Hello again:) Sorry for the looooooooooong silence. The hustle and bustle of paperwork and interviews a few months ago had us updating more, but for the past 8 weeks we have been in a long holding pattern. Every day, we are searching our mailbox for a big yellow envelope from the INS that holds the I-171. This is the last document that we need before we take all of our certified documents to get The Great Seal of Tennessee. Once it comes, we will call Mary or Peggy to make an appointment for them to overlook our packet and make sure that we have everything in place. Then we will venture to downtown Chattanooga for processing, then to Nashville again to get The Great Seal. Once we have that, we can compile all documents into our dossier!!!:)
Only 22 more days until I (Amy) am officially qualified to adopt from China. We hope to go ahead and send the dossier in the next few weeks, though. It has to first go to Grand Rapids, MI (Bethany's Home Office) for more processing, then will head to China from there where it will be logged into the system and translated into Chinese. Lord willing, the dossier will be logged in as close to April 30th as possible. But we are trusting the Lord in His timing!
A few weeks ago, we heard that the referral wait has been pushed even longer than before. It now stands at 10-11 months after log in. However, the Lord is actively instilling His amazing peace. We are resting in the truth that He is sovereign and know that His plans are the absolute best. He has been so gracious to show us that very truth in others areas of our lives just to keep us reminded:) So, for those of you who are doing the math, it looks like, as long as the 10-11 month time period remains the same, that we will receive Salem's referral somewhere close to March of 2007.
As we wait together, please be in prayer for our family. As you pray for these things, our prayer is that your hearts will rejoice in the goodness of God as He reveals Himself through the answers. May He gain ALL glory, for He alone is worthy!!!
What to pray for specifically:
That the fingerprints will come in this week
That the referral waiting time will not be extended any longer
That in all the waiting, we will keep our hearts set on God's agenda, not ours
That Salem will be safe and will receive excellent care and nutrition
That the Lord will begin calling her to Himself
That He would gain glory through ALL of the tiny little details!!!
