Quick Update

Okay, so tonight I thought I probably should quickly bring everyone up to speed on the adoption. I'm kinda tired and we're all fighting the yuckies, so I'll try to keep it short :)

Last Thursday, we experienced our own little miracle of sorts. We had refiled our I600A with USCIS and about 2 weeks ago, I started checking on it's status. At first, we were told by the national customer service people that the Tampa office had received our paperwork. I emailed them asking about when we would get our fingerprint appt, only to get a response back that they did NOT have our paperwork. I called the national people back again, and they assured me that the Tampa office really did have our paperwork, and to email them AGAIN. I did, and well, I got a short and to the point email that said AGAIN, NO our paperwork was not there. I thought "Oh great, our paperwork is lost and now I have ticked off the adoption officer in Tampa, and she is the one I need to approve our paperwork...GREAT!" So, I called the national people back (which, by the way, is NOT fun - sooo hard to get an actual person who cares!) and they told me they would "escalate" my call. Which I guess means that you get to talk to supervisor....but she was VERY nice! Unfortunately, she pretty much told me that they get a TON of mail a day and well, who knows where our application really is?!? She did suggest that I go to our bank and try to find out if the cashier's check was cashed (yes, we paid $910 for this kind of service and we still will have to pay that 2 more times - once for each child since they are not sibs when we file our I600- for a total of three times!) She said if it was cashed, it was a good sign that our application was in process and that SOMEBODY had it! She also told me to wait 30 days and call back - we have been dealing with this since the beginning of December. As you can imagine, I was not at all comforted from this conversation. Since this really is the last thing we need (beside our doctor's updated license which we are STILL waiting on) before submitting our dossier, you can imagine how panicked I was. Thankfully, the cashier's check WAS cashed AND last Thursday, the adoption officer from our office actually called me to let me know she had received our application! YAY!! And after I explained to her the whole situation, she was very understanding and not at all upset with us. She even called me back a few minutes later to let me know she had my application and our homestudy (they were sent separately) and she was going to work on it. It was a huge THANK YOU GOD moment! So, now we are just waiting on our fingerprint appointment from her office and then we wait for our approval. More of that whole hurry up and wait part!!

But God really used this situation, to show me just how weak my faith really is at times. I can't even begin to describe the depth of despair I felt when I thought about just how LONG this part of the process could take - how quickly the government moves isn't really something you can control, especially when you picture your lost application and your children waiting in an orphanage . I'm not trying to be dramatic, but everyday these kids wait, makes it worse, Ana is already 3 and needs OUT. But we've known from day one that this adoption was HIS and that these children are HIS, which is okay for me, but then He keeps reminding me that the timing is also HIS. Ouch! Now that one hurts ;) It runs directly in the face of my own will and my own plans! And to spell it out even more clearly, I came across this today during my quiet time. It's from the Message, 1 Peter 2:21-25, and it's talking about Jesus...
"....They called Him every name in the book and He said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right..."
Wow! Now that one hurt even more ;) I want to be there, but giving up control (which I don't really have anyway - just look at what the people in Haiti are going thru), now that is hard for me. Jesus didn't just trust that God would set things right, He was CONTENT! I can tell you that during the last few weeks, CONTENT hasn't really been one of my emotions. So, point taken! This whole adoption is weaving something into the fabric of my heart, something into the fabric of my life. It is changing who I am, and how I look at life, and most definitely what I want out of life. It is changing my husband and my family. And this journey has only just begun! He is faithful, even when I"m not! He does not lose heart, even when I do SO, tonight I am content to let God set things right, for my family, for my children, for ME, and I will continue to step out in faith for these beautiful babies, trusting that His ways and His TIMING are so much better than mine!

So much for a short post ;)