An Update from the Hanley Family

[John Hanley]

It has been a busy day, well at least emotionally.  I got a call from our attorney that is helping appeal the decision from the Children's Court that Michael can not travel with us to the United States.  He called to say that the decision was complete, but that we would not be able to find out the Judges' sentence until Monday after the paperwork was "Registered."  Which loosely translated means someone needed to put a stamp on it.  That was a frustrating phone call, just more waiting.   Well, he called later in the afternoon, that Monday had come early and the paperwork was registered and that the judges had ruled in our favor.  They upheld the ruling that it is in Michael's best interest to live with us, and reversed the original judge's decision that he could not travel.  So know we have legal authorization from the Dominican government to travel with Michael.

The next step is to seek a visa from the United States government that will allow Michael to travel to the United States.  We have scheduled the next available appoinment which is January 5th at 11:00.  So on January 5th we will be hoping on a bus headed down to Santo Domingo to visit the American Embassy and meet with a consul agent.  We will know the decision before we leave the interview! One hurdle down, one to go!!!!!!  

We appreciate all your prayers and support during this waiting time, and look forward to sharing the good news on January 5th.  We know that we are in God's hands, and that he is working all things out.

My mom has decided to visit us over her vacation time, unfortunately, my Dad couldn't get time off, but she will be visiting us Dec. 24th to Dec 31st.  We are looking forward to her visit, and Kate will be headed back to Florida with her to spend a week in Florida, and then a week in Tennessee with Melissa's parents, and also get a chance to visit with cousins.  She will then be headed back to the Dominican Republic with a missionary that will be returning on Jan 17th.  So it will be an exciting trip for her, and a long couple of weeks for us.

Also, if you missed the, here are a few recent blog posts.

Yellow Tickets

The 13th Month

John, Melissa, Kate, and Michael