Restructuring

Well, It seems as if the Lord continues to desire to mold and shape my mind and heart(Restructuring) in this wonderful, trying at times,  journey.

There also seems to be some Restructuring in Honduras as well.  On reading some other blogs of families going through this journey as well I understood some of what seems to be silence.  Honduras, according to our agency, has been at a stop for a short time.  They celebrated their Independence about 2 weeks ago and then the restructuring. This restructuring is finished and now should be moving forward from here.

I was finding myself doubting a little even though I knew it was foolish doubt since I trust in God's timing (God's Restructuring-reminding me to fully give all of this over to him and not cling to any of this).  As I said to the girls-just think if it had been our control over things - we would have been down there and then we would  find ourselves stuck and just having to wait there for people to finalize our paperwork.  We continue to pray that as we feel that we are ready, that God would continue to be faithful in teaching us patience.  We pray also that God would be bringing into our daughters life people to care for her, clothes to keep her warm and health as we wait to receive word about her, not knowing even if she is born.

As Ariana even put it, remembering about a dream I had early on (about a pregnant woman struggling with the inner battle of whether to give birth to her child-2 different nights)  "Wouldn't it be cool to find out that it really was about our sister's mom and that you has been able to pray for her".  For those of you that are our "Blog stalkers" :), which we are thankful for all of you, please continue to pray that we would have patience and that we would continue to give God all the glory through all of this!  What an awesome God we serve!  and we are so thankful that He has directed us in this journey.

Please also pray for Living Hope as they Restructure a little as the person that we have been working with is going to be moving.  She has been such a wonderful help to us, and we look forward to the wonderful help that the agency will be as we continue on our journey.  We will miss you Aimee!

The Sound of Crickets

Last night, a cricket was on the porch and all you could hear was the chirping of the cricket...as I opened the door to take the dog out before bed, the cricket went silent.  After I walked out into the darkness and stood there in the silence, the chirping began again, and as I allowed my ears to focus more, I could hear a concert of sound made by the fingers of God.  What a beautiful sound, too often my mind, my heart and my life are far too busy to listen to the concert.  In many ways it feels like our adoption process was chirping right along and then the door opened and everything went silent.  Friends and family have asked what the timeline is for us, and we stand there in the darkness hearing nothing, we've no answers to give.  Our paperwork continues to be in the process of being translated...silence.  I am straining to hear the concert of God in the midst of the silent night because I know there is a concert to be heard. 

In the midst of the silence, God set up a meeting for us with a guy I knew from High School, who "just happens" to also be in the process of adopting a child from Honduras.  We are looking forward to having our families get together as we travel this journey.  We rejoice with friends that just returned from China with their daughter.  We receive a letter from the little girl we support through World Vision and she writes about how much she is learning in church and school.  We watch people in our church and community take seriously the call to help their neighbor.

Can you hear it?  I am starting to hear the concert.  It is loud and it is beautiful.  Thank you, Lord!

Submitting to the Lord's Timing

Over the past few days, we have had a number of people ask us when we are going to Honduras to get our daughter.  We have only one answer - We don't know.  Out dossier is in the process of being translated, and the hope is that it will be completed in the next week or so.  Once the translating process is done, then it goes to the department that will review our dossier and match us up with a child.  There is a possibility that this process will go quickly and we'll receive our daughters information in the next month or so.  Then we make travel arrangements for our first trip.  That would be awesome...Alicia spoke with our Adoption agency today and it seems that our social worker is trying to lower our expectations.  We were told that it could take up to the six months that Honduras has given as their limit, and the six month clock does not begin until the translation is completed, which means we may need to wait until next March. 

This past Sunday, I preached a message from James 4:13-17 and our need to submit our plans to the Lord's will.  I have been going back over this passage of Scripture and my own sermon in my mind as we need to wait on the Lord's timing.

A Bit More Info

Our Adoption Agency sends out a weekly update on Honduras.  Last week, we gained some new information about what will take place when we travel on our first trip.  Our paperwork is about a week and a half to two weeks into the process of being translated.  Lord willing, the translation process will be completed by the end of this week or sometime next week, then everything gets handed over to IHNFA (The Honduran National Institute of Families and Children) for final review, approval and referral.  It is hard to believe we are this far along, and yet we know that we need to patiently wait since this process may take a few more months.  Once we receive our daughter's information and work with our agency to set up our travel, then Alicia and I will make the first trip.  We have been informed that on the first day in Honduras, we will meet with IHNFA for an interview with IHNFA staff.  We will each also need to undergo an additional psychological evaluation - here come those ink blots again (how do you say "pizza" in Spanish?).  On day 2, we will go with our agencies lawyer to Honduran Family Court to file the adoption petition.  On day 3, we will get to meet our daughter.  The remainder of our trip will be sightseeing (possibly with our daughter if the orphanage allows it) and other outings.  The paperwork completed on our first trip will take a few weeks to be processed, then we will make our second trip to bring our daughter home.

Another tid bit of information that we received is that September 10 is Dia del Nino, or Children's Day.  On this day, children receive presents and candy.  Some neighborhoods even have pinatas out for the children.  We have been celebrating Dia de la hija (Day of the daughter) for the past 11 years.  This day consists of presents and candy for one of our children.  Alexa calls it her birthday - now she has to share her special day with all of the children of Honduras. 

Seven Months and Waiting

With the beginning of September upon us, we have hit the seven month mark in the adoption process.  Yesterday, we received word that our paperwork has been received by the appropriate people in Honduras and the process of translation has begun.  I took a few minutes the other day to think about all that has been done in these seven months.  We have spent a lot of time compiling our dossier, which is a packet of detailed information about us, birth certificates, marriage license, pictures, medical exams, bank statements, full financial documentation, home studies, and much more including...a psychological evaluation.  By God's grace we were able to raise the necessary funding to complete the adoption.  Friends gave a gift early on that kept us moving along, then there was the Thirty-One party and the Yard Sale, In June, we worked on Sandie Gehman's home as a project of the Both Hands Foundation.  We received a generous grant from Show Hope, and Alicia has been able to raise quite a bit through her quilting .  We were able to get a no-interest loan through the Minister's Assistance Fund at our church, which by God's grace, we will be able to start paying this back before the end of the year.  Now we sit and wait for our paperwork to be translated and approved, and for a child to be chosen for us.  Now and then, we watch a video from Honduras - being reminded again and again of the need for people to reach out and help.  We are so thankful for the opportunity to be part of God's plan to reach out to the orphans in Honduras.  In our weekly update from our Adoption Agency today, we found out that we there are now five families who have sent off completed Dossiers to Honduras.  This is very encouraging to know that there are others at the same point of the journey.  Please continue to pray for us.