Our adoption journey...

So our last and final hearing went ahead on the 14 th of December. The hearing took place (yeah) and we are now scheduled for judgement on the 4 th of January. So realistically we should have the written judgement a few weeks after and we can travel to India J Today we went to sort out the visas in Paris, they should come through in a week, so we’re all ready to go when we receive the word. The next few weeks will go by fast, Christmas with the family and New Year with friends J The orphanage is in full preparation with their own Christmas celebrations and they will be staging a live tableau and our boy will be dressed up as Wise Man J . I can’t wait to see the pictures of that! Yesterday I spent a lovely day with my mom and nephews. I was thinking of Julian all the time and they kept asking when he is coming so they can FINALLY play football with him J Every time I picture them all together it makes me smile... Have a Merry Christmas everyone and a very happy 2013! ...

So our little boy went to court last Friday. I’ve been told that they had to wait a long time and he wasn’t best pleased about it J thankfully he doesn’t have to appear again. So since Friday I’ve been in stress to know what will happen next. So there is definitely one more hearing which has been scheduled for...14 December! I am so pleased it’s already next week!   After that it will go for judgement so I am not sure how much time there will be between the next hearing and judgement but so far it has been going quite quick so I’m hoping for the same J So Christmas in India would be pushing it but I think it will not be long after that. We are going to Paris to sort out the visas still in December. In the mean time the orphanage is preparing for the Christmas celebrations which are an exciting time for them. Thank you everyone for your continued support, it means a lot to us to know everyone is so supportive, our son is going to meet so many wonderful people J

So the 30th is unlikely to be the last hearing after all. It seems there will be another hearing following this. Usually there are in fact three hearings so one down two to go :) In the mean time I am organising our visa's to India and continuing to set up Julian Raju's room. Here are some snapshots already :)  

Yesterday many candles were burning all over the world in support of our big day. The first court hearing ... in this hearing the scrutiny filed their report based on all the evidence collected. This morning I received confirmation that the hearing went ahead (yeah) and that the next hearing has been scheduled for the 30 th of November (big yeah J ). I was not entirely sure what would happen at the next hearing, perhaps more evidence would be required but it seems that no further evidence is required (bigger yeah J ). The next hearing Julian Raju will have to be present together with a representative from the orphanage and I have a feeling that it is very possible that the adoption will be pronounced on the 30 th of November. After this we would need to wait for the written judgement and then the orphanage can apply for his passport and we can travel to India. It is hard to put a time on this but things are definitely moving in the right direction and I am quietly thinking abo...

No it was not the last document. There were a few additional requests but we have managed to gather it all together with the help of family and a very efficient translator. The support has been amazing and everyone is constantly reminding me that all will be well and soon Raju will be with us. I had not spoken yet about Raju's name, we had already some time ago decided to give him a second first name and therefore his official name will be Julian Raju. The orphanage has in fact started calling him by his new name eventhough we thought perhaps to transition gradually or continue calling him Raju as a nick name. His dad has a nick name so we didn't see any problem with it. But now we don't want to confuse him any further so we are now using his full first name even though it takes some getting used to :) Time has been flying by as we have been quite busy work wise. This weekend I have a quiet weekend planned and Monday I shall try and remain calm but I so hope the fir...

Since we knew our file is going to court I have been suffering from positive adoption stress. I am so excited to know that we are on the final leg of our journey. Last week however we were asked to clear the issue of Raju’s citizenship. We had already researched this and decided that we would apply for Belgian citizenship for Raju. Initially we were asked to write a declaration to that effect, witness the signatures and send it to India. Piece of cake, Monday all was ready and posted. It was not to be this simple though... the court wanted an official document from the Belgian authorities that Raju will be issued with a Belgian passport. Positive stress immediately reversed into negative stress... where did I start! First port of call was our Central Authority who was of course unable to issue such a document but advised me to contact the embassy. The lady at the embassy was so excited about the adoption (kept congratulating me :))and explained to me the process of getting th...

We have a date! 5 th of November will be the first court date for our file. This is what they call a scrutiny check. Once we pass this, there will be another hearing. Hopefully we will only need two in total. I am beyond excited; it is so good to hear that things are moving. I am sure that many adoptive parents would agree that the bureaucracy is by far the most stressful thing. Perseverance is the message, in the end you will get there J don’t let it discourage you if a document is missing or gets lost. Many prospective parents ask how long does it take, but there is no hard and fast rule, every file is different. At the beginning I too looked at the official sites to see the official time lines set out but soon realised that reality is very different. So everybody spare a positive thought, prayer on the 5 th of November so all will go well. Don’t worry I will remind you on the day ;)