Jetlag at 4am, Birthmother miracles

This past week we've gotten somewhat used to the jetlag-induced 3am wakeup, where we toss and turn, and if we're lucky, fall back asleep.  If not, we finally get up and do something productive like play plants vs. zombies on the ipad (thanks Ian!).  Seriously, we both became strangely addicted to that game.  I don't know why I assumed that because we were completely exhausted last night from all the flying that we might actually be able to get a decent night's rest.  Wishful thinking, apparently.  Here I am at almost 5am, and I've been awake for over an hour, but I'm strangely more rested than I've felt in days.  I'll probably conk out in sacrament meeting this afternoon as a result. :)

So now that we're home, of course you are all wondering "Where are the pictures of those amazingly cute boys!?!"  :)  The sad part is that even though we had our court date, it will still be a little while before our case "passes" court, so we aren't legally the boys parents yet, so we can't post pics on blogs or FB.  Don't you worry, though.  The minute we are legally their parents you can bet I will be posting pics here.  

Speaking of court, I'll share what all happened that day.  Our court date was Thursday afternoon, so we decided to visit the boys in the morning, and then the agency set up a shopping trip in the evening for anyone who wanted to go as a group.  We visited Yeb, and then tagged along with the agency driver when he went to run a few people around to catch a ride to Tam's orphanage.  We had the longest and best visit with Tam of the trip, and then took a taxi back to our hotel so we could quickly change before we got picked up for court.  W didn't have time to grab lunch, so we ran to the mercado next door and bought some cookies, juice, and more water.  The agency driver picked us up, and we piled into the van with 3 other couples and the agency staff and headed to the courthouse.  We hadn't been as good that morning at keeping hydrated, and the result was that Kerry drank almost the whole carton of juice by himself plus a bunch of water.  End result: by the time we sat down in the courtroom Kerry already needed to use the restroom.  

We figured that the time we were told to be there was an individual appointment, but it was actually the time assigned to everyone who was coming that afternoon.  The place was packed, and there were a ton of people left standing in the hall, too.  Agency groups were all called up at the same time, and answered as a group.  During this time, Kerry was seriously praying that our group could get called quickly.  Our agency was called up about halfway through, and Kerry breathed a (controlled) sigh of relief.  We all stood up to make our way to the front, and the agency caseworker motioned for Kerry and I to sit down.  The rest of the group went up and answered all the questions, and then left the room.  We weren't sure what was going on, but the caseworker kept giving us reassuring looks from across the room.  So we waited.  Finally, the only people left in the room were the judge, the translator, the security guard, us, and one other couple.  Meanwhile, the caseworker had spoken to the judge, and had left the room with a scrap of paper, supposedly to find something that was needed?  By now Kerry was praying like he had never prayed before, but didn't dare leave.  The other couple in the room also apparently had some issue with their case, but their caseworker finally came back and they went through the process.  At this point we were starting to assume that worst, that for some reason we wouldn't be able to finish the court proceedings that day and would be assigned another date in a week or 2 and have to travel again for it.  The other couples in our group didn't know what was going on, either.  A couple that we became good friends with kept looking in from the hall to gesture-ask us what was going on.  

Our caseworker finally reappeared, and we walked up to the front of the room, where it was explained to us that Yeb's file had been lost by the court, and that we would talk to the judge up in her chambers.  At this point mild panic began to set in, and we just hoped that the missing file wouldn't mean that the adoption process would have to start over completely.  And also at this point Kerry was experiencing mild panic for more than just the case file.  We and the other couples from our agency followed the caseworker up a floor, and we went to a waiting room outside the judge's chamber.  Kerry was desperate enough to ask the caseworker if he could go use the restroom, and she told him no and motioned for him to sit down.  About 30 seconds later we were called in to talk to the judge.  Fortunately, Yeb's file had been found (his and Tam's courtdates had originally been scheduled separately, and the court hadn't moved his file to the right day), so we answered the judge's questions, and were finished.  We were so glad that it had all turned out ok.  

We headed with our group toward the stairs (and restroom), and Kerry ducked in there.  A girl came up the stairs, and an agency staff member introduced her at Yeb's birthmom.  HOLY MOLY!  I was so excited!  The agency didn't know that she had planned on coming, but she had been notified about the court date.  We had asked the agency before the trip whether they could help us arrange for us to meet her, and they had said that they would be happy to help us, but that they usually did that during the 2nd trip.  So we were caught off guard and surprised and excited all at once.  Kerry, meanwhile, found the stall doors locked in the bathroom, heard me meeting Yeb's birthmom, and hurried back out so he wouldn't miss anything.  Yeb's birthmom wanted to go take pictures of Yeb at the orphanage, so she, a friend that came with her, and the whole group piled into the agency van.  I got to sit next to her during the ride, and I pulled out our camera and scrolled through the pictures of Yeb and played the videos we had taken of him.  She was so happy to see  all of them, and she and her friend looked through them all and commented and laughed.  It was a strange thing, because here I was sitting next to Yeb's birthmom, and I had so much love and thanks that I wanted to communicate to her, but without a translator we weren't able to say much to each other during the ride.  The ride continued with me trying to not be completely obvious about staring at Yeb's birthmom (she is so beautiful, and Yeb looks a ton like her), and Kerry hoping that he wouldn't have permanent bladder damage.  

We got the agency offices and Yeb's orphanage, and all piled out.  Kerry had now been holding it for a solid 3 hours (I'm sure that he feels like he earned a medal of some sort), and so he disappeared as quickly as his body would let him walk, and the rest of us looked for Yeb.  As the social butterfly that he is, he noticed that there was something going on and found us.  I don't think that he had seen his birthmom in quite a while, because even though it seemed like he recognized her, he didn't want to be held by her or interact much.  We got a bunch of pictures of the two of them, and of Kerry and I with her and Yeb.  Our adoptive couple friends I mentioned earlier took video of the whole thing, which I'm really excited to see.  After some of the hubbub died down, we were able to have one of the agency staff come translate for us so we could talk to her.  It was a lot different than I had expected, partly because we were using a translator, partly because of cultural differences, and partly, I think, because I was expecting her to be going through a lot of grieving.  As Kerry and I talked about it later, we realized that she has had quite a while since placing Yeb in an orphanage to grieve.  The emotions she showed during our conversation were love for Yeb and concern for his future, but mostly happiness that this was happening for her son.  She is simply an amazing young woman.  And I am so grateful that we were able to meet her!  Her story is amazing and faith-filled, and I am so glad that Yeb will grow up knowing about her and hopefully have a relationship with her.  As we finished talking to her, we made plans to get together again when we come for our embassy visit in a couple months, and we found out that we can send pictures and letters to her through the agency, and vice versa.  The idea of an open international adoption is not one that I had ever really thought about because it is very unusual, but now that it might be a reality, we are excited to explore it.  

Later that evening as Kerry and I marveled at the miracle of being able to meet Yeb's birthmom, we realized that if Yeb's file hadn't been lost at court, and if we hadn't had to wait way longer than normal, we wouldn't have had the chance to meet her this trip.  Kerry's comment about it was that during the court process he really had been praying for things to finish up quickly so he wouldn't explode, but that it was way more important to Heavenly Father to show tender mercies to a birthmother. 

 All in all, we are continually amazed at the miracles that happen in adoption, and with birthfamilies, and know that Heavenly Father is very involved.