The absolute best part of the day (having Isaac was awesome but also a given for the day) was with our friends. They went to the ministry and finally received their referral!! We had seen the nuns leave with the special package from Home of Hope that contained their referral days earlier and had been praying it into their hands. Today was the day! And we had the awesome privelage of being at Home of Hope when they met their daughter for the first time, it was amazing and beautiful. We celebrate with them today!! Love to the McLennans!
Here is the truck carrying their referral to the minister's office:
Our day consisted of picking up Isaac early and taking him back to the hotel, we were able to give him a bath for the first time and dress him in some of the clothes we had brought for him.
First time in the van:
We were so excited to find this Denver Bronco jersey at the second hand store, and it fit him; mostly excited because it was Denver not Boise State.
We went to apply for Isaac's passport next, we needed one more document before we could receive it but we were glad to start the process. The passport office was very busy so we had to wait awhile, we enjoyed a hilarious Japanese show about artists while waiting.
We were excited for the other 7 families in our group to receive their 'to whom' letters when we visited the ministry, what a blessing; but we could not have ours signed. We had a bit of a set back in this area. On the 6th when we recieved our referral the minister was let go from her position, she signed the letters that she could but since our court ruling was on the 9th we fell into the next minister's term. We now had to wait until she was sworn in and began working, very stressful; we did see the President of Kigali's motorcade today while we were driving maybe going to the swearing in ceremony for the new ministers.
We had a bit of time in our hotel in the afternoon as well before we went back to Home of Hope. We loved seeing Isaac play, crawl around, babble and smile for the first time. It was also the first time we could feed him food we brought or purchased, bottles we prepared, such a fun and normal activity with our son.
While we visited at Home of Hope in the afternoon, we were able to give some gifts for the children, clothes and supplies mostly, some candy. We enjoyed the amazing meeting of the McLennan's newest daughter and the joy of seeing all our group together with all their children for the first time. This was also a chance to thank all those who work at Home of Hope and care so well for the children. Here we are with a group we wanted to thank especially:
Jeff & Isaac during our visit:
It was also a hard visit as we knew we needed to leave him for the night once the visiting hours ended, but just at 5pm Home of Hope received a call, because of the unique situation of our court ruling and change in minister we had been given custody over night as well. It seemed crazy that we had legally adopted him as of the day before but didn't have full custody, so this was such a huge blessing. We had seen the effects of taking him for the day and bringing him back so we were so very thrilled when we never had to leave him again. Since one year ago today Isaac has been with us 24/7! To me that has been our Gotcha Day.
It was so great that night when we laid him in his new little bed and we could see him sleeping whenever we wanted. We tried to get pictures and use the camera while we were on skype with the kids, to finally show him to them in person, it was just too dark in our room by midnight.
It has been a wonderful year.
Sheri
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