Hard times and Halloween

We have hit on some rough times in our adoption journey. 

It seems like everything has gone wrong all at once. You know the scene in the Batman movie

where he stands in the middle of the cave surrounded by his greatest fear, the bats, and he just 

oh, so incredibly stands tall? 

I often feel like that. 

I feel like I am regally standing in the midst of my fears... only in real life as soon as you stand tall some horrible, unforeseen enemy swoops down and knocks you right onto your toosh.

Kinda takes the wind right out of your sails.

Whoosh. Thud. So much for standing tall...

Real life isn't glamorous. The bad guys don't wait for you to get your batman suit on, they just come at you when you least expect it.

If only they did wait, because I would so ROCK the batman suit.

We scrambled to get all of our paperwork done and ready to be sent to be authenticated and sealed only to be told first by our agency that they forgot a step. (a big, huge step that cost us weeks and money)

Then to be told once we finally mailed it that it was all done incorrectly.

However, there is a slight chance it will still pass.

Slight.

But my God is bigger than slights and however's and mountains standing in the way.

So, we are stepping onward in faith and getting our next round of paperwork ready to go as soon as we hear the word. 

That's it.

...maybe I should be batman tomorrow for Halloween...

Conversation starters

Adoption has opened my eyed to so many other devastations in the world. It has opened my eyes to the needy widow in another country who can't feed her children. It has opened my eyes to the divorced mother in my own church who struggles to raise her children without their father. It has opened my eyes to the issue of human trafficking. It has opened my eyes and broken my heart.

There is something to be said for the fact that once your eyes have been opened there is no turning back. The eyes of a million hurting people haunt my soul. I want to spark a flame for others to research and find out what is going on in the world beyond the doors of their own home. Take a look around you and see and feel the ache of a world that has no hope in Christ. They have no hope.

We need to start conversations with our pastors and elders in our churches. What are we doing as the body of Christ to actually BE His body. Are we helping the hurting? Are we at the very least vocalizing their pain. Silence is our sin. If we know of atrocities and remain silent we have sinned against the God that has created us. If we see pain in others and remain silent we grieve our Father.

I don't claim to have any suave answers to these problems in our world today. I don't even claim to know where to begin. I don't claim that it's not controversial. But what I do know is that we need to be having these conversations. We need to be having the hard conversations in our homes and in our churches. We need to speak of the unspeakable atrocities that are occurring within our world and within our own country. Put a voice to the nameless faces. Name them out loud. Name the atrocities. Name the people.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-Lost-Innocence-ebook/dp/B001EL6RIS/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Executioner-ebook/dp/B00509W8QU/ref=pd_sim_kstore_10

http://www.amazon.com/God-Brothel-Undercover-Trafficking-ebook/dp/B005FQB4CM/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1350413490&sr=1-3&keywords=sex+trafficking

http://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Rice-trafficking-ebook/dp/B004INHV4I/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2

http://www.warinternational.org/

Start the conversation. Ask the questions. Refuse to be silent. 

Slow Moving

Really...moving...slowly...ugh

That's about it for the update.

Just kidding. I'll fill you in a little more than that, but really that IS the gist of things. We got fingerprinted last week at the immigration office. That was pretty cool. I got to see all those people waiting and applying to become a part of my country. Then I got to apply to bring an immigrant into my country myself. Nostalgic much? I think so.

Now we wait for the confirmation back from immigration. Our agency said to call and nicely remind them this week to please rush it for our boy. Then our stack of paperwork that we turned in at the beginning of September goes to the consulate in New York, then back to Michigan then to China!!! Woot. There will be cake on that day, my friends.

We received over $6,000 from that company hosting a fundraiser for us. Amazing. God is good. He always provides. We applied for a matching grant from Hand in Hand. We should hear something early next week. We also applied for a JSC grant. They have recently changed their process so I'm not holding my breath too much for that, but just the same am praying and praying that it will come!!!

We are also holding our breath for some updated pictures of our little guy. Hoping and praying to get those soon. That would be a breath of fresh air. 

All in all we are doing well. We are learning patience and more patience and yet some more about patience.