Amazing song

Casting Crowns will be releasing a new CD on October 18th. They have a sneak peak on Facebook. The song is called "So Far To Find You." The lead singer, Mark Hall, wrote it for his adoptive daughter. :)

FDL #2

We had our renewal fingerprint appointment on September 2nd. Today we got our new FDL. :) What a nice relief especially after the confusion with the bar codes on our fingerprint appointment letters. Too bad this isn't even the last one we will get. Our current FDL expires in February. Our home study doesn't expire until 2013. However, in order to have an extension given for our FDL, our home study has to be updated within 6 months of applying for our FDL extension. So...next month we get to start updating our home study. :( I never thought we would be having to update all of this stuff. When we first got on the wait list, the wait was 6-8 months but possibly up to 12 months for an infant girl. We are 14 months on the wait list and they say to expect it to be up to 18 months. Ugh! We never knew this journey was going to be so hard. We know the wait will be worth it in the end.

September numbers

We got our September numbers!!! We are #11 for a girl and #4 for boy!! Actually, there is a family on the list in front of us that is requesting a different age group than us which means that we are technically #3. To put that in prospective....there are TWO families in front of us. TWO little boys to get placed into their forever families before us. AHHHHH!!! It is looking like we will be painting a room blue. It doesn't seem real. We have been on the wait list for almost 14 months. It is hard to be totally excited b/c the reality is that this could still be a long wait. (Possibly months) However, we are closer today than we were yesterday. :) It is time to keep the cell phone charged and close by at all times. Our referral call will be about an hour long. Sooo happy when our numbers actually change b/c there have been months when they haven't. Please continue to pray as this wait gets harder and harder the closer we get. I'll leave you with a thought to ponder. There is a good chance our little guy is born already. ;)

Thank you God!

I contacted USCIS and actually talked to someone that knew what was going on. (Always a plus) We are in the system and do NOT have to go to get our fingerprints done again. THANK GOD!!!! It would have been hairy having to get subs at this short notice. Plus my parents are coming and our church group is singing all on Friday. It would have been crazy, crazy. Thankfully we don't have to worry about it. I will NOT be breathing a total sigh of relief until we get our FDL in the mail. Then I know things are 100% okay!! Thanks for the prayers. God is good!

UGH!!!

We got a letter in the mail today that stated that the bar code on our fingerprint appointment letter wasn't right. It stated that it "may cause substantial delay in the processing of your case to attend your fingerprint appointment with the previously issued notices." That would be fine and dandy if we were going to our fingerprinting appointment that is scheduled for Friday. However, we were able to save that 8 hour trip and did our fingerprints already. UGH!!!! Now what?!?! I'm not quite sure. I sent an email to our case worker. I probably should just call her. I wonder if we are going to have to make the trip on Friday. That wouldn't be fun as we haven't planned on going. Kind of short notice. I guess it is our fault that we got in early. Who would have thought?

On a happy note...official numbers are currently being released. Stay tuned!!

So many blessings

There have been so many blessings in our lives lately that we know can only come from God. When we took the leap of faith to adopt internationally, God gave us the peace we needed to know this was HIS plan and He would provide. He continues to bless us with much reassurance.

First of all, we were in Sioux Falls this weekend for the Lifelight music festival. We recently got our fingerprinting appointment and hoped and prayed we would be able to get in on Friday when we were there. That would be so nice instead of having to make an 8 hour trip for a 10 minute appointment. Well...God blessed us and allowed us to get in weeks early to get this done. WHEW!!!!

I should have updated awhile ago, but didn't. I don't want to go into too much detail in this blog, but there are some other things that have been going on that have been very stressful. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to handle all of these things. Well, God blessed us again b/c these "situations" have been going very well. It is true that God never gives you anything more than you can handle. I'm so thankful that things are working out so well.

This weekend we went to a free outdoor Christian music festival. This festival draws roughly 100,000 people a day. I did hear that the one concert they estimated 80,000 people at it. Imagine on open field with that many people praising God. So super cool. What an experience!!! I was excited about experiencing this weekend with our girls. Awhile back, I actually connected with a lady from South Dakota that was with our agency and also adopting from Ethiopia. You don't know how rare this is.  There aren't many people in the Midwest even adopting from Ethiopia using our agency let alone SD. Just to connect with someone that lived in the same state and understood the things that come up as a SD adoptive family was so fun. Well....this weekend was our weekend to meet each other in person. Words cannot describe how that felt!!!! I believe all adoptive parents have some sort of instant connect. It is like God ties our heart strings together. It was absolutely amazing to meet "T" and her family!!!! The bond we have is unbreakable. It feels like we have known each other forever!!! I feel so blessed to have her in my life!!! We will have to fly in and out of Sioux Falls for our trips to Ethiopia. She has offered her house to us any time we would need it when we had to fly. This is great since we are 4 hours from the airport and have to make 2 trips. She even offered to keep our girls while we are gone. AMAZING! AWESOME! BLESSED!!!!

As we were at this huge music festival, I saw "T" talking to another couple. Here it turns out it was a family from OUR agency that had adopted from Ethiopia. They have been home roughly 6 months with their little one. We had seen this little girl from time to time throughout the day and commented on how she looked like she was from Ethiopia. It was so exciting to meet a family that I had read about on the list serve. It was great to hug them and see the faces behind the names!!!! This family contacted "T" and told her what area they would be in so that they could hook up. However "T" never got the email. Really?!!? 100,000 people in this open field coming and going and these people are within FEET of us. I'm soooo floored by all of this.

It is very easy for me to SEE the blessings in the adoption world. It is very easy for me to TRUST in the adoption world. It is easy for me to be CALM about things in the adoption world. I know that God is teaching me some valuable lessons. It was very comforting to me to be able to see the blessings in other areas of my life as well. I have learned so much on this adoption journey, but I still have so much to learn. God isn't finished writing this book yet. So thankful for all of you that have been following us on this crazy journey. You are also part of our blessings!!!