Answered Prayer...Again Please??

Even though it has been almost a month since I have blogged, I have to tell you about an answered prayer the day after my last blog.

Last blog I started with a short not-so-update. I was discouraged waiting for my Home Study to come in so I could start with the next step in the adoption process - filing for my I-600a which is a petition for orphan adoption from USCIS - US Immigration.

After I sat down to write the blog, I spent some time talking with God about my frustrations about how slow things were moving. The whole paperwork process is supposed to take at max 6 months. I will be at 6 months in 12 days and I still have quite a way to go. I started to realize that it is going to take quite a bit more time that I had ever anticipated and I started to get really discouraged. Funny how it is so easy to doubt when things don't go as planned. We are so conditioned to question God if this is the right thing I should be doing if it is not clear sailing. However, trust is not built as much when life is always smooth. So which reality am I living in? All God keeps telling me is to trust Him.

The next day at our staff meeting I asked for prayer about the adoption and that my home study would come. I don't routinely ask for prayer at staff meetings about the adoption, but that day I did because what have I to lose?

After the staff meeting I went on with my day and when I got home I checked my mailbox and there was a manila folder with 5 official copies of my home study!!

I was overjoyed and so amazed ( I know I shouldn't be) at how God answered prayer. I don't know what was different about that day, as I had been asking God about the home study for several weeks. Maybe it was that I got to the whining stage. I don't know.

I do trust that it is just a matter of His timing. He sees life from an entirely different perspective than we do. Glitches and hangups can have an eternal meaning and time line that we are completely unaware of. That is why I think trusting God seems a bit more unknowing than knowing.

Getting my completed home study was a big moment for me. It represents another major hurdle crossed. One step closer to my girl. It still seems surreal, but every step closer I have this humbling moment of being reminded that God is doing something bigger than me.

So I sent off my I-600a application and now I am waiting again. Once my application is approved, I will get a fingerprint appointment at an official intake center. In Alaska my options are Juneau and Anchorage. Many people ask why can't I just go down to our local courthouse? I don't really know other than this is the way it is done. It is a very official process. Once I get my fingerprint appointment there is more waiting for them to clear. Then I have to wait for the form saying they cleared. At that point I have to send my documents off to be authenticated. Once my paperwork has cleared authentication then I send my dossier off for final approval and then it is off to Ethiopia!!!!!

But as you can see there is going to be quite a bit more waiting.

The waiting is unpleasant once again as my paperwork just sits on the desks of people who have no idea who I am. I am just another name resulting in more work for them. Please pray that my application goes through quick and that I get my fingerprint appointment soon. I have a desire to see this all completed by the end of July. It is near impossible, but pray that it would go quick, but pray more that it is God's timing and that I will learn and grow in the waiting.