EMOTIONAL DAY

Today was hard.  We drove all day in a hot car, first to the region where we will have court tomorrow and then to our village.  We were allowed to see Aaron this afternoon but it was not the sweet meeting for which we longed.  At the last minute we were accompanied by the social director here to see how he related to us.  She has to give testimony tomorrow about our relationship with him.  To say that scared us silly is putting it mildly.  We were both in tears waiting for Aaron and everyone was watching what would happen when they brought him into the room.  It was not the best presentation.  One look on Aaron's face and we saw how devasting the last month has been for him.  He would not make eye contact and was just overall unresponsive. He fought the tears as I hugged him, kissed him and soothed him.  It took us a good thirty minutes before he would make eye contact.  Fortunately the director left us in peace and our facilitator gave us space and by the end of the visit we were relating better.  We even heard some laughter and he waved goodbye when we left.  It will take him a long time to trust that we will not abandon him again.
      On top of that emotionally charged meeting, we have had major discussions all day with our facilitator about our preliminary court tomorrow.  We are in uncharted waters with this judge and every word we speak matters greatly.  She is very concerned that we make a good presentation.  We 'tried out' several answers to possible questions and kept hitting landmines.  For most courts, our answers would normally be fine but for us, we have to be very careful in our wording.  Needless to say, we covet your prayers.

     The one bright spot in a very exhausting day came when our facilitator (Luda) told us that a few weeks ago, she had accompanied another family to Aaron's old orphanage as they were looking to adopt a child there.  Luda did not realize it was his orphanage.  The director there somehow knew that she was facilitating our adoption though and asked her about Aaron.  At first she didn't know who the director was talking about.  Suddenly the lights went on and she realized that the director was asking her about Aaron.  What came out brings a healing balm to my spirit tonight as we face a tough day tomorrow.  The director told Luda that they had been so upset that Aaron had to be transferred out of there.  They truly loved him and considered him a very bright, special little boy.  They (the staff at the orphanage) had prayed that God would send a family for Aaron. 

     As we wade through the murky waters, we hold on to those whispered prayers from those who first loved our little guy.  God heard.  He IS going to walk us through this process.  So we hang on for another day.  Because of issues with SKYPE the boys have not been able to contact us today which makes my Mommy heart desperate.  More prayers in that regard would be appreciated.