Happy Birthday from the FBI

I had been told that the FBI Clearance takes between 8-13 weeks to receive. I was expecting to still be waiting in early September for it to come in. However, I discovered the FBI decided to send me a birthday present yesterday when I received the clearance in the mail. It took less than even the 8 weeks that I was told was the minimum. Woo-Hoo! The visit to the house on Tuesday went great and now I have just one more meeting with the homestudy agency at their office before I can submit my dossier to my placing agency.

Going a Little Deeper

Trees have always been one of my favorite parts of nature. Today during worship one of the songs we sang was Oh how He loves us which has a verse in it, "He loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy." I love the picture of God's work in my life being that of a storm and I'm bending to His will. However, there is a strong distinction that must be drawn in that I do have a choice. I am consciously choosing to have my world turned upside down by the one that rules this planet and I'm loving it.

The past couple weeks have all been about growth for me. I found myself back in a country which in some ways started my adoption process. The opportunity of going back to Haiti itself was God's confirmation to me that my decision to adopt two Ethiopians was the right one. He continues to blow me away with the supportive people He has put in my path. Experiencing Haiti is not something that one can put into words or capture with a picture. It is safe to say that I found myself face to face with children that continually stole my heart. I fell in love with all of them. I even saw one of the kids that I had hung out with in my previous trip at the work site 6 years ago. He is now 10 years old. This is a picture of Watson and me.

Something that God was teaching me through this trip is the importance to continually grow. A quote from a book I read on the flight down said, "I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago." Our lives are like one big story that God is writing and the changes that He brings our way are what make our stories exciting. Being as this is a time in my life when I am continually changing, it is exciting. Even knowing that I am going to be a mom has transformed my way of seeing the world. I am becoming more emotional by the day and for those of you who know me well this is a big change. God wants us to constantly transform us into His likeness.

There are a couple of other things God has been teaching me the past several weeks. One has to do with the concept of caring for some of the world's orphans. I wish I could save all the orphans out there but I realize that God has only called me to love the two little boys whose mother I will be honored to be. I read something online this week about caring for orphans being a perfect image of our relationship with God. "In our inability to please God with our own efforts, in our utter helplessness to initiate a relationship with him, we are more like orphans and strangers than we like to admit." The world doesn't see Christ in the signs that are held on street corners or the condemning words that are screamed from pulpits. The world sees Christ when his people serve and help the helpless.

A month or so ago I stumbled across a passage from Isaiah 58 and I've been chewing on it ever since. This chapter talks about true fasting (from The Message), "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once." This passage just blew me away. I'm sure I had read over it before but I saw it in a completely new light and it has really challenged me.

God is changing me through this process. I hope that I am open and continue to allow my life to be transformed and refined as I move forward. Tomorrow is home study day. They are coming to my house at 9:30 in the morning to make sure that I have all the proper safety equipment, etc. I am confident that it will go well and it will be another step closer to bringing my sons home.

Here are a few more pictures of the beautiful children from Haiti:

2 down, 2 to go

The past two weeks I have been working diligently on getting some of the paperwork out of the way. This included a trip to my bank as well as a trip to the doctor's office; both of which could not have gone better. I have gotten several items signed off on from my placing agency and I am encouraged by the help I have received from all those involved in each step. I have realized that in all of this I can't obsess about the details. It is one of the things I'm gradually letting go and allowing God to have. On Wednesday I had my second home study meeting to go over some more things and discuss the various articles that I have been reading over the past two weeks. Once again we had very natural and comfortable conversation. We scheduled the actual home visit for July 26th. Until then I will stay busy reading a couple books, "Raising Adopted Children" and "Toddler Adoption" and continuing to chip away at gathering the required documents for my dossier. I will also be taking a mission trip to Haiti during that time where our team will be doing VBS in the mornings for about 200 kids and installing a couple kitchens for a feeding program in the afternoons. I'm excited about this opportunity and believe that God is going to continue to transform my heart during this trip.
Couple Fun Things -
-It is very hard for me to not buy lots of stuff for my kids but so far I've been very good. I did breakdown the other day when I saw this super cool fighter jet pool float for $15 on woot.com. I can picture my boys playing on it on a summer's afternoon now. I also found a dancing Cincinnati Bengals dinosaur at goodwill the other day that I couldn't pass up.
-I stumbled across this site the other day - http://www.amharickids.com/. It was started by a family that adopted children born in Ethiopia and has some pretty cool Ethiopian things on it.

The Power of Your Name

In a day where I got the run around from my insurance company and was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of detail that has to be put into the paper trail business the song below came on as I was laying in the dentist chair. It was the simple reminder that I needed of why I am knee high in paper work and why it is worth every amount of effort that I will put into it and so much more.

"Surely children weren't made for the streets...
Surely nations were not made for war...
Surely this can't be what you saw
Let your kingdom come here in my heart
And I will live to carry your compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be your hands and feet
And I will give with the life the I've been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed
By the power of your name"

-Lincoln Brewster

Home Study Meeting #1 in the Bag

I met with my home study agency on Tuesday for the first time. I really expected to be quite nervous leading up to and during this meeting but I laid it at God's feet and He once again came through with flying colors. The meeting went extremely well and I felt very laid back throughout. We had lots of good conversation. She gave me several articles to read that we will discuss at our next meeting which is on the 30th. My agency in Texas received my 1st Dossier Packet and sent me all the info for the second one today. It is exciting to be able to mark things off the to-do list.

The Paper Chase Begins

I received my dossier packet in the mail that details all of the paperwork needed to complete the adoption process. Many of the items must be notorized. I ended up getting my first mailer together Friday night and getting the needed items notorized so I'm ready to send it out. I have also been working on the house a bit, buying fire extinguishers and installing some child proof locks on the cabinets.
I was listening to the words of a Casting Crowns song called "Always Enough" -
"In the dry and weary land Lord you are the rain...
You love is peace to the broken, Faith for the widow,
Hope for the orphan, Strength for the weak."
It reminded me of the title of a book that I recently finished called "Love in the Driest Season". It is an adoption story of a girl named Chipo who was born in Zimbabwe. Her parents had to endure a lot of time delays and red tape before her adoption was eventually finalized. It was a beautiful story of love but it also reminded me that this process can take all kinds of twists and turns and I must be ready to face those obstacles head on.
I have scheduled my first home study meeting for Tuesday at 9 am. I will be meeting them at their office in Lexington to go over some initial information. I'm excited to get this portion of the process underway!

FBI Fingerprinting - June 2

Received information today regarding my home study requirements. I am using an organization in Lexington called Adopt! Inc. that has worked with Children of all Nations in the past. I sent in my homestudy application. After receiving an email from my contact at Adopt! Inc. she informed me that the longest wait would be on the FBI fingerprint clearance, currently 8-13 weeks. I went to the UPS store and was able to get fingerprinted. I placed them in the mail to the FBI to get that started. There is a lot of paperwork to come but I am committed to enjoying every step of the process that is ahead.