Home Study Complete & I-800A submitted

We are slowly, ever so slowly, plodding through this process.  Steps have taken longer than we anticipated.  There have been endless glitches and hangups that I'm told are a normal and expected part of the international adoption process.  So, I've been attempting to just take it all in stride.  Failing somedays.  But acceptant for the most part.  In the past few weeks, our home study was completed by the adoption agency and reviewed by the Colombian lawyer.  The study was then sent with our I-800A form and a $890.00 check to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services).  This is basically requesting permission from the US Government to adopt internationally.  In a couple of weeks, they should notify us of our scheduled biometric fingerprint appointment in Birmingham.  As soon as we have that appointment and our fingerprints are approved, we will submit our dossier to Colombia.  I am hoping this all moves pretty quickly since we lost a couple of months during the home study process.  

Last time I blogged, I spoke of a sibling group of boys ages 8, 10 and 12 who were available for adoption through the waiting children's list with Lifeline.  Just a couple of weeks after we released their file, another couple submitted a letter of intent to adopt them.  I spent a lot of time praying for these brothers, that the Lord would place them exactly where they should be.  I feel real peace about their placement.  I am glad they are no longer waiting for a family of their own.

Today I mailed the agency a packet of photos of our family, our home, extended family and activities we enjoy.  They will include it with our Colombian dossier.  When our children have been identified, Colombia will use the photos to "introduce" us to them.  I was a little nervous and excited about putting this together for our newest children.  How strange to meet them for the first time on paper.  I am so thankful that Colombia shows so much concern for their orphans.  They really strive to make the transition as easy as it can be given the circumstances.  

I also mailed the agency our ICBF application.  ICBF is the central authority in Colombia which will review our dossier for approval. Here we had to really nail down the requested child portion.  For us that ended up being: Two siblings, preferably boys, any race, ages 0- 4 years 11 months with one of the children have a medically correctable special need.   With our family's size, income and Brant's work schedule, we narrowed those needs down to many different vision issues, heart issues, orthopedic problems like club foot, etc., missing, webbed or extra digits, developmental delays, missing hand/arm, burns and several other more detailed medical problems.  It was terribly difficult to complete this form.  I want every child, with every severity of need, to have a home.  I just know that we are not capable of meeting every child's needs.  I pray the Lord sends the right family to each and every one of them.  

In January, on Wednesday evenings, I began meeting with a group of couples and individuals who are interested in orphan care.  Some are in the process of international adoption, some are foster parents, some are feeling led to adopt but have not started the process and some are simply advocates for these children.  It has been an amazing experience to be around such "like-minded" believers.  They truly understand my passion and my heart for this ministry and the Biblical call to it.  Each week, I am challenged to explore my motivation and goals in regard to adoption as well as my responsibility when this process ends.  Because that is just it, it doesn't end.  The adoption is not a check box for me to fill in to fulfill the call to orphan ministry.  It is a life call.  I do not know what this will look like for us in the future.  It could mean another adoption, foster care, mentoring, financial support of adoptive families or advocacy.  But I know it will never end for us.  I am so happy the Lord has opened our family's eyes to this path.  

I have always craved peace.  But what I really meant was quiet, order and structure. The book that we are reading in our class, A Passion for the Fatherless by Daniel Bennett speaks of the kind of peace I was craving.   Here is what he says about it:

"It is not wrong to want peace in your home.  But how much do you desire peace?  If you want it so badly that you will respond sinfully if you do not obtain it, it has become an idol.  As you rant or rave or scream or seethe, know that such a response reveals you are worshipping peace.  You want it more than God.  Your desire has become idolatrous.  

Our responses of despair, fear, anger, frustration and the like are constant warning signs that show us that whatever is evoking this response has become an idol. The task is to....constantly analyze the conflicts and upsets in your life and try to discern what your heart is worshipping at that moment

As our hearts are humbled, we become consumed with a passion for God.  We are able to look at the circumstances in our life as part of his plan instead of tenaciously clinging to our own design for our lives."

This has been life changing for me. In the midst of my eventful (loud and chaotic) days, I can rest in true peace that I am being completely obedient to what the Lord is asking of me.  It is a crazy kind of peace.  Not quiet.  Just peace.