I learned last night that the assignment committee really did meet last week! Although we were not high enough on the list to receive a referral, several other families did, which is so wonderful. I am thrilled for them and for the children that will now have forever families.
I don't know what our new wait list number is yet. The families that received referrals have to officially accept them, then a new wait list will be published, and we'll find out our new spot. I assume that we'll be moving on up several spots on the list. So cool.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Lent
It's time for Lent! I really do love the Lenten season. I'd only be fooling myself if I said it was my favorite season (no, that would be Easter and Christmas), but I definitely love the opportunity to deeply prepare for Easter and immerse myself in the realization of how much I truly need a Savior. It helps that I am a singer. I usually always have a tune in my head, and when I am preparing during the week to sing at Sunday Mass, then the tune is usually a hymn. Right now, I'm on "Create in Me a Clean Heart," a very fitting one for Lent. Hope I can keep that one at the front of my brain for a while -- think how much easier it should be to keep out of trouble!
In addition, on Ash Wednesday when we are called to fasting and abstinence (limited intake and no meat at all), I am reminded of how good the gift of food is from our very good Father. I went without breakfast this morning and just finished lunch: a sesame seed bagel with cream cheese. Boy did that taste good! The bagel was nice and warm, and the sesame taste was so delicious with a very pleasant aroma. A simple meal but so good.
I'm thinking how pleasant other foods are, especially when you are very hungry. Several years back, I met my friend Pat on a fourth of July morning. We were going to have breakfast together and then watch a parade and enjoy some other Independence Day festivities. I didn't eat anything at home, and probably met her around 9:00. Because of the holiday, many restaurants were closed, so we were walking around and around looking for some place that served breakfast. We had parked our car some blocks back: the parade and festival area was strictly foot traffic only. Finally we found a diner, a Greek one, but they wouldn't be open for another thirty minutes. We walked around a little more, and came back just as they were opening the doors. I remember to this day the smell and taste of the spinach, feta, and tomato omelette that I had. Pat said, "At times when I am really hungry, that is when I am most thankful to God for the gift of food." I was sure thankful that day, and I am sure thankful now.
In addition, on Ash Wednesday when we are called to fasting and abstinence (limited intake and no meat at all), I am reminded of how good the gift of food is from our very good Father. I went without breakfast this morning and just finished lunch: a sesame seed bagel with cream cheese. Boy did that taste good! The bagel was nice and warm, and the sesame taste was so delicious with a very pleasant aroma. A simple meal but so good.
I'm thinking how pleasant other foods are, especially when you are very hungry. Several years back, I met my friend Pat on a fourth of July morning. We were going to have breakfast together and then watch a parade and enjoy some other Independence Day festivities. I didn't eat anything at home, and probably met her around 9:00. Because of the holiday, many restaurants were closed, so we were walking around and around looking for some place that served breakfast. We had parked our car some blocks back: the parade and festival area was strictly foot traffic only. Finally we found a diner, a Greek one, but they wouldn't be open for another thirty minutes. We walked around a little more, and came back just as they were opening the doors. I remember to this day the smell and taste of the spinach, feta, and tomato omelette that I had. Pat said, "At times when I am really hungry, that is when I am most thankful to God for the gift of food." I was sure thankful that day, and I am sure thankful now.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
USCIS clears us again!
I love getting good mail, and today I received good mail! Nestled in with the circulars from the grocery stores, Big Lots, and Fantastic Sams was a nice white envelope from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service containing a new I-171H, which means that our clearance to bring our future kiddos into the country has been extended. We now have until August 13, 2013 (wow, that seems a long time away!) to bring those kiddos to the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, which we will do well before that, barring absolute catastrophe.
Regarding the assignment committee meeting, I am not sure whether it took place last Friday or not, or whether it will occur later this week, or what exactly is happening.
Fortunately, God knows what is going on, and He is in charge. I take huge comfort in that.
Regarding the assignment committee meeting, I am not sure whether it took place last Friday or not, or whether it will occur later this week, or what exactly is happening.
Fortunately, God knows what is going on, and He is in charge. I take huge comfort in that.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Assignment Committee meeting Friday
I heard from our agency today that the assignment committee is supposed to meet on Friday. Please pray that the committee does indeed meet and that God's perfect will be done. Thank you!!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Giddy!!
My boys love that word giddy. I think we must have read it in a book at some point that someone was giddy. They thought it sounded so funny, and it became one of their expressions. Anyway, now it is me that feels giddy!
I was so excited earlier today to read on a fellow adoptive mamma's blog that she had heard from her agency, and their family was now on the wait list! Be still my heart!! I am just turning cartwheels for them, and I have never met them before! I am absolutely thrilled for that family, and there are probably lots more families that will hear similar news very soon. Things are happening!! Praise God!! I am giddy!!
I was so excited earlier today to read on a fellow adoptive mamma's blog that she had heard from her agency, and their family was now on the wait list! Be still my heart!! I am just turning cartwheels for them, and I have never met them before! I am absolutely thrilled for that family, and there are probably lots more families that will hear similar news very soon. Things are happening!! Praise God!! I am giddy!!
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Updated Home Study Complete
Here's another date to put on our timeline! Our home study was updated and has been sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in order to update our clearance to bring the kiddos into the country. We received our original clearance from USCIS back in August 2010, but these things expire after a certain amount of time, and in order to get it current, we had to have our home study updated. So we did that, and as soon as I got the final document in my hands, I sent it out to USCIS. Yay for that!
Yeah, there really haven't been many items to document on the timeline recently. The last noteworthy date was back in October when we learned that we were #15 on the wait list. When I started the blog, actually when I opened it so that other people could read it back in August, the real purpose that I had in my mind was to use it as a travel log for while we were in Honduras, so that I could keep friends and family updated on exactly what was happening while we were there, every little step of the way. I had started writing long before that, but mostly what I was doing was keeping track of the dates of events with regard to this adoption. In August, we were somewhere south of #28 on the wait list, and I thought we would get our referral soon, so I wanted to have the blog all nice and ready so that when we were travelling, we could make entries along the way. Things like: "oooooh, we travel tomorrow!" and "just landed in Honduras!" and "our children are so beautiful!!!"
As you well know, things have not gone according to my little plan. Other than learning we were #15 on the wait list, there has been nothing concrete to document. So we've had to make do with the musings of my big hard head [I'm just like Caldonia: what makes my big head so hard?]. I've definitely enjoyed doing it. I love to write, and putting my thoughts of these last few months down in words has really helped solidify my thinking.
So that's all I've got for now. Hopefully before too long I will have something really exciting to document on the timeline!
Yeah, there really haven't been many items to document on the timeline recently. The last noteworthy date was back in October when we learned that we were #15 on the wait list. When I started the blog, actually when I opened it so that other people could read it back in August, the real purpose that I had in my mind was to use it as a travel log for while we were in Honduras, so that I could keep friends and family updated on exactly what was happening while we were there, every little step of the way. I had started writing long before that, but mostly what I was doing was keeping track of the dates of events with regard to this adoption. In August, we were somewhere south of #28 on the wait list, and I thought we would get our referral soon, so I wanted to have the blog all nice and ready so that when we were travelling, we could make entries along the way. Things like: "oooooh, we travel tomorrow!" and "just landed in Honduras!" and "our children are so beautiful!!!"
As you well know, things have not gone according to my little plan. Other than learning we were #15 on the wait list, there has been nothing concrete to document. So we've had to make do with the musings of my big hard head [I'm just like Caldonia: what makes my big head so hard?]. I've definitely enjoyed doing it. I love to write, and putting my thoughts of these last few months down in words has really helped solidify my thinking.
So that's all I've got for now. Hopefully before too long I will have something really exciting to document on the timeline!
Monday, February 06, 2012
Pain
Ok, everyone out there: raise your hand if you like pain and suffering.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
No one likes pain, and I am right there with you. But as we all know, pain is part of life, and definitely part of the spiritual life. Being Christian doesn't mean we escape pain and suffering, but it does mean that God is right there in the midst of it, and can make it redemptive. Our pain has value. We and others can grow from our pain and become the people that God desires us to be.
I love this quote from C. S. Lewis:
"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."
Man, he's good.
I've heard that the assignment committee will be meeting mid-February to make referrals. Mid-February: that's next week!! Yay!!!! As far as I know, we are still at #15 on the wait list, which is still quite a distance from #1, so I don't think it extremely likely that we will receive our referral from this meeting. It is certainly possible, depending on how many children are paper-ready, and the specifics of the requests of the families that are in the queue above us. You know I am hoping and praying that a referral might come our way, but I don't think I will be extremely disappointed if we don't get the call. [How can I help but be a little disappointed.] Anyway, even if we don't get the call, someone else will, or maybe lots of someones, which will be so absolutely thrilling for them, and I will be joyful for their joy, and will be doing my happy dance for them. As long as we have been waiting, they have been waiting even longer. Man, that is painful just thinking about. We've passed the fifteen month mark on the wait list, and these other families have been waiting longer than that. So I will be happy for those that get referrals, and also, if other families get referrals, that will bump us up on the list, which will be really great. Just that much closer to our little #3 and #4!!
The thing is, though, we had to pass through a seriously painful period to get to this spot. I couldn't even talk about it on this blog or with friends. I barely had the ability to talk about it with my husband, and even then, I could hardly get the words out. "What if," I squeaked, "What if we don't get a referral? What if something happens, and we don't get a referral?" I was still hopeful, but things were looking a tad grim. And my oh so wise husband paused ever so briefly and said, "Well, at least we know we have been faithful." I tell you, that was a balm on my soul. The pain didn't go away, but those words helped me to bear it.
Yes most definitely I want #3 and #4 to come home to us. I want it so much it brings tears to my eyes, and I physically ache for them. I want them to come home to us more than anything, except one thing. And that one thing is doing God's will in my life. With all our hearts, we believed that adopting #3 and #4 was God's will for our life. And then we were faced with the possibility that maybe that wasn't it. Not that God had changed His mind of course, but that maybe His will was that we be open to the possibility of #3 and #4 but that more importantly, we be brought closer to Him through the long and trying process, that we grow in our trust in Him, and that we fully surrender to His will. He met us where we were, and brought us along to a better place. And it was painful getting there.
We still believe that we are doing what God is calling us to do in pursuing this adoption, but we are trusting that even if it doesn't happen, God is doing what is best.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
No one likes pain, and I am right there with you. But as we all know, pain is part of life, and definitely part of the spiritual life. Being Christian doesn't mean we escape pain and suffering, but it does mean that God is right there in the midst of it, and can make it redemptive. Our pain has value. We and others can grow from our pain and become the people that God desires us to be.
I love this quote from C. S. Lewis:
"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."
Man, he's good.
I've heard that the assignment committee will be meeting mid-February to make referrals. Mid-February: that's next week!! Yay!!!! As far as I know, we are still at #15 on the wait list, which is still quite a distance from #1, so I don't think it extremely likely that we will receive our referral from this meeting. It is certainly possible, depending on how many children are paper-ready, and the specifics of the requests of the families that are in the queue above us. You know I am hoping and praying that a referral might come our way, but I don't think I will be extremely disappointed if we don't get the call. [How can I help but be a little disappointed.] Anyway, even if we don't get the call, someone else will, or maybe lots of someones, which will be so absolutely thrilling for them, and I will be joyful for their joy, and will be doing my happy dance for them. As long as we have been waiting, they have been waiting even longer. Man, that is painful just thinking about. We've passed the fifteen month mark on the wait list, and these other families have been waiting longer than that. So I will be happy for those that get referrals, and also, if other families get referrals, that will bump us up on the list, which will be really great. Just that much closer to our little #3 and #4!!
The thing is, though, we had to pass through a seriously painful period to get to this spot. I couldn't even talk about it on this blog or with friends. I barely had the ability to talk about it with my husband, and even then, I could hardly get the words out. "What if," I squeaked, "What if we don't get a referral? What if something happens, and we don't get a referral?" I was still hopeful, but things were looking a tad grim. And my oh so wise husband paused ever so briefly and said, "Well, at least we know we have been faithful." I tell you, that was a balm on my soul. The pain didn't go away, but those words helped me to bear it.
Yes most definitely I want #3 and #4 to come home to us. I want it so much it brings tears to my eyes, and I physically ache for them. I want them to come home to us more than anything, except one thing. And that one thing is doing God's will in my life. With all our hearts, we believed that adopting #3 and #4 was God's will for our life. And then we were faced with the possibility that maybe that wasn't it. Not that God had changed His mind of course, but that maybe His will was that we be open to the possibility of #3 and #4 but that more importantly, we be brought closer to Him through the long and trying process, that we grow in our trust in Him, and that we fully surrender to His will. He met us where we were, and brought us along to a better place. And it was painful getting there.
We still believe that we are doing what God is calling us to do in pursuing this adoption, but we are trusting that even if it doesn't happen, God is doing what is best.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
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