We are being sought!

No we are not fugitives, it just looks like in the midst of our family "hermitting" our SW has been trying to get a a hold of us for an update to our case. Samuel spoke to him today, updated our situation and was planning to discuss it more in a conversation this evening. Unfortunately since we were 750 feet/75 stories underground at Carlsbad Caverns and then had to abruptly leave to stay ahead of very bad storm that was out of the question. We are now in Texas and on our way home.

In my heart I know...

Ok, so I have tried to push thoughts away, tried to think of way out reasons for our delay, surely it's nothing to do with me, but if truth be known I believe there is an issue I need to deal with.

For several months my heart has been dreaming, dreaming of 2 little boys. I have pushed it back telling myself it was a crazy, too much work, a thought out of fear just because this might be the last time we can adop, but as hard as I try the thoughts just don't go away. My prayer has been that if this was God's will Samuel would just come to me and say he was feeling the same.

As I prayed this morning I reminded the Lord how he had confirmed the Ethiopia adoption as He answered my prayer, "Father if this is YOU, if these desires have been placed in my heart by YOU, Lord move on my husband's heart. I have not truly shared my heart with Cliff because I have felt led to wait for YOU to move on HIS heart. I once again ask that if this desire is of You that YOU would confirm it through my husband and for him to eagerly lead us to where YOU call.". God was faithful and the next day my honey came running down the stairs eager to start the process in Ethiopia. So this time if my dreams were HIS will I wanted him to move on my husband heart again...

Well having prayed the Lord reminded me of a day several months ago when we were completing our I600A application. It was time to complete the box that said how many children we were to adopt. In the past we had always put more than one, but now that seemed too much for me to wrap my mind around. I mean the thought of adding more than one felt overwhelming. Not wanting to sound un-spiritual (not to mention selfish!)I mentioned that we had not met the financial requirements to adopt more than one. I could see my husbands countenance drop and off to work he went. Thinking that was that, I went off to disciple my children, my heart relieved. Well to my surprise about half an hour later my hubby came bounding down the stairs telling us he had good news. He had gone to check his "books" and realized he had not added into his income one of his accounts. Of course you know God, so you KNOW how the story ends. The newly added amount was exactly what we needed to adopt 2! With that revelation my girls all began to jump up and down and their father's countenance restored. Me? Well I was nervous, looking for another excuse but in the end Samuel had me put 2 on the application. Skip forward a bit to our selection of agencies. After my compelling arguments as to why I could not handle more than one baby right now my honey selected an agency that did not allow this unless, you were referred twins. At that point I was relieved knowing that would be a rarity.

With this reminder my heart knew EXACTLY what the issue had been. It had been my husband's desire to adopt more that one and my faithlessness had caused us to head down a path that would not make that possible. I had to repent, to God, my husband and my children. What was amazing to me is that my heart had changed and the desire to have these 2 precious boys had become so strong. God was changing my heart but instead of going to my husband and telling him, and acknowledging my lack of faith and honor in God's plan and in my husband's desire I chose to ask God to have my husband get a revelation and come to me! I was wrong and I was BUSTED!

I know my actions in the past were wrong but I still want to know that it is God's will, and not my own fleshly desires (amazing desires), for us to adopt 2. In faith I prayed and drew lots (1 or 2). As I drew the paper out I found my heart pounding and I realized I would be disappointed if it said 1. I knew in the past the Lord has always dealt with my heart by changing my desires to HIS and I knew my desires had indeed changed. So by faith I opened the paper and cried...for joy. It said 2!

Oh happy day!!!

Well after the Lord revealed my heart to me this morning I knew I had to repent. After doing so to God I went to my husband. After sharing everything that had been in my heart and repenting, the look of love towards me, the joy on his face and the sparkle in his eyes was precious. I asked him how he felt about adopting 2, and of course he was all for it. I asked if he wanted to draw lots and by faith we prayed and were amazed as he drew 2! Next I made my way to my daughters to repent and share my heart. They were overjoyed and we were all amazed as they too drew 2 in the lots!

We have emailed a few friends to ask them to stand with us as we consider all this!

p.s. We are leaving Estes,CO tomorrow and heading to Utah!

Why???

As we pray about what seem to be endless little upsets and delays in this adoption process the question comes back to us "Why are there all of these delays?" So now we have a question to answer a question, LOL! Anyway, we now know God wants US to look at what in our lives is delaying the process!

More questions...

We got an email back from our homestudy agency stating that our placement agency had reviewed our hs and had some questions. Not again! It seems like we have been over and over and over this study...WHEW!

Well as much as we all want to add to our family and are committed to this adoption we realized, before we left home, that because so much time is spent on adoption paperwork we needed to take a breather and make sure we were connecting with our present family. Having made a commitment to spend time strengthening our family ties with our daughters and growing in our faith during this trip we will NOT work on this now but will pray for God’s direction.

No it’s not...

I just received an email form our caseworker at the placement agency stating that the information that our HS was done was erroneously posted in our file and that in fact it was just now being reviewed. Don't you just love all the ups and downs of International Adoption? Yikes this is like the fourth error with them. We are surely glad that we are in the Father's hands for this roller coaster ride!

It’s approved!

Well I decided to check out our online account with the placement agency (there way of keeping you updated) to see if there was any news with our HS and surprise, surprise it had been approved on the 11th! Needless to say we were shocked. I sent an email to our caseworker to where we go from here.

We're heading west

After much prayer we have felt led to head west to Missouri for a conference hosted by Answers in Genesis. It was definitely last minute (well as last minute as you can get with a family of 6!) but we all feel it is where God is leading. We will also be heading further West to Colorado for a time of family retreat. I have notified our placement agency that we will be gone for an extended time and will get back to them when we get back.

Surprise!

I sent an email to our caseworker at our HS agency to check on the process with our HS and was told it had already been forwarded to our placement agency on 7/2 and was awaiting review by them! Once that is done our study they will let our HS agency how it needs to be tweaked for our Ethiopia adoption (typos, add things specifically needed in ET, etc.) and then finalized and sent to USCIS. WOW!!!

We are definitely happy things are moving forward but feeling a bit out of the loop here. In the past our placement agencies have always let us know when they received our HS, were reviewing it, etc. I guess this is another symptom of workings with a large agency.

Well I am putting that aside and praising God for HIS faithfulness!!!