Latest Update from our Attorney

I spoke with our attorney this morning for an update. He still has not heard back from the curator assigned to Donovan. (This is the person who serves him the paperwork to terminate his parental interests). He said it is a little odd that they haven’t filed the report yet, but that could be a good sign. If the curator did contact Donovan’s attorney, they only had 20 days to respond. Depending on when (and if) they contacted the attorney, that time period may be up and his rights may have already been terminated! (This is what we are praying for). We won’t know that until our attorney has contacted that curator. (Several attempts have been made with no response). The attorney said that there aren’t any laws on the book to cover part of our case. Meaning since Donovan’s attorney contacted our attorney to contest the adoption, and then has never contacted him again; there is no response time frame on record. That is why the information from the curator is so important. If for some reason there is something in the curator’s report showing a response by Donovan, then we will file a Motion to Terminate Parental Interests. The court will require our attorney to notify Donovan’s attorney and they will have 20 days to respond to our notification. That is when a legal battle would begin. Our attorney would like to wait until 6 months have passed from the time he originally received the letter from Donovan’s attorney contesting the adoption, as he feels this helps our case. He did not have the exact date in front of him, but said he will have it for me when I call back later this week. We know that it was before June 5^th, as that is the last time either of us has heard from Donovan or his attorney.

Our attorney is not able to start the finalization paperwork until he receives a birth certificate for Mark. The State of Louisiana is taking 6-8 months right now to get them out. Once he has it he can move forward with the finalization. He has to file a bunch of paperwork on our behalf and then we wait some more. The average time is 12-14 months from date of birth. Our attorney said that if we don’t have to fight Donovan, then we don’t have to go back to Louisiana for the court hearing. He can stand on our behalf as it is mostly a “rubber stamp” and photo ops. with the judge. If it is contested, then we all have to go back L

Thank you for your continued prayers. Phil 4:6-7 reminds us not to be anxious about this, but to give it to God, through prayer, and He will give us the peace we need to get through this. His faithfulness thus far has been overwhelming to say the least! We thank Him each day for giving us this day with our precious son. No parent knows when it could be their last.

We are looking forward to many of you meeting Mark soon!

No new information / Mark's Dedication

I talked with our attorney again today. He is waiting to hear back from one of the curators as to the status of their report. One of the curators has filed their report, so we do know that we are only dealing with one potential birth father. The other curator has not filed her report and as of this morning has not returned our attorney's calls for the status. What we are praying is that once she does file her report, we will have an all clear to proceed. It is possible that Donovan signed off on the papers and she just hasn't filed the report. We know it is a long shot, but keeping Phil 4:6-7 in mind, we are praying diligently for that! Our attorney is going over to that branch of the system this afternoon and is hoping to get additional information for us. I will call back on Monday to see if he did. I am hoping to get a better time line of how long the curator can draw this out before we need to take action.

This is a picture of us dedicating Mark on September 29th. Our church is very community oriented, so we had a dedication/baptism service at someone's home that evening. (No Mark was not baptized!) What a blessing it is to have others praying on your behalf. Not only for wisdom and guidance as we raise this precious boy, but prayers for his salvation. That God would extend His grace and mercy to our son and that Mark would be able to see how God chose him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) to be a part of His kingdom!

Lord willing, He will grant our prayers. Thank you to everyone who is praying on our behalf. What a glorious day it will be to have this adoption finalized and to see Mark become a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ!