Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Guardianship Court Date and another trip to Belize


 Well so much for it only taking a few days to get another Court date...it took over 3 weeks, but we finally heard a few days ago that we have our official date. The children will be assigned to our legal guardianship on January 18, 2013. We do not need to be present for this court hearing as our lawyer will handle this for us. Then we wait for the paperwork to be filed at the Registrars office. (This could take 2 days...could take 2 weeks or more.)
 After the papers are filed, our lawyer can then obtain the legal copies we need to request a Consulate appointment. As it stands now, the Consulate is saying they need a two-week advance notice before they can issue an appointment, but we will request one ASAP anyway. So it means we could be traveling to bring the kids home (best case scenario) by the end of January to about mid-late February. This of course means the kids will not be here for Christmas, and while everyone was happy that we at least have a court date, they were all still pretty disappointed in the timing and rightly so. Based on the information we had been given, we have been telling them for almost a year now that they should be home...soon.

As the year dragged on, their initial excitement has faded and you can hear the weariness and frustration in their voices during our weekly phone calls. Often, one or more would refuse to talk on the phone to us at all they were so discouraged. This last bit of bad news was enough to sadden even the most optimistic of the bunch. So David and I thought the best way to ease their hurting hearts would be for one of us to travel down and surprise them for a few days. Since he went down in June, and I really wanted to go, we decided it was my turn. We then held a family meeting and explained to the kids that their brothers and sisters in Belize were sad and hurting and they could really use a visit from Mom for a Christmas gift to brighten their spirits and help re-establish the fragile bonds we forged last January.
This meant that Christmas back here would be extra meager...even though we do not believe in doing much of a materialistic Christmas this year’s would mean only a few stocking-stuffers for everyone. The one big annual family gift would be the airfare to Belize. Well it warms my heart and fills me with a joy like no other that EVERYONE...all the way down to 6 y/o Ben and Isabelle instantly agreed that would be the very best way to do Christmas this year. I am so proud that our kids are willing to sacrifice for the good of others.

 So I leave on Thursday the 13th and will return on Monday night, December 17th. Pray that this short time I have with the Belizeans will encourage them and leave them feeling loved, chosen and precious to our family. And please pray that for ONCE during this incredibly long process, that the final process will go quickly and that our oldest , Z, would actually be home for her 14th birthday on February 3rd! The internet is VERY sporadic in Belize so I will update as I can and hopefully will do a more thorough job once I return home.

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