For me when I forget...

This link is here for me, and maybe it will be here for you too, when in the midst of the struggles of life, most particularly the adoption journey, I can be reminded that  I cannot continue in the flesh.

This whole process is a walking in the Spirit. He began the work in our hearts, opened our eyes to the desperate need of orphans, gave us hearts that have been broken by the very thing that breaks His heart and caused us to have the faith to step out and make the phone call to say "yes".

How, can I ever think for a moment that now I am in control? That I have any say over each step?

I am called to be completely and utterly dependent on Him. Yet, who better to make ourselves vulnerable to than One who has already planned the whole thing! May I remember these things, when my flesh demands its own way and deceives me into thinking I can accomplish things in my own strength.

Another email, another conference call

I just got another email from our social worker. This time I don't even understand it. The little part that I get is that the people who we thought were going to be at the Dept of State meeting tomorrow aren't going to be there.

Sigh....

 There was a bunch more info full of Government agency names, acronyms and people who I don't understand who they are... but the only other thing I gathered is that another conference call is scheduled for next Wednesday June 2, 2010. 

 I feel like I'm living from conference call to conference call!

We leave for a mission trip to Mexico June 8, so I'm really hoping we'll hear some kind of confirmation before then. Otherwise I'm going to be living in agony not knowing what is happening for 10 days if I'm without internet access. Will our agency be approved while we're gone? Will our dossier be submitted without us even knowing it? Aaaahhh! LOL!

Also,it's going to be so hard to be so close to our ninos (we'll be in Chihuahua City) yet not be able to swing down and see them (they're in Mexico City). OK, so it's more than a "swing" down- more like 14 hour drive, I think, but still much closer than we are now! Anyway, we aren't ALLOWED to see them due to Hague regulations, so even if we were in the same city, we still couldn't. Bummer.

Helpful Info

Anyone who is reading this and wanting to adopt from Mexico might enjoy the last post from this other blog. This family is with the same agency as us and has just completed their adoption. They wrote extensively on the process of getting the visa in Juarez, Mexico.

Hodge Podge!

I have a hodge podge (I love those words! They roll off the tongue so sill-i-ly...now that's not a word at all!) of info to cram into this post! Ready?

 Adoption Update!
 During a conference call with our agency we found out that the interpol issue is even more frustrating. Apparently Interpol doesn't even DO agency clearances anymore! So, who in the world was saying, "yes we have your interpol clearance! We forwarded it on April 16." is a big ole liar! Or at least a very confused person. Basically, this means that Mexico is asking for something that cannot possibly be done. They didn't know that, our agency didn't know that and we now realize the US State Department must not have either!

Thankfully, there was a little shred of hope in the conference call. The lady in charge of the Central DIF (the Federal Govt agency that does adoptions in Mexico) is flying to meet with people from the US State Department this coming Friday (5/28/10). The Dept of State person is aware of our agency's situation and has promised to offer any and all assistance to give Mexico whatever documentation they need to finalize the Central DIF approval process. We're just praying they really will and that Mexico will indeed be satisfied at last with whatever the DOS can provide. None of the dossiers can be submitted until this approval process is complete!
 Just so it is clear, our agency is doing a fantastic job submitting to all these out of the blue changes that the Central DIF is now asking for. There is only one other agency that has been through this Central Approval process, that I know of, so I'm sure that any other agencies will have their dossiers halted until they get their central approval also, once the individual states start the compliance process. I'm so thankful that God put it clearly on our hearts to go with an agency on the front end of the changes. It's just a little frustrating to be the guinea pigs.
 So if you all would please pray for this meeting to go smoothly and for God to allow Mexico to show favor to our agency and not ask for any more documentation but allow dossier submission. And, also that we would wait patiently!

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Next.... I found this wonderful video on another blog... I wish I was so eloquent to compose such beautiful prose on the sweetness of our adoption in Christ, but since I'm not...


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I want to highly recommend this spanish program that we recently bought to learn the language. We do have Rosetta Stone, and the kids do well with it. But, Fluenz has been very helpful for us as adults. Adults learn language differently than children so it has been wonderful for Brent and I to work on in the evenings. Check it out!
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 This is a picture of our complete dossier with all it's pretty stickers and translations. What a work of art! All 26 documents of it!

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 Oh, and I'm missin' my chicos something awful lately...time is ticking and I'm really anxious for them to know they will have a mommy and daddy....

The Drop of the Roller Coaster... Again...

I have never in my life experienced the rise and fall of emotion like during this adoption process. Last entry we were full of excitement and on top of the world, having sent off our dossier, just waiting for the big day when we'd hear that our dossier could be submitted.
Last night, though, we got an email from our social worker saying there are new problems with the agency approval. Apparently, Mexico does not have the Interpol clearance, even though they had told our agency they did back in April. There is a bunch of confusion on the US side and the Mexico side and our agency is stuck in  the middle not knowing what's going on.  This is terribly disappointing since tomorrow is the monthly meeting to review the agency paperwork and now we have no idea when that will take place. At minimum it's another month. Worst case scenario- well, we don't even know yet. This means it also pushes back dossier submission dates, which is frustrating for all the families waiting.
We are vacillating between frustration and faith today. God is in control and this hasn't taken him by surprise. Even though we are filled with disappointment because this delays our process, we are choosing to trust His timing. We are fully convinced that God is using this to refine our faith, scrape away our own desires and be filled with trust and peace. Going through the refining fire is never a painless process, though, so we would ask for your prayers during this time. We truly desire that God be magnified through the events of our adoption, and all involved can see His sovereignty. Maybe He will do that by bringing a miracle in the midst of this situation, or He will be honored by our hearts learning to trust in ways we haven't before. Either way, may He be glorified....

Dossier Complete!

Well, after 7 months of paper chasing, we are finally finished our dossier. This is our big stack of paperwork that will eventually make its way to Mexico City where it will be reviewed and hopefully approved! God has been so good to us as we have progressed this far. This last hurdle with the translations, was so full of God's working that it is exciting to us to see how He is just pushing each thing along, us completely out of control of any of it.

On Thursday of last week I Fed Ex'ed our 5 inch thick, 5 pound box of documents to our agency. We are so excited! Although, now it really feels weird to not have anything more to do! For so many months, we've been running full speed ahead and now, we're at a sudden stop! I think I might have whiplash from it!!! LOL!

Our agency's paperwork will be reviewed by the Mexican Central DIF on May 20. After this meeting, if all is approved, our agency can begin sending dossiers! WooHOOO!

Prayer Warriors Needed!

Hey Everyone,

It's strange how we never have to meet someone in order to feel connected to them. Being online and reading people's blogs about their lives and families really can make you feel like friends even if never having met in the flesh.
A few months ago, I found another blog of a family adopting a teenage boy from Mexico. This in itself is a miracle since I have found no more than 3 blogs about Mexican adoptions. And believe me- I've searched and searched, just ask my hubby! There are a plethora of blogs about Chinese or Ethiopian adoptions, but barely any for Mexico. But, to top it all off, they are a family who loves the Lord and have older biological children. And they are adopting an older child.
It has been so fun to keep up with their family and pray and get excited with them as they finished up the tail end of their adoption journey and he became their son. But, the past few months have brought lots of  pain and frustration. It seems that due to a paperwork mistake, they are not able to bring their son home at this time. I am heartbroken for them, as I can't begin to imagine how hard this is for them and for their son, who has been returned to the orphanage for the time being.
So I am asking all my friends to pray. Pray that God would move mountains and work a miracle in this situation. Pray that their son would have comfort and peace and it would not affect his healing process. Pray for the family as they have had their hearts ripped out for the past three months as they have waited to get the right paperwork. Pray for God to be glorified by doing something completely impossible and unexpected. If you want the whole story, you can read backward on the blog here.

Yippeee!!

Just got an email that our translations are full of pretty stickers and are in flight over night tonight to arrive at our house tomorrow! Yay!
BUT, somehow I STILL haven't taken pictures of our basement! I'm truly procrastinating on this one. And, after going to the homeschool curriculum fair this weekend, I have a slew of new books that are just stacked all over the desks. Looks like a full night of cleaning is ahead so I can have our photos done for tomorrow!
We are sooooo excited!

Day late mail and Floods

Our agency has been wonderful to work with. They have completed a number of adoptions in Mexico Pre- Hague and have done all the requirements to meet the Hague Treaty regulations. Unfortunately, as they were ready to submit a dossier last year, the "Powers That Be" in the Mexican Central DIF decided to impose an additional approval process for all adoption agencies above and beyond what Hague requires- which they have the right to do.
So, since last summer, they have been jumping through hoops meeting all the requests for additional paperwork. One thing that was newly required was an international INTERPOL clearance- which basically is an international background check for the adoption agency.  Our agency has been waiting and waiting for this approval to come through and finally have heard that it did. At the end of April, all the paperwork was assembled for the DIF committee to review it and give the formal approval for dossiers to be submitted. BUT, the DIF committe only meets once a month. And the INTERPOL letter arrived one day late in the mail! GRrrrr... so now we are having to wait until May 20 in order for our agency's paperwork to be reviewed and approved. THEN, the agency's dossiers can be submitted. We hope. We all are just holding our breath and praying that they aren't going to ask for any new papers or delay giving the actual approval letter.  We would love to have all our prayer warriors bathe this committee meeting in prayer!

As for our process, our translations were done last week- just in time for the flooding to hit Nashville, Tennessee where our translator is! Many office buildings and roads were impassable or under water. This posed a dilemna since all our translations need to be notorized, authenticated and then apostilled. AND, to top it all off, our translator was flying out of town for a week long training. Guess where? An hour from my house! What are the odds!
We thought it would be a disaster, but then realized that it was a blessing! She could just sign and notarize them here in MD and I could get them authenticated and apostilled here in MD since the flooding was posing such an issue.
Only one problem- in her haste to catch her flight, our translator forgot the final copies of two of our translations and didn't have any way to get them to me in MD since she was here too! Thankfully, God was watching out for us, because after talking to our social worker from our agency, she said that all our documents needed to be authenticated in Tennessee, not MD. If she had not forgotten those two documents, we would have done ALL of them wrong and spend time and money having to redo all of them! Thank you Lord for keeping me from making a big mistake!
I was concerned that we would have to be delayed indefinitely until the TN government buildings were reopened- who knows when that would be! But, after  a few phone calls, I think all the buildings we need are either open or have opened at another site on higher and drier ground.  Our translator is going to make the rounds to all the places that give out pretty stickers (!) this week and then we should finally be ready to assemble our dossier and send it to our agency to submit! Then it's a whole other process- but that's another post for later!