FINALIZED! 5 Years, 48 days after a dream.

It is with great joy and pride I am pleased to announce the official finalization of Sharleny and Daniela's adoption into our family!!!  Our adoption journey is no where near over, but it all started 5 years and 48 days ago when Ben told me about a dream he had where God clearly called him to adopt two children from the Dominican Republic.

The journey has been a roller coaster filled with soaring highs and profound lows.  Our faith was rocked and tested, but we clung to God's promise for our family and I could not imagine my life without all FOUR of my amazing, unique, wanted daughters.  God has created each one of them in His infinite wisdom and I have the privilege of being their mother.  Much of our journey has been documented in this blog, but I have not been the best at keeping it updated since we arrived here in the Dominican Republic.

We flew to the DR on my birthday, December 11th.  Our first two weeks were spent in Santiago de los Caballeros.  Our first week was spent acclimating to the country and getting settled.  You can see details on that week here.  It was a wonderful opportunity to make some final memories as a family of four away from distractions of life's daily demands.

On December 19th, 2016, we began our socialization week and we met Sharleny and Daniela.  Each day they came to visit us at the AirBnb house we were staying at (El Jardín Secreto) for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  The two hours sped by as we began to make our very first memories as a family of six.  It was always an emotional goodbye as they drove away in the taxi to head back to the orphanage.  On Wednesday of that week, we were invited to visit them at their orphanage.  This was a unique opportunity to see where they had been living for the past 5 years and meet many of their friends and the adults who had been caring for them.  I do not take this opportunity lightly, as our agency informs us we are the first family who was given permission to visit the orphanage their children were cared for prior to adoption.

On Thursday of that week, after our two hour visit with the girls, we took a coach bus from Santiago to Santo Domingo to move to the apartment we would spend our 30 day cohabitation period in.  In order to use the courts with the most experience with adoptions, we were required to move into the National District.  We wanted to move the night before the girls would begin living with us full time in order to make sure the apartment was ready for our brand new family of six.  We got in a bit late, too late to go grocery shopping, so we ordered a pizza an headed to bed.  Sleep was not easy in the excitement of knowing the next morning CONANI would be granting us custody of the daughters we had so longed to be able to kiss goodnight after all these years.

Friday, December 23rd, 2016 was our "Gotcha Day".  We became their physical custodians and we began to bond as a family 24/7.  I can remember walking out of CONANI feeling surreal. Something I had prayed for, dreamed of, longed for was finally coming to fruition.  Unfortunately, we had yet to make it to a grocery store so one of our very first outings as a family of six was heading to the grocery store two days before Christmas.  If you've never been in the DR at Christmas time, let me just say Dominicans celebrate Christmas on a whole different level than in the US.  If you think stores stateside are crazy in December, you clearly haven't seen Santo Domingo.  The aisles were packed, an older woman even ran over our blind seven year old with her cart.  Combine that with the fact that our family turns heads everywhere we go and everyone was emotionally exhausted and becoming hangry.  Let's just say it was not the fairy-tale first night as a family of six, but we got through it together and bonding was beginning.

Days were long as we adjusted to life as our new normal.  It was hard to be in a small apartment with no green area nearby to run and play.  Four rambunctious girls means endless energy and mom and dad had to get creative in ways to let them expend that energy while also promoting bonding and attachment.  We will forever to grateful for our connections to our sister church, Iglesia Central, and how they welcomed us to Santo Domingo with open arms.  Some highlights were watching the awe as all 4 girls fell in love with the ocean, taking them to a park to climb trees, dancing in a downpour in the parking lot and many firsts as a family of six like a visit to the movie theater to see Moana and looking forward to Discovery Land (children's church) at Iglesia Central.  I am so thankful neither Ben nor I had distractions of work during this time so we could truly focus on our family.

Our cohabitation period was supposed to be 60 days, but we were granted a reduction to 30 days in order to hopefully return to the US more quickly to begin services for the girls.  On January 18th, 2017 (my sister's birthday), our cohabitation period ended and we were granted permission to move out of the National District.  We chose to move to an apartment in Juan Dolio on the beach where there is more room to roam and play.  The complex is very quiet and has a pool and beach access.  We enrolled three of the girls in a bilingual school in a town nearby and I have been homeschooling Dani since educational services for the blind are not as easy to find here in the DR. This apartment has been a huge blessing for bonding and attachment and it almost feels a bit like being on an extended vacation.

On February 3rd, we met with a judge to move towards finalization.  She interviewed Ben and I away from the girls to ask about how life as a family of 6 was going and to be sure we understood the adoption would mean they would become our children in every aspect of our biological children and would be irrevocable.  We, of course, wholeheartedly agreed and she then started the adoption finalization process.  Unfortunately, taking us away from the girls created some fears of being taken away from us, but we were able to process through those feelings as a family.

The interview with the judge was the last thing preventing Ben from being allowed to return back to MN for work.  On February 6th, Ben flew home and I have remained here solo parenting 4 girls who sorely miss their daddy.  Ben's departure has resurfaced some fears of abandonement for Sharleny and Daniela and it is hard for Shannon and Amelia to be away from their daddy too.  Is it hard?  Yes.  Am I exhausted? Yes! Am I blessed and is God providing?  A thousand times Yes!!!!

I am reminding myself that this time away from Ben is temporary and we will have so many years ahead of us to watch our four blessing grow and make countless memories as a family of 6.  Yesterday, as we received new that the adoption decree was issued and we officially had two new Reillys, my heart could not have been more overjoyed.

We still have 2-3 more months here in the DR before we will move back to MN as a family of 6.  Monday starts the 30 day no appeal period.  After that we will apply for new birth certificates and passports.  Finally we will make several visits to the US Embassy to obtain VISAS, permitting Dani and Sharleny's entrance to into the US.

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18