Legally Liberatore

It appears the incentives we offered last week are paying off as Francesca has already passed thru the legalization process and a pre-Christmas "get-her-home" date still seems possible.  The exciting news about the legalization process is that Francesca is not only a Liberatore in our hearts and minds, but legally!  Her name has been changed and she is officially a Liberatore! 

Next step is passport...then visa...then HOME!

It was surprisingly emotional when Kim got the call and hung up the phone and told me, "she is legally a Liberatore!".....still brings tears to my eyes.......so here she is, Francesca Liberatore:

Ready for soccer practice!

Getting Closer

On October 10th, Francesca exited IBESR, which is the first and longest phase of the process, (In our case, it took 13 months)!!

Our Sweet Francesca!

Exiting IBESR is a HUGE relief for several reasons......

First, given the general state of the Haitian government and the lack of regular communication and our inability to get good intel from the adoption agency, we could not help but wonder if in fact our dossier was really where it is supposed to be...is it lost?  has it slipped between desks? has it been accidentally destroyed?  You simply did not know and had no way of tracking the process or calling someone who can confirm that "yes we have it, we just have not gotten to it yet".

Secondly, you never know if the President will sign your paperwork initially or at all.  We have heard reports of paperwork missing or incomplete and being sent back.  And then there was always the possibility that the President could reject our application because we did not meet 100% of the criteria, which is why we needed the dispensation in the first place.

And finally, any unrest, any disruption in the government for any reason would bring everything to an abrupt halt and our dossier would simply sit somewhere until whatever "issue-du-jour" would be cleared up.  For example, things as minor as the President needing shoulder surgery in Miami meant he was not in-country to sign paperwork.....

So, getting out of IBESR is really, fantastic, wonderful, great news!

Now moving forward we have been able to commission some extra help and attention to our paperwork and God willing take months off of the remaining process and possibly, hopefully, and again, God willing have Santa deliver her to us by Christmas!  We are managing are expectations as best we can and we have turned this over to God and regularly acknowledge that we do not want her here before God wants her here, but we are excited to see things progress!

Please keep praying, this is still a third world country, the government remains very, very fragile and there are still hurdles that need to be cleared.  We thank you in advance for those continued prayers.....

But, we are getting closer and we have butterflies in our stomachs just thinking about her smiling face running around our house, (most likely, from the dog)!

A happy day