Drove to Lincoln...

So...on Monday, March 22, I drove to Lincoln (over 100 miles away)to get all the documents in our dossier apostilled. After a loooooong drive, the lady at the Sec. of the State informed me that 4 of the documents were not notarized correctly AND our marriage license had to be sent to Rhode Island to be apostilled (since that is where we were married). I couldn't believe it...MORE WAITING!!! On Tuesday, I overnight expressed our marriage licenses to RI, with an envelope for them to be overnight expressed back. Right now, I have corrected 3 out of the 4 other documents and am anxiously awaiting the fourth. I think I have checked my e-mail every 10 minutes all day waiting to hear from the lady who is re-doing it. I am trying to decide whether or not to drive back to Lincoln on Friday to get them apostilled so I can send out the dossier to Eastern Europe on Friday, rather than have to wait until next week. Time is ticking and I am getting worried that we wont be back from Eastern Europe in time for my brother's wedding in June.
In the mean time, we have gotten a crib and have his room all set...just waiting for him!! God really must be working on my patience and trust in His timing, not mine. I know eventually it will all be worth it, but in the meantime, it is killer!! It is getting harder and harder to concentrate on ANYTHING else. Please pray that the Lord will help the process to go smoothly from here on out AND that I can find joy in the process...

Felt Like I had False Labor!!

So, last Wednesday, we received the USCIS approval in the mail. YEEEEHHHAAAWWW!! Praise God it came sooo quickly. I was so excited and ready to take a trip to Lincoln to get the documents all apostilled. I decided I better fax them to Meredith and Lydia one more time to make sure there were no mistakes. In doing so, I realized that we were missing one document...the state clearance. We obviously got it done for our homestudy, so I just needed to locate it, right?!? WRONG!! Unfortunately, when we started the adoption process, we were going through a different organization, one which DID NOT require a notarized copy of the clearance. So, I called Lincoln to see if they could simply draw up another copy of the clearance and notarize it. NOPE!! Long story short, we needed to re-do our state fingerprinting! I was (and still am) devastated! I literally felt like I went into the hospital thinking I was in labor and they sent me home.
As I type this up, we are still awaiting that stinkin' notarized clearance form. We are hoping and praying it will come quickly so we can get our dossier sent to Eastern Europe. This waiting is getting harder and harder to do!!

USCIS Fingerprinting Appt.

We just got back from a 3 hour drive to Omaha and a 3 hour drive back for a 15 minute appt.! I can't believe that we had to go all the way to the Office Of Homeland Security and do the exact same thing that we did months ago in Grand Island simply because the State government and the Federal government do not like to share info. Crazy, huh?!?!
Now, we have to play the waiting game again. I will wait for approx. 10 days and then start e-mailing again. The squeaky wheel get the grease, right:) I just want my little man in my arms NOW!! I am so tired of waiting for that day. My empty arms are aching to hold him. . . Hey, at least we are one step closer to that day.

We have ALL the finances we need!!! PRAISE GOD!!

Last Tuesday, Toby met me at basketball practice to tell me that our miracle has occured! He got a call from a lady at Lifesong Ministries telling him that someone had donated $12,000 towards our adoption. It is in the form of a covenant loan, so when we get our adoption tax credit, we can pay it back. It reminded us of the parable of the mustard seed...our mountain was moved!!
Another miracle that has occured is that Toby had a change of command at work and his new boss said that it shouldn't be a problem for him to work from the Eastern Europe! He is amazing, isn't He?!?! I can't wait to tell TJ how God parted the Red Sea to get him home.

Fingerprinting Appt.

Literally, about 2 hrs. after my last post, I got the e-mail from USCIS stating that our appt. is Feb. 19th at 1pm!! Boy, God didn't waste any time in taking over once I surrendered control!! Another miracle. . .

God continues to move. . .

Well, another HUGE praise report!! As we are planning another fundraiser, (babysitting for Valentine's Day) God proceeded to blow us away with another completely unexpected miracle. We got a call on Tuesday that an anonymous donor gave $3,500 to our adoption account at the church. I am still in complete and utter awe!! He continues to go before us and affirm that this IS His will for us.
As the finances seem to be falling into place, I am getting frustrated with a lack of response from the USCIS. I am so anxious to keep moving forward and get frustrated with the "hurry up and wait" process. I have been trying to contact several people to find out the status of our application, but have gotten absolutely NO response!! UGH!! As each day passes, my frustration level rises. However, this morning in my quiet time, the Lord reminded me that this will happen in HIS time, not neccesarily mine. He comforted me with a verse from Psalm 27:14, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." I need to stop pushing and start trusting and walking more in faith!

Moving right along...

I haven't blogged in a while because we have been VERY busy. We have painted and decorated TJ's room. It turned out really cute. The theme is Super Hero Squad (little superheroes). I'll post some pics. All we need now is the crib:) It makes it seem more real now and gets me so excited.
We also got our home study report!! YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!! We just got it in the mail yesterday and I mailed out our USCIS application today, along with a grant application. I am getting nervous now about the money. We are trying to decide whether we should do another fundraiser or wait on grants. I applied online for another grant and have 2 more applications almost ready to send off. We are getting closer and it is way exciting!!