One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Yes, it’s been one of those weeks. First an upsetting situation (not adoption related) happened that has had me quite upset and I have had to remind myself that ,yes, even in that situation, God is in control, God knows my heart, and most importantly God loves me. Even with other things going on our sweet little girl on the other side of the world is always on our minds. Two weeks ago we requested information about how her file was coming along. The good news is that it has finally past the “finding ad” phase, but the bad news is that it is not expected to make it to our adoption agency until at least June. It is so hard to hear and to know that there is nothing we can do to speed this part of the process up.  Or is there? Why is it we always forget the most important thing that we can do while we wait. We can pray that God will have just the right person pick up her file and get it to the place it needs to be, and if not then help us to know that this too is all part of God’s plan. I asked a question that I was not sure I wanted to hear the answer to, and that question is “Do you think we will be able to travel by the end of the year?” I was hoping to get a response like, “oh definitely you should be travelling by that time”. The real answer was “I don’t know if you’ll have her home by the end of the year”. That was so hard to read, but again I remind myself that God is in control and there is a reason that everything is taking so long. I can even think of good things (only a few J) that could come out of waiting a little longer, but if I was given a choice I would leave for China tomorrow.

 We should be receiving our I 797 approval any day and our dossier should be logged in sometime in May. Having an LID (log in date) for our dossier will definitely give us a feeling accomplishment and hopefully help when we finally receive that long awaited for referral.

Next week is a week for celebrating at our home. Our only son, Matt, will turn seventeen on April 26^th and our daughter, Abby, will hit the double digits that same day. Our kids are a huge part of why we chose to adopt. We have had such a great relationship with all three of them that the idea of adding to our family was exciting.  Happy Birthday Matt & Abby, we love you both so much!

Thank you for continuing to pray for our family. I know God hears each one of them.

I have not blogged in a while because until last week nothing had been going on as far as the adoption goes. Last week, however we (David, Katie, and I) were fingerprinted by the USCIS. We received our appointments for April 9^th at the Ft Myers office, but we walked into the Tampa office 2 weeks early and were taken without any problems and were in and out of the office in twenty minutes. Now we wait for our approval notice.  We had a good day, after fingerprinting we took Katie out for breakfast. It was her birthday, so it was nice to spend the day with her. I cannot believe she is 19!! After breakfast we went to Lifeway Christian Store, Target, and Ikea. This was fun because where we live we have a Wal-Mart, and a small mall where K-Mart is an anchor store. We went to Ikea to look for ideas for the girls bedroom and I think we found something. J

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a person to cry easily… until recent months. I think it began when Katie graduated from High School, then two weeks later when she boarded a plane (her first ever plane trip) bound for China and more specifically, Maria’s Big House of Hope. When she came home and shared all of her experiences and pictures from MBHOH, my heart broke for the orphans who might never know the love of a mommy and daddy. I would think about these orphans when I was alone, on my way to work I would just cry thinking of these sweet faces. Now my son makes fun of me because he says I cry about everything, maybe it’s my age, I don’t know, but it's not a bad thing when your heart breaks for what breaks His. Well, when we went to get fingerprinted, needless to say we were all excited to get this done and to move along with completing our dossier. I was first to be fingerprinted and when I was done I sat for a couple of minutes waiting for David and Katie to finish up. David was second and he walked over to me and said something How did I respond? I started crying, then we all laughed  With every little step it all becomes more and more real to me that one day we will be bringing home our daughter from China. I cannot wait for that day! I feel so incredibly honored that God would choose our family to answer the prayer of a forever family for a sweet little girl. As we are preparing to bring her home we and my parents have enjoyed buying some little things for her to enjoy when she is finally home. I’ve taken a picture of a few things, now I can’t wait to get started on the bedroom.

As you think of us, would you please pray that the file for our little girl would be completed soon and for our dossier to be completed soon. We are praying to have a LID in mid-May.

I heard this song a couple of years ago, I think it may have been on the Fireproof movie; but the words are so appropriate for this season in my life.

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait

Thank you all so much for your encouraging words to us and for your prayers. We do appreciate it.

By the way if you all like coffee, check out this website http://www.justlovecoffee.com/altmanadoption , if you make a purchase using that link our family will receive a portion of that sale toward the cost of our adoption. Thank you to those that have already purchased coffee, your support means so much.