Promises to Rest In

Our family is going to have to make some big decisions in the next year. We are about to change a lot of things about our lives....sometimes that is exciting, sometimes it's scary. It gives me great peace to trust that as long as we look to God for guidance and direction, He will order our steps. I found this poem below, and it speaks to that. (author unknown)

“One day as I was out walking - a thought occurred to me;
Perhaps the Lord up in Heaven is making plans for me.
Maybe he’s planning my every step - what I will do and say;
Maybe he’s planning some glorious things - if only I follow His way.
Dear Lord, I call - I give You my all; please mold my life lest I fall.
My vision is clear, and now I can see;
I know that the Lord up in Heaven - is making plans for me."


11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13

Here's hoping that this promise brings you hope and peace today, too!

Accessories....

Most people who know me know that I love accessories. (jewelry, purses, etc.) Well, my blog is no different.....I love to change the look and play with colors and accessorize! So, yes, my blog looks different again...check back often to see if I have a new look. I'll probably change it every so often - it's just like jewelry! :)

Out of our hands....

Well, our dossier is out of our hands!! I took it to Springfield today to get certification. Then I made copies and sent it off to our agency by Fed Ex! I double, triple and quadruple checked it and I'm still a little nervous that I forgot something. It's out of our control now, though. (not sure whether to make a happy or sad face here!)
So, Terra, our adoption coordinator should receive our dossier by the end of the week and will review it on Monday. Hopefully it will all look good and our agency will send it by courier to the Ethiopian Embassy and the US State Department for authentication. (it's all very official sounding, don't you think?!) After that, they will send it off to Africa! All of this means that we could possibly be DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) by next Friday, Oct. 3 and THEN we can OFFICIALLY start waiting. (approx. 7 months for referral - subject to change:)

Thank you for your prayers as we have completed this part of our process.....now we just wait. I'm sure that will seem easy at first as we are so relieved to be through the first part, but I know that becomes hard - especially in the end. We still covet your prayers!!

Thanks for following along!

WE GOT IT!

Well, here it is.....our I171-H!! Doesn't look that exciting to you? I know it may not look like anything special, but here's the thing - We couldn't do ANYTHING else in our adoption process without it! We are so excited that it's here!! This letter officially states that the US government has determined that we are able to furnish proper care to an orphan and we are approved to adopt.


What's the next step?! Well, we will gather all of our documents, get the final copy of our home study from our social worker, get everything certified by the state, make copies and send it off to our agency! Hopefully, they will find everything to be in order and authenticate our documents and then send them off to Ethiopia - at that point we will receive our DTE date (dossier to Ethiopia) and begin our official wait!! We will wait approx. 7 months for a referral from that date!

We are grateful to be one step closer to our baby! Yea!

Giving it all back

I find this adoption journey giving me lots of opportunity for growth. I have to be honest....not all of it is welcome, but it is there just the same. I have this inner conflict going on that goes something like this...one moment I am trusting God completely, another I am trying to control things and figure out all the details, time scenarios, finances, etc. in my head.....then I will go back to giving it to God only to take it all back upon myself again. Does anyone else do this? Do you struggle to hand things over to God and then leave them in His lap?
Now, I trust Him, I really do - I just like to have control and before I even realize it I have taken back all or part of what I have trusted Him with. I don't mean to. I like to have a plan and I like to know how things are going to work out. (doesn't everyone?) I have gone over every possible time scenario, a thousand scenarios of how we can make it out of this adoption debt free, and countless possibilities of what it will be like once our baby comes home.
When I try to control things, it only ends in frustration. Honestly, it's only when I bring myself back to God and lay things at His feet that I feel better. It's only when I ask Him to help me remember what brought us to this adoption in the first place - an opportunity to be used by Him, to glorify Him in the process and an opportunity to trust Him for all that we need - that I feel better. As we get further into this process I find myself having to remind myself more and more of the reasons we began this journey in the first place, lest it become about waiting for immigration or worrying about some other detail. Ultimately, this is His adoption and so I will continue to try to truly give all the details to Him and stop pretending that I have any control anyway!

Wait a minute, Mr. Postman

Mr. Postman....
So many days you passed me by
See the tears standin' in my eyes
You didn't stop to make me feel better
By leavin' me a card or a letter

Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, please Mister Postman)

Why's it takin such a long time
Wait a minute Mr. Postman......

Well, Mr. Postman has still not brought our I171-H.....I keep thinking our next post will be that we received this form and we're movin' on!! Someday......

In the meantime, we'll keep watching the mailbox!

Love This

Someone in our adoption Yahoo group shared this and I wanted to pass it on:

Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial.
Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.
Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.
Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my
own.

-- Rita Laws, PhD