Monday, May 14, 2018
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Being Diligent
*I am reposting here for those who haven't headed over to the new blog. poormanponderosa.blogspot.com*
Life has been rocking the boat so hard around here that we are reeling with everything going on. If I look at the facts of we are adopting (again), we are buying a new home and moving soon, we homeschool (at least trying to get the major subjects done), M has been having MAJOR issues lately, E just got hearing aids (the Lord provided funding!!!), taking over the lead in our church's foster/adoption ministry and the simple tasks of laundry, dishes, etc, I start feeling so overwhelmed that I just want to crawl in a hole and sleep until the storm passes. The waves are crashing over our boat and though I know we are not sinking it is hard to have faith when EVERYTHING is so difficult. YET! If I place my focus on God and HIS provision and I set my sights to accomplish one thing at a time, it is doable. If I can be diligent to trust that HE is in control, He will show (and is!) Himself powerful. You can eat a whole pie, one bite at a time. We can get through all these tumultuous times, one thing at a time!
With that in mind- God is continuing to AMAZE us. Today we got Mr. Incredible's passport back, the agent had said that with adding pages it would take 7-10 days. We dropped it off on Tuesday and have it back on Saturday. That's FOUR days! Today we got the last paperwork for our State of Texas grant for special needs adoption. TODAY we got our I-800 Provisional approval in the mail! Just a couple of weeks ago it took 9 days in the mail to get our I-800A approval from immigration. This Provisional approval took TWO days in the mail!!!! (The difference between the two is you first have to apply for immigration for a child you are adopting and then you have to apply for the specific child you are adopting)
We have gone from submitting the contract with our agency October 14, 2010 to having full US immigration approval to bring Lillyanna home January 15, 2011 in 93 days! That is roughly the estimate for just getting paperwork through immigration now.
I know that God has big plans for Lilly's life if He is moving SO BIG just to bring her home. It's kind of scary since HE is entrusting her to US. I don't think that I think THAT much of myself. What does God expect from us?
My best answer is:
Obedience. A willing heart. And diligence in the midst of the storm.
Life has been rocking the boat so hard around here that we are reeling with everything going on. If I look at the facts of we are adopting (again), we are buying a new home and moving soon, we homeschool (at least trying to get the major subjects done), M has been having MAJOR issues lately, E just got hearing aids (the Lord provided funding!!!), taking over the lead in our church's foster/adoption ministry and the simple tasks of laundry, dishes, etc, I start feeling so overwhelmed that I just want to crawl in a hole and sleep until the storm passes. The waves are crashing over our boat and though I know we are not sinking it is hard to have faith when EVERYTHING is so difficult. YET! If I place my focus on God and HIS provision and I set my sights to accomplish one thing at a time, it is doable. If I can be diligent to trust that HE is in control, He will show (and is!) Himself powerful. You can eat a whole pie, one bite at a time. We can get through all these tumultuous times, one thing at a time!
With that in mind- God is continuing to AMAZE us. Today we got Mr. Incredible's passport back, the agent had said that with adding pages it would take 7-10 days. We dropped it off on Tuesday and have it back on Saturday. That's FOUR days! Today we got the last paperwork for our State of Texas grant for special needs adoption. TODAY we got our I-800 Provisional approval in the mail! Just a couple of weeks ago it took 9 days in the mail to get our I-800A approval from immigration. This Provisional approval took TWO days in the mail!!!! (The difference between the two is you first have to apply for immigration for a child you are adopting and then you have to apply for the specific child you are adopting)
We have gone from submitting the contract with our agency October 14, 2010 to having full US immigration approval to bring Lillyanna home January 15, 2011 in 93 days! That is roughly the estimate for just getting paperwork through immigration now.
I know that God has big plans for Lilly's life if He is moving SO BIG just to bring her home. It's kind of scary since HE is entrusting her to US. I don't think that I think THAT much of myself. What does God expect from us?
My best answer is:
Obedience. A willing heart. And diligence in the midst of the storm.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Fingerprinted!
We got in and had absolutely no wait! Headed out for lunch to celebrate our 14 year anniversary today!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Fingerprinting Appointments In Today's Mail!!!!
Check out more at www.poormanponderosa.blogspot.com !!!!
Monday, December 6, 2010
USCIS Update
We are still waiting for fingerprinting appointments. I had expected them no later than today's mail and when the paperwork didn't arrive I called our adoption agency. Because of the recent USCIS fee increase, applications are backed up. So instead of 45 days we are looking at 60 days, this is from November 19th. Please, please pray that either the adoption agency will see the need to expedite- due to little miss needing biophosphonate infusions- or that miraculously USCIS would just get it done quickly. Little Misses future depends on strengthening her bones. We are talking possibly the difference between being wheel chair bound or leading a normal life. She walks now, but the medicine is growth dependent and we've already missed her first four years of growth and as you grow more strain is placed on the bones. Please pray. We have to have have this paperwork before China can do anything else.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Upsizing
(from poormanponderosa.blogspot.com)
Well we've prayed, we've test drove, we've counted the cost and test drove some more... The last month it seems has been filled with uncertainty about what vehicle God would have us buy. At first we thought he was leading us to an eight passenger minivan, but our hearts didn't settle. We've compared minivans to suburbans to 15 passenger vans, looked at seating, pricing, etc. Yesterday, we went and saw 15 passenger vans. It is with fear and faith a lot of trepidation and still some hesitation, but we are going to be buying a 14 passenger van and we feel at peace about it. Why all the fear and faith, trepidation, hesitation? Have YOU ever driven one?! It's like driving an aircraft carrier!!! The fear is because we know of a young man who was injured in a 15 passenger van accident and his life will never be the same because of it. Trepidation and hesitation are from the fact that we never imagined ourselves here, have never been in this situation before and it is a bit overwhelming. The faith aspect is we believe that we are following what God is telling to do, but we really don't want to understand or try to comprehend why we need a 14 passenger van, an eight seater would fit us fine. Maybe it's the cost, maybe the room, I honestly cringe to think about other possibilities.
God equips who He calls, He doesn't call the equipped. So if he's called us to care for orphans and He's equipping us with a 14 passenger van... (I'm not ready to go there!)
Well we've prayed, we've test drove, we've counted the cost and test drove some more... The last month it seems has been filled with uncertainty about what vehicle God would have us buy. At first we thought he was leading us to an eight passenger minivan, but our hearts didn't settle. We've compared minivans to suburbans to 15 passenger vans, looked at seating, pricing, etc. Yesterday, we went and saw 15 passenger vans. It is with fear and faith a lot of trepidation and still some hesitation, but we are going to be buying a 14 passenger van and we feel at peace about it. Why all the fear and faith, trepidation, hesitation? Have YOU ever driven one?! It's like driving an aircraft carrier!!! The fear is because we know of a young man who was injured in a 15 passenger van accident and his life will never be the same because of it. Trepidation and hesitation are from the fact that we never imagined ourselves here, have never been in this situation before and it is a bit overwhelming. The faith aspect is we believe that we are following what God is telling to do, but we really don't want to understand or try to comprehend why we need a 14 passenger van, an eight seater would fit us fine. Maybe it's the cost, maybe the room, I honestly cringe to think about other possibilities.
God equips who He calls, He doesn't call the equipped. So if he's called us to care for orphans and He's equipping us with a 14 passenger van... (I'm not ready to go there!)
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Moving Blogs!
Dear Friends,
Just wanted to let you know I will be posting at www.poormanponderosa.blogspot.com from now on. We would love to have you join us over there. Making the change has a dual purpose- not singling out one child for who the blog is about as well as we wanted to make a play of our wonderful name! We hope to see you at our new blog home! Still working on it, but it is up and running!!
Just wanted to let you know I will be posting at www.poormanponderosa.blogspot.com from now on. We would love to have you join us over there. Making the change has a dual purpose- not singling out one child for who the blog is about as well as we wanted to make a play of our wonderful name! We hope to see you at our new blog home! Still working on it, but it is up and running!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Our Homestudy Has Finally Been Approved!
Nothing really more can be said! We are working hard on bringing new little miss home. Working on new blog as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)