Only on Mondays and Thursdays

He is working so hard to get our adoptions finalized, but there just seems to be one challenge after another.  The orphanage director went to the USCIS office early this morning (this is a 2 hour drive from the orphanage) only to be told that they only accept adoption papers on Mondays and Thursdays!!  So he will go back on Monday to drop off the documents.  Thank you God that he is so persistent and working so hard for us!

Do not be dismayed

We have been notified that the orphanage director is bringing the confirmation letter requested by USCIS  this week and the medical certificate (from Carson's medical exam 3/9/2012) to the USCIS office today in Port au Prince, Haiti.  This should complete things as we have not been notified that anything else needs to be done/revised/fixed/altered/corrected/etc/etc/etc/etc.  As stated in the email to me, they should now be able to "proceed to a final review of the case before it is adjudicated." Yeah!!!  We are hoping to hear of our visa appointment next week which means we could be going to Haiti in 2-3 weeks!

One of my dear friends reminded me of a great verse:
"Don't be afraid, for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  I will help you.  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."  Isaiah 41:10  This journey is long, these challenges are hard, but as difficult as some days are with my limited vision and selfish human nature, I am so comforted by knowing that God is always there, He is always in control, He will have victory, no matter what happens!  His will is perfect, His love is never failing, He will NEVER let us down if we trust in Him and His Holy purpose.  Easter is approaching, without the true reason for Easter Christians would not have a firm foundation of faith.  Glory be to God that HE IS RISEN, and HE IS VICTORIOUS!  I know that nothing happens to me or my family that God doesn't allow, for a reason, in a season, and He will walk with me, beside me, or carry me if need be.    Find peace and rest in Him today.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

16 seconds

"Oh sweet baby Carson, I hope we hear some news today that this issue with our paperwork is resolved and we can come get you!!  Mommy, Daddy, Caden and Cali are so excited to have you here with us.  Cali pulled the empty high chair up to the table yesterday and said that when you are here, she will share her food with you and help to feed you.  We pray for you every night that God will protect you, care for you and bring you home to us.  We love you so much!"

A sweet glimpse into the world of Carson -- this is a 16 second video from when Amy was last visiting the orphanage in September 2011.  The picture is too dark but the sound of his laughter is wonderful.  This was our last update with photos, videos and personal information that we received for him -- 6 months ago!  (However, Pastor Steve was recently there and has said that all the children are doing well.)

Enjoy!

Day 15...

Received an email from USCIS in Haiti today, they need a confirmation letter before they will approve our adoption.  Apparently there are 3 different dates given for when Carson was brought to the orphanage and they want to know the exact date... oh my.  Doesn't this seem like a moot point at this time?  Our adoption agency is hard at work trying to get this completed for us ASAP!  Amy seems to think this is an easy fix and most likely it is just a "typo" in the documents. 

Oh goodness, so another week comes and goes and there will likely be no visa appt given this week.   My hopes were so high in anticipation for good news this week.  As Ryan said when I told him, "There is always something."  We won't be secure until we step off that plane holding him tight!

~ Elizabeth

14 days and counting...

As I write this it is Tuesday 6:08 pm in Haiti as they are one hour ahead of us.  I believe all government offices are closed for the day so there will be no news today.  My heart was racing every time I checked my email today, wondering if this life changing email would be there.  I honestly don't know what I will do when I finally read it and find out when we can go pick up our sweet boy: maybe laugh, cry, weep, tremble... all of the above!  My heart aches just thinking about it and I can't wait to smooch those sweet cheeks of his!

12 days and counting...

Sunday, day 12 and counting... unless when they said that they have 30 days to give us a visa appt they meant 30 business days, well then we could be only at day 8, but I'll assume the best on this one, for now anyway.  I think we will hear something this week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday, it seems pretty reasonable to me.  :)

We went to an amazing concert last night for a band called Gungor, named after Michael Gungor who leads the band with his wife Lisa.  They have incredible talent in writing and musical ability.  A young boy who was recently adopted from Jamaica by our dear friends sat behind me.  I heard him singing the lyrics to one of the songs, Beautiful Things, and I pictured Carson's face.  I cried listening to that sweet music and his sweet voice.  This is not my video from last night, but a short clip from YouTube.   

 

I don't think I will believe that Carson is ours until we step off the plane in Minnesota with him in my arms!

Have a blessed week and enjoy time with your loved ones this week, kiss their cheeks and hug them tight!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth

7 days and counting

Well, our paperwork has been with the US Embassy now for 7 days.  They have 30 days to give us a visa appointment, so sometime in the next 23 days we will be getting an email from them notifying us of our appointment date.  Do you think I'll be checking my email 100 times every day??  YES!   Nothing else new to report, just waiting and praying, waiting and praying...

Thank you for your support, encouragement and prayers!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth

Be Still

I vividly remember hearing this song almost 5 years ago.  March 30, 2007, I was sitting at a stoplight in St. Paul at about 11:30pm, my heart racing, tears in my eyes, anxiously trying to get to Regions Hospital.  We received a late night phone call that things had changed, my dad was dying.  The drive to the hospital was a blur, except for that minute that I sat there impatiently waiting for the light to change, then I heard this song.  I believe it was Jesus speaking to me through the voice and music of Steven Curtis Chapman., "Be still and know that He is God."  How comforting to know that God is in control, He knows you and me and longs to love you.  He desires to call you His child.  He is always good, always trusting, always loving. 

We MAY get some word this week about our adoption, but I suspect that it is too early and it will likely be next week before any new news. 

Have a blessed week.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

More Pics

More pictures of Carson -- the first glimpse of our sweet boy that we received in July 2010!

Trusting

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Philippians 4:4  

My pastor gave a series of sermons one year ago, walking us through Philippians.   During one of these sermons he stated something that really hit me in a new way.  He said, "Joy is irrespective of the current situation."  Hearing it this time meant more to me, maybe because of our current situation in this rollercoaster adoption process or maybe it was because my brother was diagnosed with brain cancer.  We all have challenges in this life.  Happiness will come and go, happiness ebbs and flows with the circumstances and events of the day, but JOY is so much more!  JOY is something we can have within our heart and soul when we have the Holy Spirit living within us.  Yes, there are days when I feel far from joyful and peaceful (as you can see in some of my previous posts!), but I know it's there and it keeps me going day to day even when I don't have the strength to do so.

I still have the notes from that message by Pastor Bruce, in which he also states, "This joy is not from ourselves, it is from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst, the source of all joy (Gal. 5:22; I Thess. 1:6; Acts 13:52; Rom. 15:13)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.   Romans 15:13   We can ALL have this joy and peace if we trust Him with our whole life!  By the way, we LOVE our church: Eagan Hills Church at 700 Diffley in Eagan :)

Today, I thought I would also show some pics of Carson as we've seen him grow...  he was 7 months old when we first saw his picture, now he is 27 months old.   Almost 2 years we've been longing to bring our boy home and it's only about a month away --  for real this time!  Enjoy! 

Submission

Carson had his mantoux (TB) test read yesterday with good results and today our paperwork is being submitted to the US Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti !!  This is another BIG step because after today it means that we are now just waiting for our visa appointment !!  I'm afraid to speak too soon, just in case something happens and our paperwork does not get submitted today.  However, we are soooo close now, the excitement at our home is building!  Timewise, we are still looking at a month more before we travel because of the delay in getting the medical report to the Embassy and because we really don't know how long it will take the Embassy to approve us, but they have said, on average, it takes 2-4 weeks to get an appointment AFTER they have received everything.  Oh boy... again, cautiously excited!

Thank you God for your provision and protection over all of us, but mostly Carson and children at the orphanage, Pastor Steve, and the orphanage director and his wife.  Thank you for carrying us through this journey every step.  To God be the Glory!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

Medical Exam DONE!

Well I have surprise good news to report in that Carson had his medical exam done yesterday March 9 and was found to be in good health!  Yeah!!  They did do a mantoux test on him and he will have that looked at on Monday to be sure he is negative (test for TB exposure).  However, the bummer part is that it will take a minimum 10 days for the medical report to be completed and sent to the US Embassy.  Really?  If I told my patients it would take 10+ days to get them their medical report or sports physical documents, I'd have a lot of very upset patients!  As a matter of fact, I just completed 4 sports physicals today and sent the teens off with their parents with the documents in hand!  ~ sigh ~  THIS is how it goes with adoption.

So while I am very pleasantly surprised by the news of his medical exam being done, now we wait for another 10+ days for the US Embassy to tell us they have received it and then we wait some more to hear that they have approved everything and then we wait some more for the National Visa Center to contact us with our appointment date.  Whew.  We are cautiously excited!

Translation is done

Finally, yesterday, we received word that our paperwork had been picked up from the translator and everything appears to be in order.  Wednesday night, that night I was going crazy waiting for a word from Amy, Haiti experienced a small 4.6 magnitude earthquake.  We were told that some of the people slept outside for the night in fear that another bigger earthquake was coming, similar to what happened 2 years ago.  Thank you God that no more earthquakes have occurred!

The orphanage director is working diligently to get 3 of the childrens' paperwork finalized and out of MOI (we are already out of this phase).  Hopefully this will happen today -- one of the dear families that we traveled to Haiti with last May is adopting 2 of the children.  We would love to be able to travel back to Haiti with the same 2 families as before; we have been blessed with this amazing bond through adoption that has become a wonderful friendship.

My hope is now that the medical exams for the children will be done next week and by the end of next week, March 16, our paperwork and Carson's passport and the medical report will be given to the USCIS office (US Embassy) in Port au Prince.  It seems that each step of this process that could take just a few days here in the USA, takes 7-10 business days in Haiti.

Pastor Steve is still in Haiti working to help things and I can't say enough how thankful we are that he is there!  Please pray for him and the orphanage director and the director's wife.  Please pray for protection over all the children.  Thank you!  Have a blessed weekend.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

Crazy!

Am I crazy?  Is this for real?  Sometimes this whole process seems like a dream, I expect to just wake up and get back to "normal" life.  I am about to crawl out of my skin right now... anxiously waiting for an email update that I expected to get today from our adoption agency.  I don't know why I feel so anxious, I realize that things move slowly and maybe nothing productive happened today.   I was hoping to hear that our translated documents had been picked up and safely brought back to the orphanage (or better yet, already brought to the US Embassy!!!  But if that happened then I'd really know I was dreaming because things just don't happen that quickly).  

I feel that I am becoming obsessive-compulsive about constantly checking my email... waiting... waiting... waiting... wondering what is going on down there, feeling so far away, so out of control... doubting and questioning... oh dear God, please move mountains for us in these next few weeks!!

Wait... one more check of my email before I crash into bed tonight... refresh, refresh, refresh... oh poop... nothing.

Good night all.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth

Endurance

Well, the Christmas tree is coming down -- I just can't stand to look at it anymore.  For those you who don't know, when we realized that Carson was not coming home for Christmas, we decided to leave the tree up, with his presents underneath it, until he comes home.  Cali was pretty adamant about this until yesterday, even she said, "Mom, we can take the tree down now."  Daddy agreed.  Also, a friend told me today that maybe by taking it down, things will really get moving, that's the way life goes sometimes! 

Today's update from Amy at God's Children Adoption Agency notified us that our translated paperwork will be ready on Wednesday morning.  Today and yesterday in Haiti was spent working on getting 2 other families' paperwork out of MOI.  There are 5 of us families adopting 9 children from this orphanage through God's Children Adoption Agency.  We are so thankful for Pastor Steve being down there and helping the orphanage director.

I still hope that the children will get their medical exams this week, maybe Thursday or Friday, but it could be someday next week. 

One of the most helpful Bible verses I have memorized is in Hebrews 12:1-2, and it is: "Run with endurance the race that is set before you, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith."  Endurance -- is it learned?  It is a result of patience and hard work, motivation and faith, the persistence to keep going when things get hard, really hard.  There are moments when I've wanted to give up, yet Jesus holds out his hand, helps me up and says, "Come on, you can do it, you're getting there!"  What's your "race," where is your journey bringing you in this life?  I pray that you also run with endurance, looking unto Jesus...

Sincerely
Elizabeth

Steps

We were told last night that our paperwork took a challenging journey into the mountains of Haiti to the translator.  I think this is for the purpose of translating the Haitian documents from Creole to English for the US Embassy.  They will be able to pick up the documents on Tuesday next week.  Also next week, Carson should be taken in for his medical exam that is required by the US Embassy.  Hopefully, if all goes well, they will be able to bring everything to the US Embassy by the end of next week (March 9).  As I understand it (remember that I like to repeat the steps!), the US Embassy will then review all the documents, the passport, the medical exam, etc and then give us a visa appointment.  We will be told when our appointment is and that will dictate when we travel down to pick up our boy!  I think I mentioned earlier that Amy was told that it usually takes 2-4 weeks to get a visa appointment.  What I do not know is how long after receiving everything it will take them to give final approval and set that appointment -- days, weeks ??  The absolute earliest date we could possibly go to Haiti is in the week of March 19-23, BUT it will more likely be sometime after March 26 and hopefully before April 23.

I tell myself I am not going to make these timelines but it is so hard for me to NOT know and have no "due date."  We didn't get our Christmas Carson but could we have him by Easter?  Pleeeeaaaase God?  I KNOW and TRUST that God knows best, but it is so hard to surrender this timeline to Him.

Paul reminds me in I Thessalonians 5: 16-18, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  So I pray with joy and give thanks to God for the many blessings He has given me.  I ask fervently for peace and comfort in this process and for contentment in Him.  I ask for deeper trust, knowing that Carson is under God's ultimate protection and care. 

May you find comfort in Him today too. 
Sincerely,
Elizabeth