APPROVED!

So we've had some really exciting things happen since the last post... and some not so exciting things....

A few weeks ago we received our APPROVAL from the USCIS at the Department of Homeland Security!!! HUGE step... HUGE. Then again, everything feels like a huge step in this never ending process :) .... Aaron and I were super excited to receive this because we were thinking we were DONE!! Definitely thought this was the moment things would be sent off to COLOMBIA and out of our hands!!..... UMMM not quite. Then come to find out we were still waiting for the return and authorization of our sealed finger prints from the FBI. Yes, the FBI. And yes these were the third set of finger prints we have had done. No big deal right? So we waited some more. Then about one week later... we GOT OUR FINGERPRINTS delivered to us!! Another really excited step that brought us one step closer to bringing our child home!

So we were now thinking that THIS surely had to be the last thing to submit to our Dossier company... umm, not quite! Luckily ( I say with a forced smile) our Dossier company found a few things that needed to be changed in some of our papers. Things that needed to be re-notarized, dates that needed to be typed out, new name change forms... the list could go on and on and on.... SOOO where are we now???

With all of the approvals under our belts, we have to move really fast. These approvals only last for 12-15 months (which may sound long, but you'd be shocked at how fast the time goes before everything can be 100% good to go, mistake free, type-o free, sent to Colombia)! We have corrected all that needed to be corrected (HOPEFULLY!) and are now waiting for our currier to take our sealed prints from the FBI to Washington to get apostilled, then our Dossier company will look over everything again, double check everything, triple check everything, THEN give us the good news that we can officially send our Dossier off to COLOMBIA!

As discouraging or tiring or frustrating as this whole process can become... The Lord frequently sends us sweet things to smile over and encourage Aaron and I. The Lord has seriously breathed the call of adoption into this community more so than I ever could have imagined. Some of our very best friends, other dear dear friends, other people that we have just now gotten to know and love.....! And above and beyond all of this... it hasn't stopped. One of my very best friends older sister just announced that she and her husband are beginning (kind of... they've had this on their hearts I do believe for a long long time.....) their journey of adoption as well!!!! Not only that, but 2 more sweet couples have come forward to talk about adoption... PLUS meeting several new families at FBC preschool who have domestically and internationally adopted that have just moved to the area... Seriously, how cool is this? How great is our God? Our Lord works in beautiful and mysterious ways...

Sooooo until the day comes where we can receive the referral for the child the Lord has chosen for us... we will wait. Some days patiently... some days not so patiently... some days joyfully... some days a little more frantic than others..... some days it feels like that last month in your pregnancy when you are just ready to have your child here and are tired of being pregnant.... some days a bit more peacefully knowing that the Lord is not quite done refining us and preparing our child for us to bring home.... !!

All in all it is with lots of JOY that I get to say we have made huge strides forward....!!

This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
--reminding myself daily that it is through our Joy in the Lord that we find our strength... and with that strength all things are possible!