The waiting game

Of course, my favorite part of the adoption process is the waiting.  Now, having said that, I hear all the hundreds of men and women across the globe grinding their teeth because, by comparison, we won't have to wait for much of anything.  After all, both Colin's adoption and this second adoption are/have happened at warp speed!  But, acknowledging that there are so many other sweet children and families that really have tremendous waits throughout the process, what makes our wait so challenging is that ANY unnecessary delay could cost him his chance for a forever family.  There is literally NO room for mistakes, especially this time around.

So often, we hear about these amazing leaps of faith where families hear the call to adopt one of these older children, and like our first adoption, all goes well. Despite the hiccups along the way, they make it to China on time (in some cases, just in the nick of time!) and the families live happily ever after.  By in large, this is the way our first adoption went is going.(We are far from "done") It would be really easy to think that it always ends this way. Right?  But, the reality is that there are many, many chances for something to go in another direction. Things like lost mail, typos on paperwork, missing documentation, cranky immigration officers, key employees taking vacations or sick days.... and the list goes on.

Now, I am not one that has the luxury of dwelling on such disasters.  In fact, most days, I am confident in the Lord's plan and that even those pesky delays will all, somehow, fit into His plan for our family and be revealed to us sometime in the future.  On the other hand, I would be remiss if I was not daily aware of the responsibility that I have to lean on Him for support and to pray faithfully for the "process".  Today is one such day.  Our state DSS officer was magnificent in getting our new home study approved in record time and sending it off immediately.  Likewise, our Immigration paperwork was rushed via overnight FedEx to the lockbox where they process the applications. It was delivered last Friday 10/21. (Don't get me started on why there are processed in TX and then sent "snail mail" to MO for review.)  ANYWAY..... because of the tight time frame in which we have to work, we (myself and our wonderful case worker) have reached out to two different Senators for help.  We received confirmation overnight that the paperwork was logged in yesterday, but don't actually know where it is RIGHT NOW.  We are praying that it was not sent to MO via USPS as this generally takes 7-10 days  and I have been told that we cannot afford that lost time.  So, for those who have joined our family in prayer, that is the current and immediate need. Those papers must get to MO as soon as possible.  I will update the post when I hear more.