I800 APPROVED!!!

Friends - we have WONDERFUL news! Our I800 was approved on Friday, October 28th! HALLELUJAH!!! This is our approval from US Immigration to bring our daughter into the country! This is a HUGE!!!

Of course, as we have experienced many times in our adoption... we are dealing with a delay in receiving our approval letter. We have also been warned about some (possible) future delays that could affect our FINAL approval. So I wanted to post today to share what we're waiting on (and how you can pray as we wait!)

1) First of all, we need our 2 - I800 approval letters to come in the mail - one to us, and the other to the National Visa Center. I'm not sure why they have to come through mail in a time when email is instant - but they must be mailed! So we are pacing and waiting on the mailman every day! We really, really expected it to be in our hands (and at the NVC) by now - but it's not. So PLEASE pray it comes quickly (to both locations) and that the NVC (National Visa Center) gets it into their system ASAP! We cannot move forward until these letters arrive! 

2) Secondly - we need our fingerprints to be refreshed by US Immigration and the FBI as quickly as possible! We've been told this could take anywhere from 1-5 weeks. Our fingerprints "expire" (ridiculous I know) on November 13th, and they must be "refreshed" in the system before our last piece of paperwork gets approved. For this step - please pray that our Immigration Officer moves quickly to start the process, that the FBI handles their part of the "refreshing" process quickly, and that the "refresh" is uploaded into the system for Immigration and the National Visa Center quickly. 

3) And finally - we need our Article 5 approved by the US Embassy. This is the FINAL piece of approval we need to be able to take custody of our daughter! We cannot take custody without it. In order for this to happen the Embassy has to get our I800 letter, our fingerprint refresh, and a final form that our agency will submit. Once that Article 5 is issued - it's time to get Kate!

I know this is all probably hard to follow, but I wanted to explain what we're waiting on so that our friends and family can understand what's next for us. This entire process could happen very quickly (in a matter of 1-2 weeks)... or it could take more than a month. That "unknown" has put us in a difficult position.

Once we take custody of our daughter, we have to attend a Thai Adoption Board meeting (before we can get her visa and leave the country). There are only 2 Board Meetings left this year.... December 1st and December 21st. If we have any hope of having our daughter home for Christmas - we have to make it to the December 1st Adoption Board Meeting. That means we need this Article 5 approval to come in before Thanksgiving (November 24th) so that we can take custody of Kate on Thanksgiving Day!

Will you pray with us? We have endured 4 very difficult Christmases since we started our adoption process. It would be a dream come true to have her home for Christmas this year! We are so close to this miracle coming true... but we need this final approval!

Right now, we are prayerfully considering traveling to Thailand to wait on the approval. If we are in Thailand - poised and waiting - then we could take custody of Kate as soon as the approval comes in. If we are at home waiting, and the approval comes at the last minute, we won't have time to book tickets, fly to Thailand, and take custody before the December 1st Board Meeting. There is, however, some risk of us getting "stuck" in Thailand for a few extra weeks if we take a chance and the approval doesn't come this month.

Please pray for us as we make this difficult decision. Please pray for everything to happen in these government offices as quickly as possible. Pray for efficient and compassionate workers. Pray against errors - we have dealt with a lot of errors in our paperwork/process the past few months. Even the smallest error can cause a big delay! Please pray for people to do their jobs with excellence and for FAVOR with every step!

*** Our "Waiting for Kate" shop is still open! If you'd like to help us bring our daughter home, please donate and/or buy a bracelet HERE! ***

We're praying for a Christmas miracle...

I cried myself to sleep last night after another very frustrating phone call with our adoption agency. In April we were told that "while nothing can ever be guaranteed" - they were "confident" we would have a match "by the end of the year if not before". We have held on to that timeline for months - just waiting and hoping and believing.

Unfortunately, after last night's conversation they didn't give us any hope of a match before Christmas. They told us everything slows down in December, and if it didn't happen in October or November, it won't happen now. Then they said, "maybe early next year... I really think it could be January or February! But who really knows? There's no way to know. Don't bet on any timeline." *sigh. 

The vagueness and complete lack of a "finish line" is so hard on my heart. It's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. We have been pursuing this adoption for 46 months. All our paperwork has been in Thailand for 18 months - just waiting for a referral. We are still not matched with a child. We don't even have a photo of our daughter's face. And the wait just drags on. 

I know they said not to hope for a match this month.... but I can't help but hope and pray anyway. What do we have if we don't have hope?!? 

This season makes the wait very difficult. I can't even begin to express how painful it is to have an empty house at Christmas when we've been waiting to be parents for so long. How we wish every night of December that we were curled up with a little brown sugar skinned toddler in Christmas pajamas watching Christmas movies. How we imagine her brown eyes dancing beneath the twinkling lights on the tree. How I long to have a messy kitchen full of sprinkles and sugar and flour from making Christmas cookies with my daughter. How much we dream of the day we'll be putting toys beneath the tree and hearing laughter on Christmas morning. But instead, we will hang a stocking one more year, in a quiet house, for a child we've never met. The wait is hard all year, but the longing is palpable at Christmas.

So we're asking you to join us in HOPING and PRAYING for a miracle - that we'll be matched before Christmas. I know it's a long shot, and if it's not God's timing then we will trust Him and wait some more. But would you pray with us anyway? Pray that God will constantly put our family on the heart of the Thai woman matching us. Pray that our adoption agency will advocate for us and make us a priority. Pray that God will advocate for us! Pray that He will open doors and speed up vague, lengthy timelines. Pray that He will protect and prepare our daughter to come home - and that He will renew our HOPE and prepare us to be parents. Pray for Him to move mountains! We know these are big prayers, but we serve a BIG God. As our babies in Africa sing, "My God is so BIG, so STRONG, and so MIGHTY - there's nothing my God cannot do for you!" 

Jesus, this is the season when YOU came - in an unexpected way - to bring HOPE to the hopeless. And so, this Christmas, we're asking you to come again and waiting with expectant hearts!

Critical Prayer Need :: The Stanley Family

Dear friends,

I know you are so wonderful at praying for me and my family when we need it, so tonight I'm asking that you drop everything and pray for the Stanley family. Becca & Adam Stanley, their 3 year old little girl Jayci, and their newborn son Caden.

Becca & Adam are friendly acquaintances of mine that I met through my dear friend Carrie. They are a precious couple who have given their lives to ministry. They recently bought a house in inner-city Atlanta so that they could reach out to mentor at-risk children in that area. They're truly an amazing couple!

They also have the sweetest little girl - Jayci, who has been so excited to meet her little brother. I hung out with her one afternoon last month while Rusty was working on a video with her parents. We talked about her baby brother in her mommy's tummy.

Her little brother Caden was born Wednesday August 3rd. Everything seemed normal, and Becca & Adam shared the news of his birth with friends and family. Then, their whole world turned upside down. An hour after Caden was born they found out he had severe heart defects. 

At only 5 days old, Caden went through open heart surgery today (August 8th) to repair the defects.  On top of an already risky surgery, he suffered a heart attack. They will have to keep his tiny chest open for 2 days to let the swelling go down before they can close him up. 

I've been following Adam & Becca's blog, their facebook updates, and the updates on the Candles for Caden page on facebook. I can't imagine how difficult the past few days have been for them... but in the midst of it all they are keeping their eyes focused on Christ and they're asking for prayer for their sweet baby boy. According to their latest update, the next 48 hours are CRITICAL. So I am asking all my blog readers to please, please PRAY!

We know that God can still work miracles, so let's lift up little Caden! Pray for HEALING, LIFE, and STRENGTH for his little body. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and nurses treating him. Pray for rest, strength and peace for his family.

I love what Becca wrote on their blog earlier today in a letter to her son...

"...One day, you will be known not for having a heart that was born "defective" but for having an extraordinary heart that loves and serves Jesus in extraordinary ways. "