The wait continues

   Well, it has been 1 week since our paperwork went to Honduras.  It is amazing how fast the week went.  I thought for sure that it would feel like forever.  I talked with the founder yesterday and he said that it should have arrived.  We will see how long it takes to translate, it is amazing how God has put a peace on my heart to be patient-something that can be very difficult for me.  It helps that the business of getting ready for school is here.  Last night I was out with Ariana and asked her what she was most excited about and what she was most nervous about getting her little sister.  "Getting her little sister...and... getting her little sister."  She said that she already has decided that when she gets to meet her she is going to get down on her level and plans to hand her a toy.  She said that "she thinks it will be hardest to wait patiently for when she is willing to come to her".
  Getting to read about friends of ours getting their daughter this week in China has been that time of reality to think about what it will possibly be like and gets the bug going a little more.
   Little one, I am continually praying that God will be preparing your heart to join with our crazy family...that you are having people show you love.....that you have food to eat...that you have clothes to keep you warm...that you will see God's love for you and that we will be able to teach you about Jesus and how he died on the cross for you!  Your daddy and I as well as your sisters love you so much even though we still don't know who you are.  It is amazing to me to have such love for someone we haven't even met.  How much greater our heavenly father loves you- you have been "fearfully and wonderfully made"...  Ps. 139:14
   We are looking forward to the day that we get to hold you in our arms and be united as the family that God had planned from the beginning of time.

Paperwork Goes International

According to our plans, this post would have been on our blog almost two months ago.  Along the way, our plans have changed due to the additional psychological evaluation and longer than anticipated process for approval in the US.  But we have received word from Living Hope Adoption Agency that our dossier is being sent to Honduras today.  Once it arrives in Honduras, it needs to be translated, which is anticipated to take a few weeks, and we simply wait for that day when we receive our "referral".  Referral sounds so clinical...let me step aside from the official terminology.  We now wait for the picture of the little girl that the Lord has set aside to be a member of the Crossgrove family (sorry, I had to take a moment to regain my composure.  So I don't get emotional again and get the keyboard wet, I'll use the technical term for the rest of this post).  We do not know how long the wait will be.  The original timeline said that this phase would be no longer than six months, and could be shorter.  So giving one month for translation, the earliest we could anticipate receiving our "referral" by the end of September.  Allowing for the full six months, the latest we should be waiting would be February of 2012.  Once we receive our referral, then the travel plans will be made and Alicia and I will make the first trip.  We also learned the Living Hope anticipates sending three more dossiers in the next two weeks, so with the two families ahead of us and three right behind us, there is a good chance we will not have to travel alone.  We'll see!  I am learning a very practical lesson about the passage of Scripture that I will be preaching in just a two weeks - James 4:13-15

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

The Lord continues to teach us patience and dependence!

A Friend's Journey

As we wait for our dossier to be finalized and sent to Honduras, we rejoice with friends of our that left today for China.  Nate & Jen began the process of adopting a little girl from China and received their travel approval about a month ago.  Today is the day that begins the next big step in the adoption process.  Travel!  Please pray for Nate & Jen as they travel, for their two boys at home as mom and dad are away, and for little Hayley as she meets her new parents for the first time.  Check out their blog if you want to read about their adoption journey.  Please continue to pray for us as we wait for our paperwork to travel and have been warned to expect things to go slower than we originally expected.  We still hope to travel before the end of the year, but we need to patiently wait and see.

Waiting some more

Well, Today I was enjoying a beautiful day on the beach on LBI and received and email from our Agency.  She said there was another hold-up.  She was getting our dossier ready yesterday to send to Honduras and she noticed that our approval from the consulate in New Your had been sent in English-she found out it needs to be in Spanish.  Can't it just be translated with the rest of our paperwork?!?  Well, they need to get one now in Spanish so we wait some more.  Ariana reminded me again "Remember mommy, the reason it is taking so long is that it is going to go fast once there".  I am beginning to wonder.  Not too much though.  I still am at rest with our waiting and I know that is only from GOD!  Please continue to be in prayer for that peace for our whole family!  We continue to pray that God is preparing her little heart for the tremendous changes that are going to take place in her little life.  Hopefully we will have great news to share soon!

Back From New York

Our paperwork has returned from New York, and is now back in the hands of Living Hope Adoption Agency.  The agency is waiting for some completed paperwork of their own that needs to accompany our dossier to Honduras.  The hope is that mid-week next week, our dossier will begin the journey to Honduras.  This is a bit later than we were hoping, but this is just a reminder that we need to wait on God's timing for each stage of this process.  This morning at Men's Bible Study, I was asked for an update, and I had no news to share.  One of the men at the table began the old saying, "No news is..." and he paused...waiting for me to say "...good news!"  Instead, I quickly repeated the beginning of the statement, "No news is..." and concluded with "...annoying!"  I really need to grow in this whole thing called patience, and trust in God's timing, and wisdom, and...Lord help me!

I Don't Want to Get Out of Bed

We have no new updates on the adoption to share this week, but I wanted to share a bit about the day.  Have you ever had one of those days that you lay in bed knowing what was waiting for you as soon as you pulled back the covers and stepped out of bed...so you said to yourself, "I don't want to get out of bed!"  That was me this morning.  We have had such a busy summer that the gardens have been overrun by weeds.  I decided before going to bed last night that I would surprise Alicia in the morning by weeding the garden for her.  The problem with this is that I really hate weeding.  There is one thing I hate more than weeding...I hate going to the dentist (my apologies to my friends in the dental field).  The significance of this is that I had an appointment to go to the dentist this afternoon to have the cap on my front tooth replaced.  I broke my front tooth when I was Jr. High by going down the slide into a pool head first (Note to children and immature adults - going down the slide head first can be dangerous).  I pulled myself out of bed, the weeding got done, and then there was the dentist.  He put that needle into my upper lip to make everything numb.  He drills off the old piece, gets rid of a bit of a cavity and then they put on a new filling.  I left the dentist and began prep for the first night of teen week.  My upper lip was still numb, and felt like Bill Cosby in "Himself" not able to talk clearly.  The day ended with a great night of teen week.  We had a great group of teens and adults that had a great time playing games together tonight...I am glad that I got out bed this morning.  Good Night!

By the way, here is the video of Bill Cosby talking about the dentist: