait. I praise him for that! We know he’s not surprised by this, and that he’s with us and also goes before us. We trust his timing is and will be perfect. Through this silence from India, the Lord hasn’t been silent. He’s continued to show us he’s at work in this process by providing for us financially. We’ve received grants, donations, and had successful fundraisers, with the most recent being our yard sale. We also rest in knowing our God is the Father to the fatherless, and his heart for the orphan is even greater than ours. Though our daughter is most likely in an orphanage right now, she’s loved by her Father more perfectly than we’ll ever be able to love her. We can rest knowing his deep love for her.
Of course, we covet your prayers that we’ll receive CARA approval soon. However, we also ask that you pray we’d glorify God in the wait. Pray we’d trust him and that this time of waiting would form us more into his likeness. We’re so ready for our daughter to be home, but we know what’s more important is for us to glorify the Lord in whatever he has for us in this adoption process.
The wait of adoption and the process in general are truly so hard to explain. It’s so weird knowing we have a child on the other side of the world who doesn’t even know we’re waiting for her. We don’t know who she is yet, but we love her already and long for her. God is good, friends. Thanks for journeying with us, and of course, as soon as we have some news to share, we’ll share! In the mean time, we’re enjoying a sweet summer of student ministry fun, lake days, playing outside, and more. We hope your summer is just as sweet, friends!
diariesofadaughter.com 