Surprising Update - It's a girl!

We are surprised and overjoyed to announce that after again getting ready to settle in for a long wait for a match, we have received a file and accepted a match for a little GIRL! Kira’s going to be a big sister! 

The little girl is 10 months old. Her current name is Havya, and we plan to make that her middle name and name her Evelyn Havya when the legal documents start asking. We can’t share any pictures online until she is legally ours, but if you see me or Dave we’d be happy to melt your heart and show you her picture with her adorable smile and big black eyes! 

There are so many surprising things about this match. First, the timing was so fast. Then, her age. We were approved for a child age three or younger. Adoption at any age is wonderful, but for HER sake we are so grateful that at her young age we can be a part of the process to bring her out of institutional care and into a family even sooner. (For comparison, Kira was 1 ½ at match and 2 when she came home.)

Then, the biggest surprise of all was that Evelyn is actually living at the SAME orphanage that Kira was from. We hardly planned on being in the same region of the country this time around, much less the same state, city, and orphanage! This is absolutely God’s work. Our agency “matchmaker” did not know when she sent us the file that Kira was from the same place. We are overjoyed that our two little girls as adoptive siblings can have that shared history. And for the sake of travel, we already know the hotels, the drivers, the orphanage itself. It takes a HUGE load off to have familiarity with these spaces already! 

Next Steps

From here, the average is 7-12 months to travel. There are loads of documents to prepare and we have to be registered for court and then receive the legal order that makes Evelyn ours. Please pray specifically that we do not see a delay in receiving NOC. Evelyn had a diagnosis on her record that made her eligible for international adoption, but then later labs showed a negative, so we have heard a change like that can cause a delay. 

Some of you may remember that for Kira we traveled to India twice, the first time to appear in court. Since Evelyn is in the same state, we may be required to travel to appear in court again, but we have also learned that over Covid some court appearances became virtual. While appearing in court means we get to meet Evelyn sooner, virtual court would save us thousands of dollars in travel costs. We’ll be content and trust the Lord’s provision for either option, but virtual court sounds nice!

I still intend to share about what it will look like for us as a family when Evelyn comes home. I just thought I had more time. :) But now you’ll get to read those with a real person in mind!