God's Timing and Provision are Perfect...whether we like it or not!

For those of you who are wondering, it looks like we will now be traveling in September or October instead of in August. For those of you who are familiar with international adoptions I will try to give a brief explanation. For the rest of you, just read "blah, blah, blah, blah," for the next paragraph (or just skip it altogether)...lol!

When we first applied to adopt with CCAI, we asked specifically for JB. We were completely ignorant of adoption terminology at the time so didn't know what it meant when it said "LID families only." CCAI accidentally gave us his file and said he was ours before realizing we were not an LID family. They called back later and explained that an LID Family is a family who has a "Log In Date" and we were not eligible to adopt JB until our dossier was sent to China and logged in. But CCAI decided to make an exception for us: they would hold JB for us as long as we hurried and got logged in. So when our dossier was sent to China it had to be sent without JB's file attached to it...as if we were still waiting for a match...since we weren't eligible to be matched with him until AFTER we had our LID. That means instead of going to the "rush" department in China for translation, our dossier was sent to the "regular" (meaning SLOW) department. As soon as we were given our LID, CCAI sent JB and Charity's paperwork on our behalf and we were officially matched with them, but our dossier was still stuck in the slow line for translation and will take 90 or more days to be completed instead of just 30. Once it is translated, we will get our LOA (Letter Of Acceptance)...and then our TA (Travel Approval) will come 11-14 weeks after that. The fact that we are also adopting a second child does complicate things (ie: the updated Adoption Petition), but so far hasn't slowed anything down. Whew! Glad that's over...

Suffice it to say, this is a HUGE disappointment for us since it not only means more time before we can rescue our sweet children; it also means we will have 5 years of follow up with a social worker instead of just one. China changed their rules about a month ago and if we don't have travel approval by August 1st, we have to comply with the new 5 year follow up requirements. I suppose we can all pray for a miracle (please do if you feel led) but unless God intervenes we will definitely be missing that August 1st deadline.

What bothers me the most is not the required visits with a social worker...our social worker is fantastic and we will enjoy getting to see her for an extended period of time...but I am sooooo offended that the people that left MY son on the side of the road and are now keeping him in an orphanage are wanting to check up on ME!!! I guess it's a total mamma bear thing but it makes me want to rip someone's throat out.

It also doesn't help that it will now cost even more money to complete this adoption. The money thing is hard for me because I don't like to ask for help. I just want us to be able to handle it ourselves. I feel guilty because our debt gets in the way. We are truly slaves to it and should never have allowed ourselves to get into this position. But God is showing me that He is going to accomplish His plans in us whether or not we have done everything right in the first place. Thank goodness He loved us enough to die for us WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS! He didn't wait for us to get it right, He loved us then and He loves us now.

The BEST thing is that God is doing an amazing work in us because of the adoption. He is transforming us from the inside out and our spending habits have changed so dramatically that this will NEVER happen again! (Thank you, Peggy Blask, for allowing God to use you to educate us in this area!!!) In the meantime, He is providing in ways that we never expected so that we have been able to come up with twice as much as we thought we could, AND He is also providing through generous and amazing friends and family members. Thank you all!!!

We are still hoping to adopt from Haiti after we get our China dolls and I believe that, with God's help, our financial situation will be completely turned around by then. And we will be able to give God ALL the glory when this adoption (and the next) finally happens because we truly could not have done it without His awesome provision!

And because we are so confident in God's intervention through this whole process, we can also trust in His perfect timing. As frustrating as it is to have to wait another month or 2 for our little ones, we know the timing is ultimately in His hands and we will TRUST HIM!!! (even though we don't completely like it) ;-)