Wild week

There is no other way to describe this week but WILD! So much happened within just a few days time. I wanted to make sure that I had a timeline so that we can always remember how faithful our LORD has been thru this process. To God be the Glory in this Miracle of Adoption!!!

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012:

1. I got my first opportunity to share the miracle of adoption with a local family interested in adopting from DRC.

2. I had a minor moment of panic. ( I hear this is quite common in the adoption process.) This is also known as a FREAK OUT moment. Just a brief time of worrying and the Lord pointing me back to HIM in this process. Also, my Freak Out moment affected me so greatly that I went directly to Andy and said ....we have got to pray.

3. Andy and I on our knees praying on behalf of our adoption process, for our little man, for the Lord's will, for protection of our son, for our lawyer in DRC, for our adoption agency, you name it....we were praying it!!!


Wednesday, February 8th, 2012:

1. Andy's Birthday

2. I called our "Assistant Storks" in Washington, D.C. to ask where we were with the authentication of our power of attorney and consent to adopt forms. He said that the papers had already been authenticated at the Department of State and that not 30 minutes ago that he had picked up our authenticated documents from D.R.C's(Democratic Republic of Congo) Embassy. So in less than a week I had mailed these documents to these precious "Assistant Storks" and they had all our paperwork taken care of for us. So if anyone is wanting to expedite their process with the Dept. of State and their country's embassy..."The Assistant Storks" are the way to go!!!(And might I mention their fees were so low that I had to ask again if I was hearing them correctly.) Thanks Steve and Laura Morrison! Your ministry is an amazing one! Steve Morrison overnighted our documents to our adoption agency and then Celebrate Children is forwarding all of our paperwork to DRC so that our lawyer can go to court to adopt our sweet precious little man on our behalf.

3. Not 22 minutes later I received an email from Cherie at Celebrate Children that we had received paperwork from our lawyer in DRC saying that sometime between now and into March our son would be adopted officially. Also, on February 27, 2012 our lawyer would be able to pick up his DRC birth certificate for us. From what I understand as soon as our little man is adopted in the courts we wait one month for it to be officially finalized. Then our lawyer walks over to the US Embassy and passes off all paperwork to expedite our little man getting a visa. I was told that as far as the visa is concerned it could take anywhere for 4-7 weeks. (we shall see!)

4. Cherie at Celebrate Children and I discuss that I needed a focus to keep my nerves calm. We discuss that immunizations need to be taken care of within the next week or so ...so that the immunizations can be in our system for a while before arriving in DRC.

5. Might I also mention that Cherie shares with me that she has been tracking multiple families that are adopting from or have already adopted from DRC. She said that from everything she was seeing that families had been only given 1-2 days notice on traveling to pick up their child. WOW! My heart doubles a quick double beat!

6. I am about to hyperventilate with joy as so much as happened within one day. Let's just say Mamma Bear is completed mentally exhausted by the end of the day. So much happened with my adrenaline going all day that I am ready for sleep after church! I have to admit that I could not concentrate on listening to Beth Moore
that night. Yikes!

Thursday, February 9th, 2012:

1. My mom begins to discuss what we will do when we are gone to DRC. She said that she and Gayle and Mary Kay have already discussed that they all want to keep Gray. Gray will stay with Gayle everyday and on the days Gayle is working Mary Kay will keep Gray. Mom will of course help out when she can.

2. Andy and I discuss the offer and we decide that this is the best thing for Gray so she will be close to family and also close to her doctors in case she needs medical attention at her pediatrician or even at Vanderbilt.

3. I contact my sweet childhood friend, Mary Katherine, for back up in case Mary Kay needs back up. Mary Katherine graciously accepts! ( We also know that we can call anyone in Andy's family...just wanted to make sure that we had people close by that could in case of emergency would be able to get Gray to her doctors.)

4. Andy and I sigh with relief that our baby girl has a place to stay while we bring our son home. No more worrying on that one!

Friday, February 10th, 2012:

1. I speed walk/run to our mailbox. Yes, we have received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security. WOOHOO! (Never thought I would be saying that!)

2. I open the envelope and do not understand anything on it. (Surprise!)

3. I call our adoption agency and ask to speak with 3 of the people I know that work there so they can help interpret what this means.

4. I speak to the social worker at Celebrate Children, Angela. She said, "You have received your golden ticket!" Those that know me ....I jump up and down saying that's fantastic....then I really think and say "now what does it really mean?" Apparently the I-171H form gives the ok for us to begin processing our little man's visa and also for us to be eligible to adopt an age 0-3 child from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

5. Angela tells us next that we should receive a letter in the mail saying our visa for our little man is being processed or has been processed. If for some reason we don't receive the letter in a month call Celebrate Children and they will help us reach out to the National Visa Center to get a case number for our little man. This case number is important I am told.

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

1.I sit and reflect on our wild week and I am incredibly grateful to be apart of such a blessing. The Lord does not take any orphan or widow lightly. So basically-our Lord means business when he wants his child to be apart of your family! Don't doubt, don't question....just go and do!

2. To God be the Glory in all that we do!