About a month ago, I mailed off all of our dossier paperwork-thinking it would be filed shortly after. The only item I needed was our Home Study and I thought that was complete, because Ken and I had completed everything on our end.
However, our Home Study took longer than I had thought. Although we had finished everything, it still needed to be written up and reviewed by a number of folks.
Home studies can be completed at various time intervals, and I was mistaken as to how long it would take. I was still naturally disappointed, until my friend Jacci reminded me that God's timing is perfect. I felt reassured of God's timing after she shared with me a recent story of how God blessed their family with His own sovereign timing in their own lives.
After hearing her story it calmed my fears, and I felt reassured. I know that for my part, I have finished my paperwork as quickly as possible for my daughter. And if folks take longer than I would prefer- I will leave that in God's hands. Everyone has their own mental wrestling of how to prioritize their own work load. I am still doing my "due diligence" by following up with folks, but it isn't for me to strive and push for my own will...because perhaps I will be striving with God in actuality.
My desire is that our little Elsa would be home with us as fast as possible, but God sees the bigger picture. I need to trust Him with the timing of when she comes home. And to trust Him that others are looking out and taking care of her-until we can get her.
The good news is that our home study is officially complete and we received the notarized copies end of last week. They were well done and very favorable towards us, and I so very much appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into their preparation. They were mailed off to the adoption agency and were received today. My adoption agency told me that our 800a form would be filed with USCIS (Immigration Approval) today.
The plan is that in a few weeks, we will receive a fingerprint apt. notice, and few weeks after our fingerprints are processed, we will receive our approval in the mail. This is the last item to officially complete our Dossier-and then it will be sent to China.
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
God's design
So the Lord said to Moses, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11)
God said in Isaiah 43
"Everyone who is called by My Name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him."
And also, "This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise."
And Psalm 139:13-16
"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them."
John 9:1-3
"Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. "
We are typically perfectionists.
We want to choose the best food entrée at a restaurant.
We want to buy the best house we can afford.
We want the best education for our children.
We want to experience the best vacations that we can.
We want health.
We want perfectionism.
We want to choose the best, and if it isn't the best, well, could it even be God's will?
Maybe God's best isn't what we would consider the best.
God sees more than we see. God knows more than we do.
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.
'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Yes, sometimes we do bring consequences upon ourselves. But sometimes, something happens, out of our control, that seems so difficult, we wonder if God sees and knows.
And the truth is, that God is bigger than what we think. And when we see an impossible situation, that's when God likes to roll up His sleeves and show us what He can do.
Because that is when we see God for who He is.
He is naturally a Savior.
And when you see a beautiful sunset, or the variations of flowers, you know that He likes to make things beautiful.
God took an army of 32,000 and reduced it to 300. We would be inclined to reverse that numerical change.
"And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me" (Judges 7:2).
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:8-12:
" Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
God's best may be something that we see as an imperfection.
Something that isn't right in our eyes.
But God sees that imperfection as perfect.
He made it that way. On Purpose.
He gives us weaknesses on purpose.
He made us the way He wants.
He made Elsa Mei cute, adorable and also blind.
He made her that way, because He sees a bigger plan.
I would rather trust what He sees over what I see- any day of the week.
God said in Isaiah 43
"Everyone who is called by My Name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him."
And also, "This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise."
And Psalm 139:13-16
"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them."
John 9:1-3
"Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. "
We are typically perfectionists.
We want to choose the best food entrée at a restaurant.
We want to buy the best house we can afford.
We want the best education for our children.
We want to experience the best vacations that we can.
We want health.
We want perfectionism.
We want to choose the best, and if it isn't the best, well, could it even be God's will?
Maybe God's best isn't what we would consider the best.
God sees more than we see. God knows more than we do.
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.
'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Yes, sometimes we do bring consequences upon ourselves. But sometimes, something happens, out of our control, that seems so difficult, we wonder if God sees and knows.
And the truth is, that God is bigger than what we think. And when we see an impossible situation, that's when God likes to roll up His sleeves and show us what He can do.
Because that is when we see God for who He is.
He is naturally a Savior.
And when you see a beautiful sunset, or the variations of flowers, you know that He likes to make things beautiful.
God took an army of 32,000 and reduced it to 300. We would be inclined to reverse that numerical change.
"And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me" (Judges 7:2).
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:8-12:
" Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
God's best may be something that we see as an imperfection.
Something that isn't right in our eyes.
But God sees that imperfection as perfect.
He made it that way. On Purpose.
He gives us weaknesses on purpose.
He made us the way He wants.
He made Elsa Mei cute, adorable and also blind.
He made her that way, because He sees a bigger plan.
I would rather trust what He sees over what I see- any day of the week.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
God bless America!
From the Statue of Liberty Inscription written by Emma Lazarus in 1883...
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
So looking forward to Elsa Mei coming home!
So thankful that I live in America and Elsa will also be blessed to live here. May God bless our country, and help us to follow Him.
So thankful that God has also blessed us with a heavenly home.
"But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them"
(Hebrews 11:16).
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