Baby Steps Bob....

Well, I was a bit delayed in sending our final paperwork to be state sealed. I mailed it off last Monday, about a week later than I thought. But that's okay! Because I got our home study papers signed for our updates and mailed them off on the same day. Miss A in Northwest Arkansas mailed our home study to Miss B in Little Rock on Wednesday. Miss B was out last week, so I suspect that our Dossier will be state sealed this week.

Once she's finished with her part, she'll mail it back to us and we'll mail it Michigan. I know we've gone over these steps before and it doesn't seem like we've moved much, but it's baby steps. We have to get excited about baby steps. Lol. (If you haven't watched What About Bob, I HIGHLY recommend it!)

So another baby step out of our way. But once we mail it to Michigan, that's it on our part! We hope we get it sent to them soon and they can get it sent to Ethiopia by the end of July. The courts in Ethiopia close every year for the rainy season at the beginning of August until the end of September/beginning of October. So we know it's unlikely that we'll get a referral/court date until October or November. But, KC and I are at the point that we're okay with it not happening until the beginning of the year.

Year-end is generally madness at work. I don't want to leave them hanging and come back to a big mess after I've been off. Haha! So, I'm totally cool with God working it out to happen in like February. And that'd be sweet because that's when we sent off our very first application to the first agency we contacted.

But, no matter when it happens - October, February, or June - we'll be so darn excited, we won't care what the date is.  :)

Almost there...

Soooooo,

 

This is it! We are SO close to mailing off our Dossier. All of our background checks are back, and our home study is just waiting to be “approved”/signed off on. On Monday I’ll be mailing off our final documents to be state sealed. And that folks, is it. From there, our Dossier/BigFatFile heads to our International Coordinator in Michigan. From there, she’ll send it to Ethiopia. Once they process it, we’ll be on the wait list! OFFICIALLY! 

 

Also, we talked with our International Coordinator in Michigan last week about our Dossier. Our agency likes for all Dossier documents to be under 6 months old when submitted to allow for them to be valid for a longer period of time. They are only valid for 2 years before we have to get new ones gathered. Well, ours are about 11 months old. We were worried about that, but our IC was confident that we can just update our forms early next year instead of delaying us any further. She. Rocks.

 

She said she hopes we get a referral before that, especially since we’re open to special needs and a larger age range. Yes Miss C, we’re hoping so too! That was incredibly encouraging to hear from her. But, even if we don’t get a match before then, we’ll just work on updating our forms next February or March. No problem there.  :))

 

Well guys, this is where we’re at. I pray that the next time I update you all, our file will be on its way to Ethiopia or that we’ll already be on the waitlist! July looks like it should be the month! Eeeeekkkk!!! Just 2 months shy of our 2 year anniversary of being approved to adopt through the Ethiopia program. 

 

Please keep praying for us, and for Effie – whoever she is.  <3 

  

  

  

  

Oh the crazy month of May

So, at the end of May, KC and I experienced THE most stressful 48 hours. We got a call from our agency asking us if we had the rest of our Dossier/big fat file documents and if so, could we please send them to our agency in Little Rock. I told them that I sent them already, and they're waiting to be State Sealed (so I thought). Our social worker tells us that they only had a few pieces of paperwork and that we must not have sent the rest.  They could not find our Dossier?! ..... !!!!!!!!

At this point in time, I'm FREAKING OUT. I am a very organized person. We had an accordion file with all our documents that has been attached to my hip since day 1. I know, that I know, that I KNOW that I sent them to Little Rock. Our social worker insists that "I really feel like you didn't send them, and could you please just look at home one more time". Obviously, I'm miffed, but KC and I look through the ENTIRE house. Nada. To say we were having some anxiety issues was definitely an understatement. That was 65 pages of our lives, of paperwork, that took us FOREVER to gather. 

I call our social worker back and tell her I need to come to her office to figure out what happened and what KC and I need to do now. Before I left work early, I thought, there's NO way. I know I sent it! And it dawned on me, I document every step in our process with pictures. If you follow me on FB or Instagram, you know this to be true. Lol. So I frantically start looking on IG for a picture. And I find a picture of me putting the big manila envelope in a big blue mailbox - back on AUGUST 16th. They've had our file since late August. 

I get to her office and show her the picture and date. It turns out, they thought the packet I mailed them 3 weeks ago with 4 updated documents was our dossier. I explain everything and understanding spreads on her face. She calls the Little Rock office. They had it the WHOLE time in another file. 

So, 2 days of complete and utter stress and madness and them telling us WE forgot to send it when in reality, they forgot all about it being in another file. This has caused a few more delays than we initally thought. We thought our home study was already updated, but that is still a week or two out. Please join with us in praying that this is it. Pray that we will be on the wait list no later than July. We've come SO far but still have a ways to go. But it'll all be worth it when we see her sweet face.   <3  

  

  

Hard Fought

{I get it now. God takes those “less likely” and turns us inside out if we’ll let Him. It’s breathtakingly beautiful what happens in this great romance between Creator and created…Crucified and called…Lover of souls and the lost. He mends and blends, transforming us and spilling out of our regular lives. God has not forgotten you. Your dreams and passions are not wasted. Perhaps Jesus is asking you to blindly follow…To let the cold of discontent drive you into the warmth of His embrace…}

He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country, pushed us to our very
Limit, Road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us to this well-watered place.
(Psalm 66:10-12 The Message)

I cannot tell you how hard this devotional hit home. I have been pulled and stretched further than what most would consider to be comfortable. KC and I have been in a place where we had nothing financially and were literally digging in the couch cushions – but God ALWAYS pulled us through. I have had seasons of feeling like I have heard nothing from God for months, but kept plodding on. I have had times where I have had to force myself to talk to God – the one Whom was still remaining silent. I have had seasons of powerful “emotional purges” (aka bawling my eyes out) to my husband because I felt like I COULD NOT do this anymore. As KC was finding out more about his ministry and our ministry together, I was hurting inside because I still did not know how God was going to use little old me. Yet still I trudged on. Why? Because I knew, I KNEW that God had brought me too far for me to turn my back on him. I knew that this season wouldn’t last. Deep DEEP down, I knew He’d pull me through.

In those times, He was teaching me; even in His silence. And with each step I took, I passed another test and became stronger in who I was and stronger in Him. When the trials came, I could fight on knowing that He would be waiting for me on the other side. I was growing. Learning. I was being refined. And you know what? Right now, KC and I – we’re in that “well-watered place”. I’m not going to lie, it didn’t happen easily within a few months – we’ve been “road-tested” for about 2 ½ - 3 years. But man, I can’t tell you how sweet this feeling is: knowing we’ve made it.

Now, I know we won’t be in this level place forever. I’m keeping up my strength for the next season – but it’s amazing to see even what I’ve learned in this place of rest. KC and I are doing well financially (PLT), God is speaking to me more often than not, and I finally feel like I know what my role is. I finally know how my role ties in to KC’s ministry and our ministry together! All these things are appreciated so much more because they were hard fought.

So, for those of you who feel as though you’re being taken to hell and back – stay faithful. He’s waiting for you on the other side with open arms. He’s ready to let the rivers of plenty pour over you. And man, does it feel nice.

.