Monday, Sept. 5

Wow !!!! It is amazing to see how the Lord is blessing this orphanage specifically. We only had ten minutes with the kids tonight because we were running all over town from 9:00 this morning until dark.

The first piece of good news is that doors seem to be opening to make it easier for Didier to get passports for future adoptions. A great praise!!

The second hallelujah was a stop at the DHL office where we picked up the visas for the children. We finally can take the children home!!!!!

The third was a stop at the local emigration office to show them the passports for the children and the adoption judgments. Didier has a connection at this office (called DGM). We were told that all the paper work looks good and that the chief will escort us to the airport on Thursday to insure that we have no “hang-ups” as we leave the country !!!!!!!!!!

Item number four. We stopped at the office of the local civil judge who gives the “Act of Judgment” for each adopted child within Lubumbashi and the surrounding area. He is in a powerful position, one of only seven judges in the DRC. We wanted to be a verifying testament from the other side of the Atlantic that the children being adopted through the Kitumani orphanage were going to loving families and that Didier was very trustworthy. Judge Phuna invited us to his house at 5:00 for a more in depth discussion after his day ended. What a blessing it was to sit for about an hour and explain the vision and goals of the orphanage and the whole ministry that is going on here. His response amazed us. He said “I want to be a part of this ministry also and be used by God in any way I can”. This is huge. This man is very influential and makes the function of the orphanage possible. In a country where corruption abounds this means a future of great potential for other children as he has the ability to ease and expedite the legal processes that are required. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Judge Phuna and his family

Number five: We then picked up the “Authorization Parental” from the notary to transfer parental rights from the orphanage to us. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are not on U.S. soil yet but I’m starting to get the feeling that these children will be ours after this six month long process. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is amazing to see how smoothly everything is going. Josie’s French speaking ability and Phil’s influence as an American pastor and the desire of all of us to see this orphanage be used in many children’s lives is having quite an effect. God put together a good team here. We just wanted to help a couple of young children through this adoption process but we have had the opportunity to contribute to a much bigger plan that wasn’t even ours. We are very excited people as we write this tonight. !!!!!!!!

Can you tell? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!