Awaiting CIS Approval

We were fingerprinted at the USCIS center in OKC on June 30, and want to make sure and capture the moment! 

I started stalking the mailbox about a week ago, knowing it was much too early to even dream of getting our approval letter, but I was unable to stop myself!  I went to the mailbox yesterday (7-20) and pulled out an envelope from the Dept. of Homel*nd Sec. and my adrenaline started pumping!  After I tore it open, my stomach sank as I saw that they were requesting another piece of information that I thought had been sent with our application to complete the approval.  I immediately called the National Benefits Center and spoke with our caseworker who checked our file and saw that the info was indeed there after all.  She assured me that our approval would arrive within 7 business days!!!  YAY!!! I'm now getting the last few documents ready for a trip to the Secretary of State for Authentication and then FINALLY.....the Waitlist!! I know that this is just one of many little glitches that we will face in this adoption journey, and I am truly okay with waiting for God's timing in all of this, but just to know that our paperwork will be in Ethiopia in the near future feels so stinkin' good!!!

SURPRISE...We're adopting!

Okay...since I am the only one who reads this blog, I don't really need to make such a proclamation, but since I have made an Adoption Timeline along the side, I figured I might need to clarify! :) 

After over a year of consideration, research, family discussion, and much, MUCH prayer, we have decided to pursue the adoption of a little boy from Ethiopia.  To many, becoming a family of seven may see like insanity, but in reality, it is simply our family taking a leap of faith and being obedient to the call that God has placed on our hearts.  He has opened our eyes to the needs of the world and has fully shown us that we have the capacity to love another child and the room to welcome another into our home and lives.  If God is for us...who can stand against us?  It is our greatest hope that with God's abundant grace, this journey will be one that takes us to places we have never been physically, but most important...spiritually. We are so excited and scared out of our mids to begin this very long process to making our family complete!

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do.  God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12