It has crossed my mind several times to post in the last couple of months but I just really haven't had any news to share. Not any news that I wanted to share. We received all our documents back from the Haitian Consulate right before our trip to the beach the first week of June. I was super excited and ready to send our Dossier to Haiti. I was on top of the world thinking we would have a photo any day of our child. However, the same day we were scheduled to leave for the beach, we received a letter from USCIS requesting additional information for approval here in the US. Most familes adopting have to wait for this approval before moving forward to their child's home country but that was not the case with Dr. Bernard. This was another advantage so it seemed when adopting from Haiti, you could go ahead and move forward with the process in Haiti before receiving approval here in the US. This was not going to be the case for us which saddened me. After receiving the letter, we made the decision to gather all documents and wait for approval before moving any further in the process.

The thought of not being approved for adoption broke my heart. Brad and I have both prayed and cried, cried and prayed and prayed some more. I know in my heart God can move mountains, He can make a signature appear where He wants it too. My flesh began telling me maybe we weren't meant to adopt, we weren't going to get approval and my dream of bringing our little girl home was looking so distant. I wrestled with myself over and over through the last few weeks. I kept coming back to God already knows all the details, He wrote this chapter of my life along time ago. We have prayed for God's will and we have been praying that our plans for our family were God's plans for our family. We jumped through hoops to get everything ready to send out. This past Friday our updated homestudy and all documents were ready to be sent to Lees Summit, MO, our deadline was the end of the day Monday. So as I walked out of Pony Mailbox Express Friday afternoon I gave our documents over to God and said may Your will be done, I trust you. I was thinking it may be weeks before we would hear anything.

To my surprise when I arrived home yesterday, Brad said I received a call from USCIS just a few moments ago. My lip dropped and my heart sank. He said our case worker called to let us know that she had received our documents and everything was on her desk to be reviewed. He took the time to explain how much we hoped our case would be approved and we had everything ready to send to Haiti as soon as we received approval. Our case worker said that she would call me today with an answer one way or another. So you can only imagine how my day went, my phone didn't leave my side all day. I anxiously awaited. Each time I called Brad today, he would answer saying did she call? I began thinking is she ever going to call. I was even thinking about how I was going to respond.     

So after the longest day/wait in my life, my phone rang at 4:51 today, And the answer was......she was recommending us for approval from her supervisor which is routine. I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or scream. I continue to learn through this process that God has all the details and He is never a day late with his blessings in our lives. I hope to be able to share our story with others to bring glory to God. He continues to show me His grace even when I don't deserve it. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, we love you all. We hope to send our Dossier to Haiti in the next few weeks and we will yet again be asking for your prayers but we will be so grateful.   
  

Random Thoughts Thursday

Summer is officially here. The kiddos last day of school was yesterday and they couldn't be happier. This past week has been crazy with two birthdays. I now have a 10 year old man child  and a 5 year old going on 16 little lady, man where does the time go. I certainly feel alittle saddened by how quickly they are growing and changing, as I watch them play together in the floor as I type this post.

A week ago today Brad and I had the opportunity to meet the current legal guardian of our little one at a BGM benefit dinner. It was so nice to meet Dr. Bernard, he has dedicated his life to caring for orphaned children in Haiti. He is a Godly man who is highly respected in Haiti. This helps when dealing with the Haitian Government. I am 100% confident that we are exactly where we are meant to be and grateful that God lead us to NLL. This was also a nice middle of the road feel good. It has seemed for several weeks that this process is surreal like we keep talking about adopting a child but it just isn't happening. The process is so hard to explain the ups and downs and crazy emotions that go along with it.

I received an email update from our translator this week, she has begun working on our documents but isn't done yet. I am hopeful we will get some good news next week with the long weekend ahead. I will not be dragging my feet to send our docs to the Haitian Consulate like I did with the translation. I  going to be on stand-by... ready to lay down some mini van rubber on the way to the Post Office to overnight our docs to Miami.

Several family friends decided to continue on the path of adopting through the Jeremie orphanage, they are on a difficult road, please keep them in your prayers. A particular friend, Seth is leaving tomorrow to go to Haiti to meet his son. Please be praying for his trip and Momma & kiddos here while he is away. I know God has a plan for all these precious kids in our families, I can't wait to see where we all are in six to nine months from now.

Have a great weekend!    

Broken Record

This post might sound like a broken record, I know I have been saying for weeks that we were hoping to finalize all documents so we could send everything off for translation. Well, today was the day.... I FINALLY sent our Dossier off to our translator. One more step closer. This should be a happy time for us but last week was a difficult week for me. I have begun having a roller coaster of emotions, I had all our papers ready for over a week now. However in an effort to save time, I lost a week and a half and now one more family is in front of us. I kept thinking that I could find someone who could have our documents back to us in a week or two. Ok, I was completely wrong! Yes,they can translate a Dossier in a week but it depends on how many people are in front of you. Needless to say, disappointment set in and I drug my feet. I so wanted to get our Dossier sent to NLL in early June with someone from church rather than sending it overnight. I mean this packet is our entire life and I can't IMAGINE how I would feel if something happened and it didn't arrive. I just so want a picture of our child I can't stand it.

Some friends of ours received a referral last week, for an 18 month old little girl. This is the same age range we are in. I am so happy for them but yet saddened that we aren't there yet. God is still teaching me and for some reason I just want listen. It isn't our time yet but that certainly doesn't make it any easier. Maybe He knows once I get the picture of our little girl I will want her even more than I do now and I'm just not ready for that. I trust in HIM for all things and am thankful my Heavenly Father knows far better than I do what is best for me and my family. So.....today was a new day and I decided to not let another day pass without sending our Dossier. I have been my own worst enemy. I have checked our email and Deborah received our documents so we are in line.

I am anxious for us to be a family of five but God has blessed me with two amazingly wonderful children and I am going to enjoy them everyday before things get alittle crazier!