So my I-600A, the Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, was received. Today I got a very official looking envelope in the mail. I ran into the house, so excited! I just knew it was going to be information on my fingerprinting date.

And then I saw it. Rejection Notice.

The form read:

"Your I-600A is being returned to you for the following reason:

The check amount was incorrect, or has not been provided."

Yeah, right. I am 100% positive I put that check in there. Did I add the total wrong? No, I double checked my math beforehand. Twice. I was in full panic mode. Until I noticed a second page stapled behind the first. It was a letter which read:

"Dear Applicant,

Due to a system problem, your attached notice was printed in error. It indicates that your application has been rejected. However, your application has been received and forwarded for further processing."

Geez. Talk about giving a girl a heart attack! For Pete's sake, can't they print out the form again? The right form? And why in the world couldn't they put the letter on TOP of the erroneous rejection notice??? Got to love the government.

On a happier note, little D asked the attorney, "When is Mummy coming for me?" The attorney told her I was working to get all the paperwork ready, and D's response was to say, "I'll pray to God that all goes well." Sweet Baby Girl is a prayer warrior!

Ready...Set...Go!!

This morning I got the last bit of information I need to feel confident in moving forward with this adoption. Sweet Baby Girl, I'm coming!!

Sweet Baby Girl

It's looking like things are moving in the right direction.

Every time I have prayed for my unknown daughter in the past year I have called her Sweet Baby Girl. Turns out Sweet Baby Girl isn't a baby...she is almost five years old. That's okay, though, because she will still be MY baby!

I just received some new photos this week and she is absolutely beautiful! I am just praying and waiting. If any of you would like to join me in praying, I would welcome the company.

Praying & Hopeful

Last night I received an e-mail from an online friend. She sent me information on a little girl in Uganda that she thought I might be interested in.

I am. Very.

This little sweetie isn't at Sanyu, so there is a lot to figure out--a lot of unknowns. Would you please pray with me? I know the Lord will work out all of the details if this is my daughter. I am not worried about that. Just looking for some clarification on some issues that will determine if I can pursue adopting her.

And the winner is...ME!!!

(Don't start getting all excited...no, I didn't win a baby girl...)

I NEVER win anything. Never. Until today!!!!!

Linny had a Memorial Box giveaway. I entered a couple of times...sharing what I would put into my memorial box if I had one.

And now I'm the winner! Read about it here.

I've been encouraging some of my family and friends to start Memorial Boxes. The girls in my Bible Study group and I were going through the study Experiencing God, and we were challenged to share some spiritual markers in our lives. Sadly, we all had a hard time thinking of examples of God's faithfulness off the top of our heads. Then, as I was reading Linny's blog, she shared her idea of setting up a Memorial Box. It's a wonderful way to testify to yourself and others of God's goodness in your life. You can read about them here, on Linny's post.

For the past few months since the discussion in the Bible study, I have been searching around Tom's Farms, at Home Goods, eBay, and Craigslist. Just couldn't find one that felt right. Now, my Memorial Box will stand with it's own story of God's faithfulness...that a woman who has encouraged and challenged me in this whole adoption process...a woman who I've never met or had a conversation with...is giving me a Memorial Box! Isn't God just fabulous???

I'm so excited!!

Just Call Me Gideon

Okay, so I know that I should trust God enough not to ask Him to prove that He is speaking to me...but in all honesty, sometimes I just need Him to. This whole adoption process is one of those times. You see, being that I am single and this is not exactly the conventional way of creating a family, I doubted.



But God.



I love that phrase. But God. He allows me to doubt, and joyfully proves Himself to me time and time again. He is so good!



About a year ago I was doubting that it was indeed the Lord guiding me to adopt, so I decided to ask Him for something outrageous. I didn't tell a soul what I had asked for. That way, if He chose to do it, I would know that He was telling me to adopt. Three days ago, IT happened!



Someone sent me a check for $1000!


Just call me Gideon. I put out a fleece--something so irrational and improbable that only God could do it. And He did.



Today I am mailing in my homestudy documents, along with a check for $1000. Isn't He good???

On Top of the Wait List!

I received an e-mail from a Sanyu mom on Monday morning. She had heard that there were some new arrivals at Sanyu and that there was a chance that they were accepting international applications again. Immediately I sent an e-mail, and Wednesday morning received a reply from Barbara, the Director at Sanyu.

She said I would be contacted when a little girl becomes available because I am at the top of the wait list! I'm not exactly sure what this means for me yet, but it has to be good, right?

The Lord has been speaking so clearly to me this past week. Last Wednesday evening Dr. Baloian from Azusa Pacific University was the guest speaker at church. He talked about Exodus 14 and how God's parting of the Red Sea was, in essence, to prove Himself--that the people would KNOW that He is God.

I shared with my parents after service how that had resonated with me. It has been my prayer that the Lord would use this adoption to bring glory to Himself and to be a picture to some of my unbelieving friends of God's love and desire to bring them into His family. A few minutes later, I hopped into my car. The radio was set to the local Christian station, and if the pastor on the radio wasn't preaching on the same chapter!

The following morning I prayed and asked the Lord to confirm that scripture if it was indeed Him speaking to me. I was keenly aware that it was highly unlikely, as I am currently reading through the book of Isaiah and the parting of the Red Sea is back in Exodus. Wouldn't you know that as soon as I opened to the next chapter of Isaiah, though, it began recounting the parting of the Red Sea?!

Sunday morning my mom and sisters all came looking for me in the Toddler class where I was teaching Sunday School. They couldn't wait for me to get to service. We are going through 1 Corinthians on Sunday mornings but--surprise, surprise--the verses we were in that day focused on God's faithfulness to the Israelites as He led them through the Red Sea and the wilderness!! Wow!

So when I got the e-mail on Monday morning, I can't say I was really surprised. But the e-mail on Wednesday took me back a bit. I'm sure I will still need to take a trip out to Uganda to meet the children available and be "approved" by the orphanage, but "top of the wait list" just sounds so wonderful, don't you think?