Believing

As we continue to wait on our notarized home study to send to immigration, I am having to remind myself of God's faithfulness and goodness.  In December when I was struggling because things weren't working out with the adoption, (This is another story for another blog post, but long story short...adoption was not going to happen from Liberia) I prayed and struggled and prayed and struggled and then God gave me this verse:
Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. Luke 1:45 So this adoption is not happening in my timing or the way that I envisioned it, and yet I will believe that God will accomplish it.  He is faithful! I was looking back in my journal where I wrote these verses from Lamentations 3:
 The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.
 I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.
 Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:

 The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue,
  Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.
  The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.

 The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him,
 So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us—

This is my reminder that I trust Him...that He is good...that I will wait in patience...that He is all I have, so in Him will I hope.

Waiting and Working

So, this whole adoption process seems to be one where you gather and fill out forms and then you wait...and wait...and wait some more.  The waiting is hard. Things are out of my control and boy do I like to be in control.  Right now, we are still waiting for our home study to be finalized, notarized, and approved by our agency.  Once all that is done, we can send everything to US Immigrations and then guess what...we wait some more.  Yesterday, I decided that I needed to do something toward bringing Miriam home.  I know that in the future Joey and I are going to need certified copies of our birth certificates and marriage license. So, since I was born in Georgia and this is also where we got married, I drove to DeKalb County to the state Vital Records office to get a copy of both.  Now I have already admitted my need for control, so I went very prepared with everything I needed...2 money orders, forms filled out, and identification.  Let's just say that most of the other people there do not have control issues and apparently just take things as they come.  I should have had a clue that this was going to be an interesting experience when I walk in the door and see that there are 2 armed guards.  Instead I greeted them with a cheerful hello which they seemed somewhat surprised about but recovered quickly to point me in the right direction.  As I walked into the room, I quickly assessed that this seemed like a place where people did a lot of waitng.  The line was short but there were lots of people sitting in the rows of chairs waiting for their name to be called.  I got out all the things I needed and got into the line.  At this point another thing that I must admit is that I am incredibly curious about other people's business...some would call that nosy.  Of course, I am listening to all the conversations going on around me. The couple in front of me had 2 young children and they wanted to amend their birth certificates and add the father's name.  I really wanted to ask the mom why she didn't do that when she had her babies, but decided that would not be a good idea.  I made it to the window and turned in my paperwork and money orders and sat down to wait.  The older African American gentleman that I sat next to was tired of waiting so he struck up a conversation with me.  He had been there a loooonnnngggg time and so in bits and pieces he shared his story with me.  The short version is that at his mamma's funeral his wallet and all his id was stolen and now he had his tax return check and wanted to cash it but he didn't have any identification.  This story came with lots of side stories, but ultimately he ended up showing me his check for his tax return.  I told him that this check was for a lot of money and so the wait would eventually be worth it for him.  He seemed to agree.  Then I whipped out my photo album of Miriam and showed him her pictures.  I told him we were adopting this precious little girl, and so my wait would be worth it too...how ever long it was.  He seemed a lttle stunned and we sat in silence for a while.  Then my name was called, and I picked up my paperwork.  This seemed to set him off and he went to the window and yelled back to the ladies in the background and asked if they needed him to come back there and help them.  Luckily at this point I had all I needed so I was able to make a quick exit.  This encounter did help me to remember that the waiting is going to be worth it.  Also, just like the vital records emplyees were working in the background during the wait, God is working while we are waiting.  I trust that and know when our name is called to go and get sweet Miriam, God will have done  the background work.  Just an aside to all my friends that are great writers, I think if you went to vital records and sat there for a week, you could write an amazing book with all the stories of the people that come in and out of there.  I'd read it for sure!

Moving Forward

Hooray!  Our home study has been sent to our agency for approval.  Once they approve it, Joey and I have to read through it and see if any changes need to be made. Then, it is ready to be signed and notarized.  YAY!  We are moving closer to being able to send our dossier to US Immigration.  Sweet Miriam we are moving closer to bringing you home.