Referral!

As I write this my heart is just overflowing with joy and excitement!  Last evening the phone rang and I saw it was America World.  A million things went through my head concerning why they might be calling.  I admit that a referral was one of those fleeting thoughts before I answered, but I thought to myself, "no, it is too quick for that to happen" and I answered.  Lisa said, "Ummm, Janie, we have a 12 month old baby girl for you and Adam to consider."  I was just SHOCKED!  It was dark because I had been watching "When Calls the Heart" and had the lights off.  I scrambled for a scrap of paper to write on as she told me the details. She said that according to our dossier paperwork only us and another couple were willing to take a child with her disability and that we were further in the process, so we had first chance.  She said we had 1 hour to decide because the paperwork had to be in India by the time the office in India opened.  Adam was away for work, so I told her I would have to call him and talk to him.  I dialed him and no answer!  I did this again 3 times and my mom was buzzing in while I was trying to call him.  I quickly answered her and told her what was going on and that I could not get Adam to answer.  Then I quickly called a dear friend and asked her to join our bible study group up by phone and to start praying.  Adam still would not answer his phone and my heart was racing.  I looked up his hotel on-line and they would not pick up at the desk either.  I was growing anxious and called again.  Finally they answered and connected me to his room.  His room mate answered and said Adam was at the hotub, "wait, he is coming through the door now!"  Adam picked up the phone and said I will call you back on my cell phone.  When we finally connected and I told him about this baby girl he was a shocked as I was.  We prayed.  I asked him how he felt because we were expecting a sibling group.  He said all he could think of was Hosea 14:3 "In you the orphan finds mercy" and he asked how I felt.  I said while we expected siblings I was super excited and overjoyed to think of making her our beloved daughter and I was for it.  I waited for Lisa to call back and told her it was a yes for us.  She said she thought it was the right decision too and that she has seen God work everything out perfectly in every case.  I spent the rest of the evening thanking the Lord for her and praying.  I googled her name and the meaning and everything that we knew so far about this little pumpkin.  I googled images of Indian babies her age and looked at the first birthday pictures we had of an Indian baby we are an auntie and uncle to.  She was the last thing on my mind as I went to bed and the first thing on my mind this morning.  I can't wait to get this process in over-drive and get her into our arms!

Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him

Precious Fingerprints

Today Adam took off a whole day of work for the second time to try to get our fingerprints for the I 800-A. I took off work for the first try, and today I was really sick and needed to study for a big exam that is tomorrow.   We called multiple times trying to make sure the office was going to be open because we knew the weather was supposed to get bad tonight.  The message kept telling us that they were "operating under normal conditions".  The building where we have to get this done is a long distance from our home, and so to go there and travel back home it is a whole day journey.  Today we were at the desk at 11:50 AM.  Our appointment was at 12 noon.  They told us that they were closing at 12 noon and would not take us because at 11:40 AM they had announced they were closing and turned off all the machines!  Argh!  We explained how we had made this trip last month and the same thing had happened.  I was thinking in my mind, "it couldn't take that long to turn the machines on, could it?  Do you know how much time it takes us to make this trip?  Do you know how much in wages we lose when we make this trip?"  They smiled and said they would mail out a new appointment.  We were SO frustrated.  The weather was not even bad yet.  We were standing right there at the desk and they gave practically no notice of closing.  I don't know why these things happen.  But I do know that the Lord has said, "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Yes, in know in my heart this won't be the last trial we face in this adoption process.  Adoption is hard, and one must be fully committed to it in order to see it through.  It is not for the faint of heart.  And I am sure we will face much greater sorrows and trials in the process.  But, the reward of children is great and what we will face is a small price to pay compared to the joy of adoption.  And there is a greater promise in that verse, too.  The king of kings  has adopted us as His own dear children.  And He went to much greater lengths than we will ever be asked to in order to adopt us.  He is our Father.  And He has overcome this world that is full of "trials and sorrows".  We can look forward to the great hope of someday living in a world that is free of these things with our Father in heaven.  And until then, we will plan to make yet a third trip so they can capture these precious fingerprints of ours.

January 2014 Signed, Sealed, and Delivered! This is how babies are made!

As we began the new year, we excitedly prepared for the last piece of our dossier!  Our I-800A appointment was set for January 6th.  We both had to take off of work.  We didn't want to run into any kind of trouble, and since we didn't know where the office was located and we had other dossier related appointments for that day as well, we decided to spend the night in Des Moines.  What a COLD DAY!  It was insane.  You can see from the pictures we took of the t.v. below that the temperatures were nearly unbearable.

To start off the day we had a 7:30 AM appointment to get a whole box of dossier documents notarized.  We spent about 1 hour signing our names over and over.  The notary was sweet enough to take this pictures of us after we finished all of our signing.

Then we were headed for the Office of the Secretary of State to get these freshly notarized documents apostilled.  What a thrilling journey because we knew we were inching toward the dossier finish line!

After getting our documents picked up (and nearly freezing to death) we went to our I-800 A appointment.  We had to park about 2 blocks away and walk in the freezing weather.  Our eyes were watering so much from the cold wind that we could barely see to make our way into the building.  Once we reached the safety of the building we were abruptly met with a security guard informing us that the building was closed and our appointment was cancelled due to the cold weather.  Our hearts sank and we tried to explain how we had both taken the day off of work (unpaid) to make this appointment.  We had driven 250 miles round trip and spent the night to make sure we didn't miss this appointment.  It didn't matter.  Only the security guard was there and we had to leave.  So, on our way back out we went.  We did have a good time together shopping and ate at Cheesecake Factory.  Then we went back home.  We did have a lot of work left to accomplish to get the dossier in the mail.  We went to work on making the copies.  

 

We thought we would go crazy!  We had to make 10 copies and we had 6 originals because of trying to get a sibling group of up to 4 children.  There were SO many papers everywhere and it was so hard to sort and organize everything properly.  Finally, the day came (01/27/14) that we finally put our dossier in the mail!  YAY!  What was really cool was that we asked the post lady if we could take her picture as she took our package.  She told us of how she had been adopted as an infant and her experience.  It was like a confirmation of just knowing that God is in control.  

Our dossier- Signed, Sealed, and Delivered!

We can’t help but wonder what 2014 will bring to our family.  Janie has begun her last semester of school.  In May she will finally be a Family ARNP!  This year will likely bring a referral, and maybe even our children!  February 4, 2014 we have our appointment with USCIS in Des Moines.  Hopefully we will have good weather this time.

Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow's cause.

December 2013 Christmas Celebration

This December we have been blessed with being a part of the local Indian Christmas Celebration.  This has been such a great time as we practice, prepare, and pray together for this special program.  Over 100 guests came for the program, which was a miracle in itself.  We got a big snowstorm the morning of the program and church was cancelled.  We were scheduled to start setting up for the celebration around 2 PM and we had a speaker flying in from Ohio.  As we all kept the situation held up in prayer, in spite of the snow, God still blessed it and made it a success.  The children had worked and practiced so hard and they did such a wonderful job.  We were so very proud of them and we are so excited for when our kids will be on stage joining them.  We dream and wonder if it could possibly be by next Christmas, and deep in our hearts we hope so.
The speaker, Sanjay Kalra,  had been raised as a Hindu in Delhi, India and was very successful in a worldly sense.  However, he came to the point of recognizing his need for the Lord.  He was saved and later his parents also came to know the Lord.  His marriage was saved and they are serving the Lord as a family now.  He could not even speak about it without tears coming to his eyes.

Christmas Practice 2013

We also got our I-800A appointment date, which is set for January 6, 2014 in Des Moines, IA.  WooHoo!  We have been working extra hard at collecting all of the documents we need to finish our dossier.  One document that has been so difficult to obtain is the police clearance.  We have our records stating that we have no criminal history, but we can't seem to get the letter we need.  We have gone to local and state police and no one seems to be able to help us.  We think we finally may have figured this out with the Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of Iowa office.  They said they can do the letters for us, which helps our stress level ease quite a bit.
On Christmas Day we were supposed to eat with some of our friends, but we were so tired that we instead slept the entire day away!  When our kids are here we know that won't happen, so we were enjoying it while we had the chance :) HA.

Sanjay Kalra with us

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

November 2013 I-800 A Application

In November we finally reached the step of applying for our I-800 A approval.  This is so exciting because it means we are nearing the end of the main part of the paper chase.  We talked to our adoption coordinator and she said that she and the India personnel are currently on the lookout for possible referrals for OUR kids!  Because we are requesting a sibling group, she said that our referral will likely not come from a CARA site, but rather from actual orphanage visits.

Also, Adam suddenly made the step of making a job change.  This is a great blessing.  With his other job he had to work most Sundays, which we really felt needed to change.  But we just didn't know how he could make the change or see another opportunity.  We admit that in our hearts we wondered if it was possible, but we prayed and asked the Lord to provide a job that did not work Sundays.  To our amazement, very soon after that God did provide that job!  A company had called Adam and asked him to take a position and then they called again and said it was closed.  Adam kept looking for other opportunities and then he decided to call that company back.  They said they had been thinking of calling him because the job was open again.  He took it!  Now we have Sundays off together and are able to be more active in church.  Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!
For Thanksgiving we were able to enjoy in the blessing of sharing Thanksgiving with the local Indian group.  We had the traditional American turkey dinner and a great time of fellowship.   We look forward to at least having a referral, if not actually having our kids home for next Thanksgiving.

Colossians 4:2  
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving