A time to be silent and a time to speak...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

        After the shock of finding out that our case has been sitting still for over a year and a half last month I have spent most of the time in silence.  Silence mourning the time past, the time missed being with our daughter, and the time that still seems to tick away while we go on with life.  

       Since our last blog we also found out our state certification has run out, first time for our local agency.   So we had to have yet another home study with the hassle of getting medical paper, financial papers, and fingerprints; again.   FYI in the last four year we have been finger printed 8 times!  They still have not changed, imagine that!  So that is two dossiers and two state home studies; not counting the 4 different moves in the last 4 years that needed to be approved and written up for our I800.  During this process of gathering health records I ran into a snag with my son's records.  The doctor tried to add something that was not needed and would cause India to think twice about our homestudy.  This broke me.  After meeting with his supervisor who informed me he will not change it, I walked to my closet fell to the floor and went through all the stages of grief possible.  Now remember this fit was four years in the making.  I was at a loss.  If he did not change this information on my son's report we might not be able to continue.  This was devastating to me; also if this doctor was right every thing I learned in my years of counseling had failed me.  

        After an hour of laying on the floor I reached anger and got up and went out to see my husband, calm and collected, sitting reading his phone.  This made me so mad.  He then proceeded to read to me the guidelines of a test that was given to my son.  (Side note God has made my husband so perfect for me.) Come to find out the doctor read the results incorrectly and we had physical proof.  Needless to say I was thrilled after the feelings of embarrassment had passed because of my childish fit.  Long story short the doctor removed the sentence and his supervisor is correcting his understanding of the test result guidelines.  

         One battle down.  So the silence period is now over.  I am now ready to speak!  As of today we know that our case is in fact still in the same court and with the same judge.  He did not make an official ruling on us (from what they can tell) and we may just have to simply petition again to be heard.  If not we will appeal to be heard.  Our India rep will be going in March to find out for sure and push to get our day in court.  Please be in prayer for his trip there.

         Some have asked why we just haven't quit and adopted domestically.  I simply say; "she is our daughter".  I would fight for all my children and she is my child.  She is our child.  She is His child and He will prevail through this process.   Jesus is our advocate and through this trial He will prevail.

Haddie girl we are fighting for you!  Please pray with us that this will be the year we bring her home.    

Speechless...and...at a loss...

After today all I am left with is the Word of God "be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

Today we got a call from our US agency who had recently got off skype with our India rep.  After some digging and asking around we have found out that over a year and a half ago when the judge refused to hear our case he had made that official.  We have been under the assumption it was not an official ruling by the lawyer at the time.  Come to find out she knew but just swept it under the rug.  So for the last year and a half our case has been closed basically.  Now the agencies that run the Indian adoptions still have her matched to us and still have an active NOC but no movement and there never would have been if this wasn't uncovered.

What next?  What about Haddie?  Our agency will be making a high court appeal once we can get the paperwork from the previous judge.  This is our final option.  Please pray those who read this.  Pray for God's perfect will for our daughter and for this adoption.

I am praying selfishly that she can still be ours, but if not please bring a conclusion for her as she turns seven in April.

Oh Lord you know our hearts, our desires, and our needs.  All I am left with tonight is trusting you and knowing that you are and always will be God!

Prayer, please....

Well another Christmas has passed without Haddie...I'm to a point where I am at a loss as to what to say or write.

  Here is the most recent information we have after our rep took a trip to India to try to find out what is going on.

* The old judge wrote on our court papers that he denied to hear our case because we have four birth children.

* The Hyderabad split happened.

* Our case had to be switched to a new court and judge because of the split.

* 2 years later...C*** is under the impression that we pushed for the new judge because the old judge refused our case.

* Our rep is currently trying to help C*** and our new lawyer to understand that this was not our intent and that it was because of the split that we were sent to another court.  He is also trying to educate them that there is no objection in their own state laws about family size.

* So we are now waiting on one lawyer, a judge, and C*** to fight for us and our adoption of our daughter.

Right now the only person who can intervene is Jesus!  He has already moved a mountain and we need Him to move another one so that we can bring Haddie home.  So we are asking that during this next month that you take the time to fervently pray for our adoption and for God's will, not ours but His.

Please commit to praying for Haddie, the judge, the lawyer and the hearts of the decision makers.  Thank you...

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord; and trust in Him and He will act.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday" (Psalm 37:4-6).

Blessings from above...a letter to my daughter

To my daughter Hadassah,

              Well we are now in October of 2015 and you are still in India.  You are probably wondering why these other mama's keep taking pictures of you but leave with your friends instead of you.  Well they have been a blessing to your dad and I because they send us pictures and updates on you.  As we watch you grow from afar we are blessed with these updates and little glimpses of hope that come with them.

  Haddie I want you to know how loved you are and have been throughout time.  Not only by your dad and I but also by our Lord.  He has moved so many mountains to get us where we are in our fight to get you home.  He is now molding our hearts together and getting us ready for eachother.  Please know that we think about you every day, pray for you constantly and do all we can to push to get our day in court so we can hold your little hand and bring you HOME.

     Not only are we working to get you home but there are so many other people who are helping us in our quest.  These people have given thier time, money and prayers to help get you home.  Can you believe that?  You are so loved by so many and you may not even know it yet.  Here are just a few faces of those who have helped in our journey...  love, your mama

Thank you to those helping us through this journey.

The result of praying for patience...

Can't remember who it was, but I once was told never to pray for patience; why well I am finding out now :-) .
     First let me thank all of you who purchased art from our auction we raised over a $1000!!!!  I hope you are enjoying the fruits of that auction and that you pray for Haddie every time you look at them.  Also we have wonderful friends who are hosting a jewelry fundraiser for us this coming weekend.  If you can't make it here is the website to purchase a nice little christmas present for and help us reach our goal for bringing Haddie home (http://www.noondaycollection.com/pws/HeatherKeehn/eventstore12085/AMUS/default.aspx).

Now back to patience...Well I did pray for patience for many years and now I continue to pray for more patience and am learning it.  We found out last week that we are now waiting on our second NOC to be issued which will then be followed by a court date.  So we now have done two dossiers, 4 different i800 renewals (with some moves in there), two NOC's and countless other random papers.

Where is God in all this mess?  He is everywhere!  Little did we know the last judge refused our adoption outright.  We just thought he didn't want to deal with our case, but no he refused to even rule on it.  So God literally moved mountains by splitting the state which in turn got us a new judge and a lawyer who will fight to get us our day in court.   God is so faithful!  He has even made it possible for us to get multiple pictures and updates through the wonderful families that visit the orphanage to pick up their girls.  So we have been able to see Haddie grow through others pictures and encounters with her.  We are truly grateful for this, but pray we can be the one's meeting and holding her next.  But God's will be done and in His time.

Please continue to pray for our adoption and please continue to pray for our preparing time as I call it.

Art for Sale, Art for Sale!

Ever wonder what true love is?  We are in the middle of finding it out.  We started this adoption in 2012!  In order to get to where we are today God has literally been moving mountains.  Since we started this process we have experienced three home-studies, three different purchases of India Visas (until we wised up and just bought the five year one), a split in the state of India, a prejudice judge whom because of the state split was removed from our case, two separate Dossiers, called and told we were ready to pick her up that prompted tickets, hotel reservations, and so much emotional turmoil after we were told it was a mistake, renewals on all our approvals at least three times, three years of fingerprinting, three different moves, health scares, and so much more.

Throughout it all as you can see God has had a hand in it all.  He moved the mountains that needed to be moved to get us a different court, judge and lawyer.  He has paused the whole process to all me to heal from this past year of bad health.  He has strengthened us when we feel like it will never happen by sending us glimpses of the future and our future holding her.  His love for us and for Haddie is amazing, outstanding and unrelenting.

So.... with all that said we are embarking on an new fundraising idea.  Please check out our facebook page AndrewandRachel Moore to see what art we have up for auction.  All are originals either taken by Andrew or I or drawn or painted by a family member.  We hope to raise the money we need before we get the call to go and get her.  We are wrapping up the finally pieces of the second dossier and hope to have it out in two weeks.  Please continue to pray as we try to finalize all this paperwork and not pull our hair out in the process :-)

Needing some encouragement...

So here is the latest news.  We do in fact have a new judge and actually a new court!  I can't express how grateful we are to our wonderful Lord for that piece being put together.

With the new court comes the fact that we will have to update most of our Dossier papers.  This means new referrals, medical letters, child letters, tax docs, ect...  I am still in a little shock from this discovery because it is overwhelming to think we have to piece together all that paperwork again!

The good news is once we update it all and send it to the lawyer we should get a court date.  Now I know this is good news but it is also a step back into the process which is frusterating but I am holding onto faith that God is knitting this into His perfect plan, not mine.

I just want to bring her home...And we will do whatever it takes to get closer to that point.

Please pray for patience for us and Haddie.  Also please pray for our fundraising.  We are trying to raise the money it will take to travel to pick her up.