Prayers Please!

This is not going to be a short post: On Saturday, driving back from the orphange I found out that Panama has a law that the kids have to be in custody with us for 30 days before they can request a court date. I don't want to get into all the legalities but to make a long story short..we could have to be here for 7 more weeks. This is impossible for us to do..for many reasons..Li-Li and Bella need to be back at school, childcare for Maura Genet and Thomas, George HAS to work, and many more. Obviously there was miscommunication because if we knew this we wouldn't be in this situation since this arrangement is not feasable for our family. Earlier today we were ready to give up. The situation seemed pretty hopeless. A few hours later I called our attorneys and asked them to come to our hotel. George and I came up with three possible solutions. One: that everything gets expedited and the adoption is completed by Nov. 8th (very doubtful) Two: That we spend the required 30 days with the kids and then have legal guardianship granted to us, fly back to USA and then come back here in late May when all the kids are out of school to go to court and finish the process. Three: that we spend the required 30 days here and then go back to the USA without the kids and come back at the end of May to complete the adoption. The second option is tough because it will be tough to get a court date soon enough to grant us legal guardianship. It looks like the third option is the only one that may work. I know it sounds bad, having them go back to the orphanage but at least they can be with us in May. At least it may be an option. George and I are doing everything we can, along with our agency, to push this adoption through. I have another meeting at 9:30 in the morning with the director of adoption authority. I have done my homework and I am prepared to plead my case. I also have requested to meet with the judge and will be in contact with the US Embassy tomorrow. This children are helpless and George and I will fight for them to become Thornley's. Please pray for our family, for the attorneys, for the judges and for everyone involved. Prayer is powerful and I am hopeful that we can do this.