Late Night and the World - It's Dad here!

It's 12:02 am on Thursday night and I am watching one of the most bizzare baseball games ever.  Dropped fly balls, poor throws, home runs followed by clutch hits and then more home runs.  So many ups and downs!  My nerves can't take much more!

But as I go through the emotions that this game has thrown at me, I am reminded of how many emotions we have experienced going through our adoption journey.  Times of pure joy and times of pure frustration. Right now we are in one of those times of 'Pure Frustration'.  For 6 weeks we have been waiting for our lawyer in DRC to obtain what they call and abandonment decree.  We know from our lawyer and our agency that all of the background checks on Alli have come back good.  Why we are still waiting for the abandonment decree only God knows.  It is very hard to get answers.  Things don't run in a timely manner in DRC.

So as the dad, who is sitting here watching this game, I am also sitting here wishing that we would get the OK to bring out little girl home.  My request is simple, please pray that the abandonment decree comes through soon.  Once this happens the adoption process can begin in earnest.  When we receive the abandonment decree, the lawyer can then get a new birth certificate and then proceed with the adoption.  We are told this part of the process will not take long.

As many of you know, I have a birthday coming up the end of November...all I want is a travel date to DRC so we can go and pick up a special little girl....I hope God is reading this!!....Go Rangers!

Wednesday Words

Thankful

I'm so thankful today. Thankful for a husband (who's coming home tonight after about a month of way-too-much traveling) that encourages me, challenges me, prays with me and most importantly continually points me to God's truth. Thankful for our daughters (3 here at home and our sweet little one still very far away) who motivate me everyday to be a better mom than I was the day before - to spend more time laughing, dreaming and praying than I do sulking, working and worrying. Thankful for the ministry I'm involved in that keeps me on my knees and continually seeking God's direction, purpose and peace.  Thankful for our adoption journey and the way God has opened our eyes to the world around us.  Thankful for the many people we've met along the way, who have made themselves available to be used by God!  I'm most thankful (on this Thankful Thursday) that God choses to use imperfect, unimpressive people to carry out His purposes!  This is the "group" I want to belong to - those who are fighting for the broken, are holding onto love, are reaching out to the lonely - who are changing the world!

Praying and Believing

Jeff and I had a conference call yesterday with our Adoption Agency's Director and the sweet gal who is handling the DRC cases - such incredible women with huge hearts for children and families!  Although we were thankful for the chance to talk with them and get an update on our adoption, we were a bit saddened by the reality of where we're at in the process.  We've been praying that we would be able to celebrate Christmas with our little one, but it's now looking like we won't travel to bring her home until Feb 2012.
We've known from the beginning of this journey that there would be unknown turns and unexpected delays, so although we're sad, we're not discouraged or frustrated.  We know that our Agency and Lawyer are working on our behalf and above all else, we know that God's timing is perfect!
Part of the reason for this new delay is the Elections that will be taking place in the DRC on November 27, 2011.  In other parts of our world, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding elections and the reaction to the outcome.  Even though I really dislike all the election commercials and spin that happen here in the US, I am so thankful that our elections are organized, safe and fair.  We have much to be thankful for!
As we talked with our Agency yesterday, one of the things that they are trying to accomplish before the elections take place, is to open a Transition House and have all our referred children moved into it.  I know with complete certainty that God hears the prayers of His people - so would you please join us in praying for this move to take place before the end of November.
Again I find myself pleading with God to keep our sweet girl safe.  I'm so thankful that He's holding her in His hands - I believe with all my heart that He knows her, sees her and loves her with a perfect love!  So for now, we'll continue to pray, trust, believe and eagerly anticipate the day when we'll get to bring her home!

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  Hebrews 4:16

Waiting

It was a beautiful fall weekend here in the South!  I love this cooler weather and the pumpkin spice lattes, chili and cornbread that come with it!
My Mom and Dad visited with us last week - unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole time they were here.  They did, however, manage to get a lot of projects checked off our "to-do" list.  They painted a wall in Abbi's room, they painted ALL of Alli's room - along with a desk and rocking chair that we'll use in her room as well.  So despite the rain - they had a very productive trip!  You just have to LOVE parents that jump in to help out anyway they can!!  Thank you sooo much Mom and Dad!
I really don't have any new adoption news to share.  We're still waiting...and waiting...and waiting.  Waiting is always difficult and I seem to swing from one emotion to the next.  I had coffee with a sweet friend on Friday and she reminded me that God never wastes times of waiting - He has so much for us to learn during this time - to continue to shape us and mold us into the parents we'll need to be for our sweet addition.  So thankful for the reminder!
I did email our adoption agency last Tuesday to ask for an update.  I'm usually not one to do that - I figure they'll let us know if important news comes their way.  But it had been a couple of weeks since we'd heard anything so I thought I'd give it a try.  They confirmed that we're still waiting for an abandonment decree so that a birth certificate can be generated for our little one.  After that our case will be ready to submit to court.  We're continuing to pray that she'll be home by Christmas, but we know without a doubt, that God's timing is perfect!
So we continue to wait...and drink pumpkin spice lattes! :)
Happy Fall -