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Dear family and friends - your love, prayers, and support right now is so appreciated. Already my email box and chat group is overflowing with prayers and encouragement for the sad news we received today.

There were 3 families that did not pass court today - all of the families with older, sibling children (3 families, 6 kids). Evidently, during the court closure, the courts and MOWA changed a paperwork requirement and orphanages and agencies did not get informed. Our agency found out only as they were presenting our cases to the judge. Previously there was different paperwork for children that were abandoned and children that were relinquished to the orphanage by a parent. (The older children were relinquished because the parent could not provide for them or the parent was dying.) With the new rules, relinquished children need the same paperwork as the children that were abandoned. It will take a day or two to get the new paperwork from the orphanage, but now the courts are overflowing/backlogged due to the closure and the earliest court date we can get is Nov 8. Duni will continue to work to appeal for an earlier court date, but she did not sound optimistic. In fact, she sounded very sad.

So today is a bittersweet day - we are so happy for all of the other families that had a successful court date today!!! And we are so saddened (and quite numb) at this turn of events. These older kids have been through so much already, and now to have this delay added to all the other delays. One of our sons has been at the Transition Home since March. That's a long wait for a little boy.

Now we will continue to pray for a breakthrough on a court date, rejoice with the other families as they are united with their children, and look forward to the day we meet our children for the first time. That day will be long over due and so very precious!