Happy News

Your shipment has been delivered.

This  is what was in my inbox from FedEx last night.  It arrived yesterday afternoon to our Lawyer. Mind you this was 2 days before the estimated time of delivery!  I was rejoicing.   Then I talked to our agency & we found out that there had been a strike but it is not the kind that directly affects us, just the workers...doesn't this affect us as well in an indirect way!?!  So it doesn't hold up our paperwork yet it affects the lives of the children in Honduras-potentially our daughter.  

Again it causes me to step back and pray for these little ones (and not so little ones).  That God would soften the hearts of these workers that care for these children.  That they would see the needs and do their best to meet these needs.

What comes next you may ask?  Our paperwork needs to be translated into Spanish (this may take a day or weeks), we have no idea how long this may take.  For our entire dossier this did take weeks (but it was over 100 pages).  We only have 3 letters of references and our medical results (does this need to be  translated, not sure).  Then we wait to see if they have all we need.  Our hope is that we will find out that we have then been put on the wait list.  Hoping for a low number but fully expecting it to be in the 60 range.  Please be in prayer with us that we will find out soon and yet continue to rest in God's perfect timing.  We now also need to be looking at what needs to be done with USCIS for an extension and probably new fingerprinting but that we can wait on for a little while.

What can you do.  We have found out about some new information about the adoption tax credit.

In 2013 the tax credit will be a maximum  of $6,000 for parents adopting children with special needs. There  will be no adoption tax credit available for all other adoptive parents beginning in tax year 2013.

Would you consider following this link to sign the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/make-adoption-costs-fully-refundable-in-the-2012-2013-tax-years
 

On Strike Again?

To say that this process has been like riding on a roller coaster would be an understatement.  Last Friday, we handed that updated documentation to our agency to send to Honduras, and Lord willing completing our dossier.  The paperwork was sent off on Friday, and we have been able to track its progress to get to Honduras.  Right now, it is in Miami. (hopefully, not taking a vacation on the beach, though that sounds real nice right about now!)  We expect our paperwork to arrive in Honduras in the next 2-3 days, but now we are not sure what will happen to it.  We have heard that the union workers of IHNFA are on strike again.  How this will effect us, we are not totally sure, and we have not heard anything official from our agency yet, so we will patiently wait to see what happens next.  Please continue to pray for the children of Honduras that need to be loved and cared for.  Pray for the many workers (both private and government) in Honduras seeking to care for the children.  Pray for the families that are seeking to open their homes and families to provide love for a child in need.  Thank you for your prayers as we wait on the Lord.

Dossier Completed?

Alicia and I traveled to Harrisburg today in order to have our medical reports apostilled.  It was two weeks ago that Alicia, Alexa and a friend, Diane had made the same trip to have other documents apostilled, then the next day I went with Alicia and Alexa to New York to the Honduran Consulate to have some documents finalized.  We thought we were all done, and confidently walked into the offices of Living Hope and handed our paperwork over thinking everything was completed.  A little later that day, we found out that we needed more medical work done for Ariana and Alexa, and then Alicia figured it was wise for us to get our medical reports updated.  Incredibly, by God's grace, all four of us were able to get appointments with our respective doctors before Easter.  We were all picked, proded, and inspected by medical personnel and lab technicians.  Our reports all came in this week, so we ran to the bank yesterday to get everything notarized.  Today, our trip to Harrisburg was finished off by a stop to Living Hope to drop off our paperwork.  Everything looks good, and we received the official word from Living Hope that our paperwork is on its way to Honduras, and we were given a FedEx tracking number so we can follow our paperwork's travels.  We hope that the next thing we hear from Honduras is that we have been approved and we receive our wait list number.  It is good to see things moving forward again.

The Wait Continues

Well, Monday came and we had all blood results except Andy's so we hoped that we would be able to make the trip today (Tuesday) and enjoy the girls last day of Easter break going out to Harrisburg & wrapping a trip to Messiah College to watch Rachael play a Lacrosse game.  Needless to say again, our plans are not the Lords.  Do you see a theme yet in this journey?  Even with a call to to our Doctor's office this afternoon we still wait. 
They haven't received it yet?  NOPE! 
What is the hold up, we have no idea!  It looks like the trip will probably not happen until Friday now.

Andy is able to give the devotional at Bethany Christian Services to their staff tomorrow.  Any guess what the topic of his devotional will be...Habakkuk 1 "How Long, O Lord".  This will also be the topic of his message this coming Sunday
vs. 1"How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?  ....
vs 5 "Look at the nations and watch-and be utterly amazed.
 For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told."

I know God is going to use this journey to do amazing things, He is already doing great things and I feel so much closer to Him in this journey.  I pray that as we wait God is bringing people into the life of our little one to love her, care for her, and meet her needs.  That she is getting her needs met, and that He is preparing her heart to become a part of a family that loves her so much already!!

How long, O Lord...we wait upon you for your perfect time!