PASSPORT!!

Praising our God for His continued goodness. Our daughter has her passport. We are on the final stretch prayer warriors! Next stop is USCIS were they will take a few weeks and give their final approval for her to come to the US. A few days after that they will schedule a Visa appointment for her and, Lord willing, she will be on a plane with Erin and I and on her way HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every Child Deserves A Home

"Every Child Deserves A Home"  by Newsong

To be remembered on your birthday

Feel a father’s kiss goodnight

To have a mother wrap her arms around you

And say it’s gonna be alright

These are the things we take for granted

That every child should know and love

It’s simply heaven’s way of telling them

They are precious in this world

Precious in this world

Every child deserves a home

Every child deserves to hear the words, “You are not alone.”

Every life on earth is sacred

Every heart is heaven’s own

Every child deserves a home

Deserves a home

They are out there by the millions

Hurting children without hope

Little boys and girls who need a family

That they can call their own

Now it’s up to us to help them

We can’t just close our eyes

Jesus loves the little children

And His arms are open wide

They are open wide

Every child deserves a home

Every child deserves to hear the words, “You are not alone.”

Every life on earth is sacred

Every heart is heaven’s own

Every child deserves a home

There’s something in their faces that tells us their story

There’s something in their cry that keeps calling out, “Don’t forget about me.”

Red and yellow, black and white

They are precious in His sight

Jesus died for all the children of the world

Every child deserves a home

Every child deserves to hear the words, “You are not alone.”

Every life on earth is sacred

Are You Listening?

It's another weekend, proceeded by another week of no news.  Weekends are hard. The silence is madding and filled with wonderings of why, still, no news. But this Saturday morning there was a voice in the silence.

So many in our world do not believe God is real or if they do, that He really cares. They close their eyes to things they see or hear and turn from Him instead of to Him.  He is always there, even when all we hear is silence. He is in the wonders around us. He is in the day to day. He is in the things that rock our world.  He is in the little note from a friend. He is everywhere. But are we looking? Are we listening?

This Saturday He was there as I sat at the kitchen table with my cup of coffee. Sitting and thinking of how to spend the next two days. How do I fill the weekend so that I don't dwell on the thought that there was no news and won't be for the next few day?. How to I fill the weekend so that I am  redeeming the time with my family as it is now before it changes? How do I get up and fold the laundry when I don't care how high it's piled? How do I do it when I just want it over and Monday to be here?

And there was God. In the note of a friend. In the sunshine on my face. In the pages of a devotional I didn't want to read.

"WHEN I GIVE YOU no special guidance, stay where you are.Concentrate on doing your everyday tasks in awareness of My Presence with you.The Joy of My Presence will shine on you, as you do everything for Me.Thus you invite Me into every aspect of your life.Through collaborating with Me in all things, you allow My Life to merge with yours.This is the secret not only of joyful living but also of victorious living.I designed you to depend on Me moment by moment, recognizing that apart from Me you can do nothing.

Be thankful for quiet days, when nothing special seems to be happening.Instead of being bored by the last of action, use times of routine to seek My Face.Although this is an invisible transaction, it speaks volumes in spiritual realms.Moreover, you are richly blessed when you walk trustingly with Me through the routines of your day."  ~Jesus Calling

He loves me. He answered my questions.

He loves you. He is speaking to you too. Are you listening?

Still Waiting

Over four weeks have passed since we got out of MOI.  The projected passport printing after one week did not happen. Nor did it happen the week after that, or the one after that.... and so on. This is all part of adopting from Haiti. Something as simple as printing a few pages can take, what feels like, forever.

We had heard from a family, adopting from another orphanage, that on the week before Easter the immigration office had run out of passbooks. They were expected in the Thursday before Easter, but did not come in before they closed early that day for the holiday weekend. The Monday after Easter this family received word that their passbooks were in and, later that day, printed and picked up. It boggles the mind how one can move so smoothly with information along the way and another without news or movement.

We have faced that our dreams of having her home before her 8th birthday are no longer a reality. Now we are praying that possibly we could have USCIS's final approval by then and know that travel would be likely only a few weeks after that.

Most of my posts on here, lately, are just quick updates. To look deep and write from the heart right now hurts too much.

The wait has not gotten any easier after four years and three months. It has gotten harder... much harder. The missed milestones have been piling up in my mind. I am ready to brush those aside and replace them with a new pile of togetherness.

But you can't have togetherness without the together part. And for that we are still waiting.

On His Shoulders

I was too excited and... well... slightly in shock, to share on Friday that we received word we were out of MOI! Two weeks and two days... WOW! In the four years we have been walking/running/stumbling along this road we have never seen quick movement like this.

Thursday night I was talking with a friend and expressing to her how my heart was hurting. I was crying and, quite frankly, whining about how tired I was of the wait. I told her how I had prayed for a sign from God we were getting to the end of this. That the wait would soon be over and we would be holding our daughter. My mind knows I shouldn't have been whining. I shouldn't be pleading for a "sign." God has been more than generous with me and my cry-baby episodes over the four years and has made very clear that He has got this. But I was just like a tired toddler, who doesn't intend to pitch a fit, but is just overwhelmed and needs rest but won’t lie down and close its eyes. And just like a patient and loving parent, for the 100th time, God wrapped his arms around my trembling shoulders and soothed me with His sweet voice and answered my prayer for a sign with an email in the morning.

He didn't have to answer. There is so much more work to do in me. He could have let me wait and remember the things He has already taught me. But instead He acknowledged how worn out I am.

Now, this doesn't mean the wait is over, but the finish line is within sight. How I tremble typing that. We can see the finish line. There might still be a pit or a boulder in our way as we get there. But we can see it!

Our loving Daddy picked us up and put our tired bodies on his shoulders as the journey continues so that we can see the end. Telling us, yet again, that as each day brings us one day closer to holding her, "I got you. I got this. I will get you there."

Please continue to pray with us. We are now waiting for Nephtali's passport to be printed. Our prayer is that it is printed and completed this week. If it is printed this week or next we could still be looking at bringing Nephtali home for her birthday (mid-May)!

One Step Closer

Prayer Warriors

We have moved to the next step in our adoption. We are in MOI (the office were our paperwork is checked over and we are granted permission for Nephtali's passports to be printed). This step has gone as quickly at two weeks for some and as long as several months for others. Please join us in prayer that all our paperwork is in order and we can be granted permission for passports very quickly!

Nephtali, sweetie, we are getting closer!!!

*Once we do get to passports that step can also be as little as a few weeks or as long as several months to get them printed. So please keep that in your prayers also!

My Dear Little Far-Away Valentine

My Dear Little Far-Away Valentine,

I am missing you today, just like everyday. I know today is really just another day, but as I watch your little brother and sister I wish away. I you were here eating a silly valentine's breakfast. I wish you were here to smell the sweet flowers. I wish you were here cutting, and gluing a huge pile of red and pink paper. I wish you were here, paint on your clothes and marker on your fingers. I wish I could squeeze and tell you I love you. I wish I could make you smile and giggle.

Soon.

Until then, know your mama is praying for you. Every holiday, every season, every month, every week, every Thursday, every Monday and every day in between. I am praying that you smiled. I am praying that you are safe. I am praying for your belly to be full and your heart to be content. I am praying that you giggled and shared a hug with a friend. I am praying you know we are missing you and love you so. I am praying the time apart is coming to a close. I am praying we've seen the last valentine's day separated by long and lonely miles.

Happy Valentine's Day, Precious Butterfly.

Love,
Mommy