Pray, Pray, Pray!

We were warned that International adoption is volatile and that changes can rapidly occur.  Now, we are experiencing it. 

We've spent the last couple of months waiting on corrected court documents (which still are not correct) and waiting for our Embassy appointment in Kinshasa.  The appointment was set for September 29th.  It was the middle of "fair week".  For those of you who are local, you know what that means.  We were in the thick of washing, cutting, frying serving 3,650 lbs of potatoes, 1,400 lbs of wings, making wing sauces, etc. at the Bloomsburg Fair.

We took time out the morning of the 29th to have breakfast as a family.  We prayed for Caleb and "celebrated" that it wouldn't be long until he'd be joining us.  That evening, we received an email saying that the process is changing and that the appointment that we waited five weeks for did not happen!  All paperwork must come back to the United States to be processed.  It's my understanding that it will then have to go back to the DRC.  Our agency still does not have clarification, but long story short is that we thought we'd be on a plane by the end of October and, as of now, there is no end in sight. 

Disappointed?  Definitely. 
Frustrated?  Yeah. 
Angry?  A little. 
Worried?  Actually I am.  This is the first time during this process that I've been worried.
Anxious?  Yes.
Losing faith?  Not in God, but in people (maybe this is how it's supposed to be?)

The list goes on and on....I guess it's hard because we were really planning for his homecoming within a couple of weeks.  The process was down to just a few weeks left.  He's been ours on paper since June.  It's time we get to officially welcome him home into our family.  He needs us and we need him.

I've read information from other agencies saying that this new step in the process can now take three weeks to three months, but our agency has not released any information (and our paperwork is "caught in the middle").  I'm hoping OW comes back this week with really good news.  Please pray with us that this issue is resolved quickly.

Thanks, Everyone.  Happy Monday!

Just like a roller coaster

For those of you who don't live nearby, there's an awesome amusement park in Elysburg called Knoebel's Grove.  Each summer we make a trip (or two...or three...) to the park.  All four of our kids love roller coasters.  They come by that naturally.  I've been to known to say that I love the feeling of having my stomach rise to my throat and fall back down again!  The scarier, the better!

Well, let me tell you that this adoption process is a little bit like a roller coaster.  One day things are moving along great, the next day we feel like we're screeching to a halt, only to begin up the big hill again.  This type of roller coaster is NOT as much fun as the Phoenix at Knoebel's, though.  This is the kind of roller coaster that plays with your emotions.  It has its emotional ups and downs, twists and turns - so much that it almost makes us want to hop off and not finish the ride.  Ya know - to look for a more peaceful, "choo-choo train" type of ride.  Then we look at Caleb's picture and remember the nagging feeling that we had before we started this adoption process...the feeling that we needed to be doing something important that God wanted us to do.  We recognize the feeling of emptiness in our hearts, knowing we have a baby boy waiting for his mommy and daddy to come and get him. 

No, this roller coaster ride may not be totally fun, but we are hanging on until this ride is completely over and Caleb is with his forever family.

The Waiting Game

July 8, 2010

Once again, I've been delinquent in my posts, but let me bring you up to date because a lot has been happening.

For starters, everyone keeps asking me, "What's his name?". I think it's "legal" for me to post the name we're giving him, so I'll tell you all that his name will be Caleb. We have decided to keep part of his African-given name as his middle name (can't post any part of that on here - sorry).

Secondly, we spent nearly the first two weeks after his referral with no new information, other than his picture. We were beginning to get discouraged wondering if he was really going to be ours when we received his "official" paperwork (referral papers, health information, etc.). We spent a little bit of time compiling all the pieces of our dossier. Then we went another two weeks without hearing a thing. Let me just say that it is unbelievably hard to be patient, especially now that we have his picture. We look at it, hug it, kiss it, talk to it, but that's enough -We want HIM!!

The good news is that things are moving along. We spent a week on the Outer Banks. It was great family time, but we found ourselves talking a lot about Caleb. Check out the completed family project in the picture below.

On the way home from our vacation, we were told that we were not in court yet, didn't know when our case would to to court, etc. We were slightly discouraged, but still trusting God for his timing. Long story short, we got home and the very next day, we got a phone call saying the adoption was final. Now we begin a 30-day waiting period. I think the whole thing should be called a "waiting period"!

Continue to pray for us as we prepare for his arrival. We are hoping that he will be home in August, but that remains to be seen.

Above photo was taken while we were talking about Caleb on the beach one day during our vacation.  We decided to put our thoughts into action playing in the sand.  :)

Who'd Have Thought?

So, for the last four weeks we've been thinking of girl names, dreaming of pink ruffles, and yes, we bought a pack of those adorable headbands for little girls. I've even been asking around about a hair stylist that can do braids and such.

We found out last week that the referral of the 8 month old little girl probably wasn't going to work out. While we were a bit down, we also had peace that God had the "perfect" child for us. We went "back on the list" assuming we'd probably get a girl since that's what we had gotten the first time. Lo and behold, late last night, our caseworker, Terri, called and said she has a referral for a 5 1/2 month old little BOY - would we be interested? I was tired after a 13 hour day at work and George was in bed when I get home, but as soon as we opened the email and blew up his pictures - it happened. Ya know - that "love at first sight" stuff. It's true...I was totally in love within 30 seconds!! We - well George - decided to "sleep on it", but all that did was make me stay up all night wishing the time would tick away when we (he) could decide for sure we were taking him. I don't think it was that he needed to decide as much as it was that I woke him up out of a dead sleep to look at the picture. And, we were in the little girl mindset - his brain was too tired to comprehend the gender switch.

However, by 5:00 this morning, it was officially decided that we would proceed with the next step and gather additional information on this little guy. He is way too adorable to not jump on the opportunity to have him in our family (and, no, I am not a biased mommy!).

Other than more paperwork, the next step is to think of a boy's name,to think blue and not pink, to think about toads and worms - not headbands and nail polish.

A little boy - who'd have thought? :)

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!