Last time we posted we thought things were picking up speed. Well maybe not. Things have not moved out of CIS as fast as we had thought. Still waiting. We have been waiting on the final approval form CIS for about three weeks now. It has supposedly been sent three time. The first time, nothing arrived at our house or at Children’s Hope. Then came the second attempt. Much to our surprise Children's Hope received our CIS approval- to adopt from China!!! Now as much as we are willing to follow God's call to adopt from China, our dossier is in Colombia not China. It seams the worker at CIS was working requests from three different families with our same last name. So we wait for the third attempt to get our final approval! International adoption can be very frustrating..... but only if you let it. We believe nothing happens apart from the perfect will of God. We don't pretend to understand why all of these things are happening, but we trust that God not only knows, but also that His hand guides all of this for His purpose and He has chosen the date to put Carolina and Neydali into our arms. So we wait. Some days patiently and other days to my shame - impatiently.
We wait and are at the whim of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). So all this delay is a result of this thing called citizenship. Tonight as I write and as I think on these things I took the time to look up the secular definition of citizenship. Webster's tells me:
Definition of CITIZENSHIP
1: the status of being a citizen
2a : membership in a community (as a college) b : the quality of an individual's response to membership in a community
Hmmm. We most often think of citizenship in terms of our country of origin or a country we have been legally accepted into. 1: the status of being a citizen. I was born in Canada, but that is not what I claim as my citizenship. I have US naturalization papers; again that is not what I claim as my citizenship. God's word teaches me that this world is not my home, and so I cannot claim citizenship of an earthly county. Instead, because of Christ's sacrifice for me, and because I have accepted him by grace through faith, He has gone to prepare a place for me. A place His word tells me where there are many mansions. This I find consistent with Webster's 2a definition of citizenship. Membership in a community. Not that I am deserving of it mind you, but my citizenship is in heaven. I am a member of a community of believers in Christ. I am His and He is mine. He has adopted me as a child of God.
Webster's definition 2b - the quality of an individual's response to a membership in a community. Hmmm. Here is the essence of why I wait. It is my response to my membership in the community of Christ Jesus. His response in establishing this community was to die a horrible death on a cross- for me personally, and for you as well. Each of us who are members of this group (citizens) are called by God to respond because of that membership. He does not call each of us to exactly the same response, since He has many members and many required responses to fulfill His purposes on this earth. For Betty and me the response He has called us to as His citizens is to raise up His children for His glory. So we wait, sometimes patiently sometimes not so patiently, but we wait. Always knowing that the reward is so worth the wait. Being a dad is not about me. It is not even about the children I have been blessed with. It is about Christ. He has entrusted to me these 15 precious children (who knows maybe even more) to lead them to Him that they too may become citizens in His kingdom and know the response He has created them for. My prayer tonight is God will be satisfied with the quality of my response to Him as a dad. I pray also He will bless my response and through my children both adopted and biological He will find clay waiting to be molded by His hands and for His purpose. We wait.
Disconnected thought number 2! We all have our pet rocks- you know those little things others do that really annoy us. Yes I've got my pet rocks too! I'm not proud of them, but they are there. One of mine is shoes left on the porch or on the steps leading into the house from the garage or even on the back porch blocking the door. The thing about this particular pet rock is that it doesn't bother anyone in the family but me- HOW FRUSTRATING! Now think about it. 15 kids. 10 (soon to be 12) who live at home plus my amazing wife. That’s a lot of feet, AND that’s a lot of shoes. A lot of shoes, especially when you consider 6 (soon to be 8) of those feet are female type feet. Do you have any idea of how many shoes come with 12 (soon to be 16) female feet (not to mention 10 male type feet). We have thousands of shoes. Did you know that it is possible to pile 17,234 shoes in front of one doorway- it is. I counted them. I have three doorways- I'm drowning in an ocean of shoes. OK maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, there were only 17233 shoes on the front porch! Does anyone care about this out there? Dads help me out here. OK, never mind. God has been working on my heart about shoes of all things. Recently, I asked my wife if she could remember our house ever being quiet. She just smiled, and I told her one day it will be again. And then I will be very sad. I love my house, I love my life and I love my noisy house. I pray God will never let it be quiet again. I still don't like shoes on the porch... God has been helping me to see the shoes are there because of all the beautiful feet He has put into my life. Beautiful feet need piles of shoes on the front porch. I'm learning to get over it. I now look at the shoes and think of the beautiful feet, and hands and faces that smile at me and say "I love you daddy". But still when nobody is looking I give that big pile of shoes A BIG KICK. Doesn't accomplish anything- but I feel better. Here’s to the four new feet I can't wait to pile shoes on my porch.
I'm so glad God loves me the way I am. He loves me in spite of all the annoying (and sinful) things I do.
Disconnected thought number 3! When I was a young man, other men would talk about cars. They would tell me of their desires; Mercedes, BMWs Audis among many others. Having started my family at a young age, I would find myself telling them all I wanted was a station wagon! They though I was a little weird- OK a lot weird. As our family grew and grew, these guys that talked of fast cars would ask me what I drove. Over time I would say a station wagon (yep - got my dream car!), then a mini van, and finally a 12 passenger van. All along the way I would joke with people and say we had a school bus. Some of them actually believed me (does that say anything about the lovers of fast cars!). Be careful what you joke about. In a few weeks we will outgrow the 12 passenger van. Now I really do want a bus. Betty and I have been looking into used 20 passenger busses (this time I want room to grow- never know when God will plop in another dozen children or so). We have been praying that God will show us His plan for transportation. We can't afford any of the busses we have found. Perhaps it is not His will for us. We submit to Him in this fully, knowing He loves us and will care for us as the perfect father that He is. We can always take the van and the car everywhere we go. Many around the world have only their feet. We are so blessed. I am thanking Him tonight for the abundant blessings I have. God is good.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Getting closer now
A lot of things have happened in the last couple of weeks, but we have been so crazy busy, we have not had time for a blog post- sorry!
Things have begun to move faster than we expected. A little over a week ago we received word from citizenship and immigration service (CIS) that they had approved the update to our home study. This update specifically recommended us for the specific special needs that Carolina and Neydali are dealing with. This approval came back weeks earlier than we expected. This just confirms in our hearts and minds that God is sovereign and it reminds us that He is in control of the time table and is not limited by the "projected waiting times" established by mere mortal men.
God continues to answer prayer in providing support. We received a generous check from a family from across the country we have never met. We will not mention their names as we don't know if they intended this to be an anonymous gift or not. We do want them to know how much we appreciate their gift that will help us bring our girls home. Thank you and God bless you! We followed their adoption journey while it was going on. They adopted from Medellin- same city where we will be going this time.
Last weekend, we got to visit our good friends the Rimas who have adopted 14 children from Colombia. We met them while we were in Bogota on our first adoption journey. They are an inspiration to us and an example for everyone.
The next big event happened two days ago when we found we have been given our final CIS approval. We don't yet have the document, because we had to resubmit a supporting document that was lost. We should have the documentation this coming week. This approval from CIS comes several weeks before we expected to see it! We had been told we should expect to travel around the end of March to mid April. This early approval from CIS blows that time line to pieces! We are not sure exactly how much the time line has moved, but we now anticipate meeting Carolina and Neydali in very early March. YIKES!!! That is only a month away- we are feeling excited and terrified all at once! This week we should get some more clarity on how soon our travel date will come. We will also be able to post pictures soon - hopefully this week.
After all the waiting and all the work that goes into pursuing an international adoption, it is hard to believe that the time is almost at hand. So many hours have been spent compiling documents, running down notaries, racing to the state capital for apostilles, and sending off those overnight deliveries. Each task has been done with love in our hearts for these two precious ones who God is entrusting to our care. We have prayed for them with every thing we needed to accomplish knowing that our God was able to sustain us to the finish line. The journey to this point has been exhilarating even if at time it was exhausting. We have persevered not because of our own strength, but because of Him who strengthens us, because of Him who equips us for every good work, because of Him who is strong when we are weak and weary, and His strength He has shared with Betty and I - always when we needed it most.
Our paperwork process has involved 3 places in Canada, Alaska, Virginia, South Carolina, Hawaii, and West Virginia. We have been fingerprinted so many times our fingertips are permanently dyed from the ink. We have had our names checked with child abuse registries in 9 different states, been checked with local, state, and federal law enforcement- all checks were squeaky clean! Every T has been crossed and every I has been neatly dotted. The mountain of paperwork is complete without spot or blemish. We have spent untold hours in the process (most of the hours by Betty)- and why? All has been done in obedience to the call God has placed on our hearts - all for the reward of hearing two little words:
Mami
Papi
And the reward of 4 tiny arms holding fast around our necks as hot tears of joy stream down our cheeks.
God Bless you.
Jim and Betty
Things have begun to move faster than we expected. A little over a week ago we received word from citizenship and immigration service (CIS) that they had approved the update to our home study. This update specifically recommended us for the specific special needs that Carolina and Neydali are dealing with. This approval came back weeks earlier than we expected. This just confirms in our hearts and minds that God is sovereign and it reminds us that He is in control of the time table and is not limited by the "projected waiting times" established by mere mortal men.
God continues to answer prayer in providing support. We received a generous check from a family from across the country we have never met. We will not mention their names as we don't know if they intended this to be an anonymous gift or not. We do want them to know how much we appreciate their gift that will help us bring our girls home. Thank you and God bless you! We followed their adoption journey while it was going on. They adopted from Medellin- same city where we will be going this time.
Last weekend, we got to visit our good friends the Rimas who have adopted 14 children from Colombia. We met them while we were in Bogota on our first adoption journey. They are an inspiration to us and an example for everyone.
The next big event happened two days ago when we found we have been given our final CIS approval. We don't yet have the document, because we had to resubmit a supporting document that was lost. We should have the documentation this coming week. This approval from CIS comes several weeks before we expected to see it! We had been told we should expect to travel around the end of March to mid April. This early approval from CIS blows that time line to pieces! We are not sure exactly how much the time line has moved, but we now anticipate meeting Carolina and Neydali in very early March. YIKES!!! That is only a month away- we are feeling excited and terrified all at once! This week we should get some more clarity on how soon our travel date will come. We will also be able to post pictures soon - hopefully this week.
After all the waiting and all the work that goes into pursuing an international adoption, it is hard to believe that the time is almost at hand. So many hours have been spent compiling documents, running down notaries, racing to the state capital for apostilles, and sending off those overnight deliveries. Each task has been done with love in our hearts for these two precious ones who God is entrusting to our care. We have prayed for them with every thing we needed to accomplish knowing that our God was able to sustain us to the finish line. The journey to this point has been exhilarating even if at time it was exhausting. We have persevered not because of our own strength, but because of Him who strengthens us, because of Him who equips us for every good work, because of Him who is strong when we are weak and weary, and His strength He has shared with Betty and I - always when we needed it most.
Our paperwork process has involved 3 places in Canada, Alaska, Virginia, South Carolina, Hawaii, and West Virginia. We have been fingerprinted so many times our fingertips are permanently dyed from the ink. We have had our names checked with child abuse registries in 9 different states, been checked with local, state, and federal law enforcement- all checks were squeaky clean! Every T has been crossed and every I has been neatly dotted. The mountain of paperwork is complete without spot or blemish. We have spent untold hours in the process (most of the hours by Betty)- and why? All has been done in obedience to the call God has placed on our hearts - all for the reward of hearing two little words:
Mami
Papi
And the reward of 4 tiny arms holding fast around our necks as hot tears of joy stream down our cheeks.
God Bless you.
Jim and Betty
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