Hit The Brakes!

We just received a call from our agency saying that we also needed to have the medical laboratory reports for Ariana and Alexa as well.  The problem is - our pediatrician completed a report for each of the girls and no lab work was done last year.  Now, it looks like we will have to get lab work done, then this paperwork will have to run through the notarization hurdles.  Just when we thought things were moving again, we had to step on the brakes.

New York, New York

Yesterday, Alicia and her entourage traveled to Harrisburg to get our paperwork apostilled, which seems to be a governmental notarization of the notary that notarized our paperwork - or something like that.  Today, we (Alicia, Alexa and myself) made the journey to New York City and back again.  We had to take our paperwork to the Honduran Consulate in New York to have them look it over and give us a letter saying that they have reviewed the paperwork, and made sure that the notarization of the notary has been notarized correctly.  Since we were heading up to New York, we were able to take some of the paperwork from our agency with us.  So not only were we able to complete our paperwork, we were able to help the other eight families from Living Hope Adoption Agency with their dossiers in Honduras.  The people at the Honduran Consulate were great, and helped us get done everything that we needed, and we were leaving New York city an hour and a half after arriving.  Our journey home took us through Fort Washington to drop off all of the paperwork at Living Hope.  We were told that our paperwork should be in the mail later today, so now we wait once again. 

Here are pictures from the journey today:

Alicia receiving the finalized paperwork!!!

Off to Harrisburg

Well, we finally found out what Honduras wants with our medical records.  Official lab results.  I think the receptionist at the doctors office thought I was a little crazy-ok, so adoption seems to do that sometimes.  When I called and asked her what I needed to do to get these she said they would make the copies and I could pick them up in the afternoon!!!!  Can you see me  jumping up and down!?!  I told her she made my day and her response..."I am glad I could make someones day".

Well, this finds me heading out to Harrisburg 1 week later than I hoped, with our new character references and our lab results to be Apostilled (getting our official seal). A good friend who has walked this journey before so knows where she is going is going with me as well as Alexa (after finding herself with a concussion from being hit in the head by a locker last week-so she is on total brain rest!  She is going crazy doing nothing.  As she said..."this isn't what God made our brains to do"). 

Once again God is making it clear that there is nothing I can do to move this along, it is all in His timing.  As our paper work will be hopefully traveling down to Honduras by next week, it will be the Easter Holiday (which everyone in Honduras will probably be on vacation so it will be sitting again).  Our prayer from the beginning has been that He would make himself evident in all of this and that we would see that it has been nothing that we have done but all through Him!  We know that God has His hand of protection on our little one and He is preparing her to have her world rocked and be joined to this family who is going to smother her with so much love to make up for this lost time that we have had with her!

The journey continues  :) !

More Paperwork

Well, we have heard from our agency and there are a few items that we need to take care of before our dossier will be approved.  There is one document that our agency is taking care of for all nine families that they represent in the process.  Each family needs to have their character references rewritten in letter form, notarized and apostilled by the state of PA.  The third item we need to take care of is related to our medical forms, but we are still trying to get clarification on what is actually needed on this one.  All of this to say, things are moving forward.  Our hope is to have all of this paperwork completed by the end of next week, so that we will be on our way to final approval, and moving toward receiving our referral for a child.  Thank you for your prayers!

"Wait"

A friend gave me the following poem - thought I would share it with you! 

Desperately, helplessly, longingly I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate.
And the Master so gently said, "Child you must wait."
"Wait, you say wait," my indignant reply.
"Lord I need answer...I need to know why!"
Is your hand shortened, or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked and am claiming your word.
My future and all to which I can relate, 
Hangs in the balance and YOU tell me to WAIT?
 I need a "YES"...a go-ahead sign,
Or even a "NO" to which I can resign.
And Lord, you promised that if we believe
We need but to ask and we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking! And this is my cry;
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!
Then quietly, softly I learned of my fate.
As the Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taunt
And grumbled to God, "So I;m waiting...for what?"
He seemed then to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign."
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.
All you seek I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me,
When darkness and silence were all you could see.
You would never experience that fulness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove
You would know that I give and save for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of my heart.
The glow of My comfort, late in the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that''s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.
You never would know, should you pain quickly flee
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for thee."
Yes, your dreams for that loved one overnight would come true,
But, oh the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you!
So be silent, My child and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft My answers may seem terribly late...
My most precious answer of all is still...WAIT!


- I do not know the author, but I am thankful for the reminder that God is infinitely wise and all things take place according to His perfect timing, and according to His will.
 

Sooner rather than Later???

We began this journey of adoption on February 3, 2011, and with the way that the process has been going as of late, we began to believe that the adoption would not be completed before the end of 2012.  We had resolved in our minds that the adoption was still going to take a long time...and it still might.  BUT on Monday evening,  we had a conference call with Living Hope Adoption agency and the families that are in their Honduras program.  The news that they shared was very positive.  The new director of IHNFA has been restructuring the organization and the "assignment committee" has been meeting multiple times per week to get caught up.  They have 45 children that have been approved through their system for adoption and they have been reviewing all of the dossiers that have already been submitted.  As the conversation, we found out that all of the dossiers that Living Hope had sent down have been reviewed...when we heard this news, we had to stop and before we could ask for clarification, someone else asked for confirmation that all of the dossiers had been reviewed...and this is true.  So our dossier has been reviewed and we may have some more documentation to complete before we are finally approved, but that approval does not seem so far off now.  After we are approved, we wait until we are matched with a child.  We would receive our referral, and the process begins to finalize the adoption.  Everyone is being careful not to give a timeline, but the impression we received was that the adoption could be finalized sooner rather than later.  We know that the timing of all of this is in the Lord's hands, and so whether it is sooner or later, we will wait patiently on His perfect timing!