Twice as Long -- Why Should I Expect Anything Different?

Oh where, oh where has my dossier gone?
Oh where, oh where can it be?

I spoke with our agency today and my dossier is still out for Authentication.  They originally said it would only take a week, maybe 2, after they receive my final form from USCIS.  Once again, that time has been doubled.  We still need to get that dossier to China before we move.

But never fear… our house hasn’t sold yet.  I’m not Catholic, but I’m about ready to bury a statue of St. Joseph in my yard!  Anyone have one I can borrow?  We’ve dropped the price yet again (despite knowing we’re at the right price because other homes in my neighborhood are selling) and that hasn’t even brought in any more showings.  Not one.

And just when you think matters can’t get any worse, Jay’s back is getting bad again.  Need to find a new doctor in CA and schedule another steroid shot.  With a move pending, now is not the time for surgery.

Oh, but wait!  It can get worse!  Jay was in a car accident last weekend and our Corolla was totaled! Thankfully he’s OK, as is the other driver and his passenger.  The car engine still runs great but the entire front was crumpled – bumper, hood and both quarter panels.  I don’t even want to see a picture of it. Although it wasn’t the first car I ever had, it was the first car I bought on my own, without the help of my parents, after graduating college.  I did the test driving.  I did the negotiations.  On.  My.  Own.   So, it’s hard to see it face an ugly demise.  It was a 12 year old car and the damage done is more than the car is worth, so it's going to the junkyard.  And wouldn't luck have it, we insured it for liability only in order to cut down on monthly bills with hopes to save more for the adoption.  Adopting families, heed my warning!  It might cost more to insure your older model car with collision too, but in my very recent experience, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than digging into that savings account for a new (used) car!

The timing of this could not have been worse.  It all makes us depend on God even more.  Just when I thought I had enough in the savings account for our next adoption payment when we get our referral, we’re going to need those funds for a replacement vehicle instead.  I know God will provide for the adoption because He’s been faithful to the very penny of every amount we’ve needed to send thus far.  But gosh, this is just so unfair!  I’d really like one thing to start going right.  Is that too much to ask?  The house selling, the dossier being sent to China, my husband’s back pain to be solved (permanently), finding a house easily in CA (note the oxymoron in that statement) – I’d really love for something to go right.

OK, enough of my moaning and whining.

Stay tuned for Sunday’s post.  Jay is giving his first message at our new church.  He asked me to write a piece for it and I absolutely loved doing it.  Although for timing purposes, he had to cut parts of what I wrote, I’ll post the writing in its entirety here, complete with photos.  The subject matter ties into our adoption as well as one of our new church’s core values.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

See you Sunday.

Allow Me To Explain

My apologies for the blog hiatus.  I’ve truly missed all your adoption updates and have taken a random glance every now and then at your amazing stories.

You know how a new year contains so much hope and wishes for prosperity?  That’s what we planned after giving 2010 a swift kick in its big ol’ behind and closing the door on its sorry face.  But this year has been worse, perhaps, than all of 2010 had been.

I’m not going into the details here because they aren’t important.  Those of you family and friends know it all already.  The good news is that my husband has gone through a job change and we are now expecting a move to Northern California.  We are trying to sell our house and we’re going to try and sell it ourselves with hopes that the money we save by selling by owner can go towards our adoption.

I’ve spoken with our social worker as well as our agency this morning and of course, this delays our adoption process.  It IS POSSIBLE to move while adopting. [YAY!]  It just means more delays and more money. [BOO!]   Right now we are waiting on our final forms from USCIS and still need to get our college basement renter fingerprinted (yes, he still needs to be included even though he won’t be moving to CA with us).  We will have to update our home study in our new locale.  With that come new police clearances, new forms, more money and more time.

I still do not hear God telling us to stop the adoption even though at this point, I'm exhausted.  But I still feel the call to live out Psalms 82:3 in a very tangible, personal way.  I will not give up.

The biggest concern we have right now is getting our dossier to China BEFORE we move out west!  If the 3 of us adults can get finger printed and if we can receive that final form from USCIS before we sell the house, then our dossier can go overseas and we can just submit a home study update once we arrive in California. This is a HUGE prayer request!  Please pray that we get this last form within the month of April and that our dossier can be submitted to China!!!

Additional prayer requests on the tab above.