USCIS Fingerprints: Take Two!

Well, we got our USCIS fingerprint appointment notices in the mail yesterday! It looks like we'll be going back to the federal building next week to get our fingerprints made...for the SECOND time!!! :)

Our appointments are actually on two different days...kind of strange. Jody's appointment is the day before mine. But it actually will work out well because there is no way I could make the time they gave him. And I have nothing going on the morning of my appointment, so it looks like it will work out just fine! :)

Our first appointments we got, (over a year ago) we had to send in to re-schedule, but it doesn't look like we will have to the second time around. I have to admit, it's really bittersweet doing this all over again.

On one hand, it's sad because I always hoped and dreamed that Caroline Faith would be HOME with us this Christmas. I never thought we'd be sitting here at #22 on the waitlist and re-doing fingerprints! But on the other hand, I am excited because this just marks another milestone on our adoption journey to our little love in Ethiopia!

She is worth the wait, and we'll do whatever it takes to get her home! We'll even do these fingerprints a THIRD time if needed! (But I hope we won't have to!) :)

We do the Elevate curriculum in our children's ministry, and this week our "main point" was simple, yet profound...

"I will have patience."

Yep, I think God spoke to me this Sunday just as much (if not more!) through our children's large group as He did through the sermon. The Bible story was how Simeon waited patiently to see the baby Jesus. Simeon had been promised that He would live to see the Messiah. And he did.

Our children's minister talked about how the Greek word for patience actually means cheerful endurance and HOPE. Patience is not just "biding our time" or "making it through a difficult circumstance". Patience is waiting steadfastly with excitement, enthusiasm and HOPE.

And the Bible says clearly in 1 Corinthians 13 that "love is patient." So, putting it all together here...because I love God and want to show His love to others. And because I love our daughter in Ethiopia, my love has to be a patient love. Not a love that complains, cries and whines in the long wait. Not a love that walks around everyday "down in the dumps" because of another day with no waitlist movement. Not a love that just wants to rush through this wait, so it will be over.

Well, I am at a breaking point where I cannot make it through this wait on my own. I am entirely and completely and totally dependent on my heavenly Father to carry me through the rest of the wait. I was telling a friend the other day that I am at a point where I literally cannot get out of bed in the morning without time in the Word and time spent pouring my heart out in prayer to the Lord. As I was saying those words to my friend, it hit me.

Of course!!! That's a point that I should be at each and every day...no matter the circumstance. I think I am finally at the place where God has wanted me all along during this over 2 year journey.

I am completely surrendered to HIS will, HIS sovereignty, and HIS timing for bringing our daughter home. And I am praying that He will give me the strength to endure the rest of the wait with patience and hope.

"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:25