Tidbits on Leila

The latest news - we are waiting. Yep, nothing new, but we are praying this guardianship document will be signed THIS week. That is the plan. Please join us in prayer! Our friend and adoption coordinator that's helping us through the LINK returned from Niger about a week and a half ago, and these are some of the things she shared from her visit:

• Poihn (orphanage director) continues to be cooperative. This is good for the families trying to adopt and for the children because hopefully, this means they are eating regularly because he is willing to comply with the rules to receive funding for food and other basic necessities. I seriously pray daily that God would give her supernatural vitamins that I know her body is desperate for. I wonder if she ever gets fresh fruit that I love so much, and I can't wait to see her eat ice cream!
• Leila's birthmother and Leila's maternal grandfather have agreed to sign the guardianship document. Again, that is hopefully, this week. TIA (This Is Africa), so we are cautiously optimistic but know that God can move mountains. Poihn was supposed to be the one signing, but that changed once again. I'm not clear why but again TIA. I pray they will be able to get her  birthmother and grandfather to the notary, and that they will be ready and at the place where they need to be picked up to get there.
• Apparently, her birth mother also has either a birth certificate or something that documents her blessed arrival, so that would tell us how old she is and when we can celebrate her birthday! I'm also cautiously optimistic on this one...with language and cultural differences, this could be something completely different.
• Dankarami and Rodrigo (both are in Niger with The LINK) are very confident that this will be easy from here on out. I am wondering how they're defining "easy", but I'll take their confidence!
• I saw Zalika's momma at church on Sunday and she congratulated us that we were one step closer (I hesitated with a thank you because I didn't feel like we had made a lot of progress; at least until that document is signed). But regardless, her husband is in the know as the founder of The LINK, so it sounds like I need to be more excited about the progress! Anyway, she told Zalika that Leila could be here soon, and she said Zalika started jumping up and down with excitement. So sweet. That is a moment I can't wait for - to see those 2 girls that grew up together in such hardship meet once again with a much brighter future ahead.
• It's been a year since we started this process - that is hard to believe!
• We have tried so hard to be patient through this process that Geoff and I think it's also made us a bit apathetic. Blah. Not a good place to be. So, we are committing to more fervently get on our knees, give thanks and seek the Giver of Life for this precious little girl and her journey to our family.