Ticket Time!!!!!

I can hardly believe we have finally come to "ticket time"! We are comparing air fares and looking for our travel date to be issued any day now! You would think I would be able to sit back and relax a bit since the longest part of the journey is behind us but I am so keyed up that I am like a teenager in love! I drop things all the time, my memory is worse than ever, I find myself daydreaming about that moment when I first see my new son . . . you don't even want to know the many ways in which I have shirked my responsibilities in my home in exchange for a few more minutes to sit and think about Ezequiel! I am savoring this part of the wait. I know that in a few short weeks, I will be getting to know our boy in REAL LIFE! I will have to figure out what he likes to eat, how he wants to be held, his sleeping pattern and I'm sure I'll have to put the dog food bowl someplace where the dog can reach but Ezequiel can't! THIS, my friends, is why we call adoption a roller coaster. It brings out the best and the worst in us. It reminds us that life is something worth getting excited about!
It takes us back to the fundamentals of our faith. God is the author of life. He gives us children to shepherd and uses those children to bring us closer to Him. It's a win-win situation, no doubt. I get a beautiful new son and a closer walk with Jesus. Why doesn't everyone adopt?

Retrospective

I'm typing from a beautiful beachfront hotel. (A Christmas gift from my parents to our whole family - thanks Mom and Dad!). It's cool and foggy outside and the sound of the waves drowns out the sounds of my younger boys playing with legos on the floor behind me. As I went down to breakfast this morning and as I walked into the lobby, the first family I saw was comprised of two parents and three children. The youngest child, about 10 years old has Down Syndrome. My first instinct was to walk up to their table and meet them, to tell them all about our plans to adopt Ezequiel and ask them for any words of wisdom they might offer. I did not. I realize every family reacts to their special needs children differently and was just too intimidated to approach this family. I tried to watch this family without appearing to stare. Their sweet DS child drank his juice and ate his meal with great care. He neither spilled nor yelled out. He was mannerly and tidy. His family talked happily and made plans for their day. I was filled with a great pride that I, too, will soon be among the ranks of those raising such a child!
As I look back over this adoption process, I see how God has been weaving together every detail from the unpleasant delays to the "chance" meeting of a young girl who lives just one town over from mine and yet spent her previous summer doing missions at Ezequiel's orphanage. I know God is not finished with the lessons and "coincidences" that Ezequiel's life will bring into ours. From his early life as an unwanted pregnancy and his journey to an orphanage that deemed him worth saving, Ezequiel has a testimony. I can not wait until that testimony includes his ultimate arrival at his forever family and the healing that God has already begun for him coming to fruition.

Happy Happy, Joy Joy

The US Embassy in Manila has received the cable letting them know it's time to schedule Ezequiel's visa and passport appointments!!!! What a wonderful Christmas gift!
We are also officially finished paying for our adoption AND related travel!! God has lavished us with gifts from friends and family, amazing fund raisers from Friends of Ezequiel, an interest-free loan from The Abba Fund and grants from both Show Hope AND Brittany's Hope. The grand total of all those efforts is well over $22,000!!! It simply blows me away to think we went from a family with a small savings account to a family with a fully funded adoption in just over five months! God is truly able and does SO much more than we ask or imagine! I realize the cost of adoption is HUGE. I understand if everyone working on behalf of the child and family donated their services, adoption could be much less expensive but, let's face it, these people all have families to care for and need to support themselves. If any of them are capitalizing on a family's desire to have a child, that is between them and their creator.
The truth of the matter is, life is valuable and precious. There is no cost too high to walk in obedience to Christ and if my Heavenly Father saw fit to give His very life blood for my soul, how much more should we be willing to give of our finances to save a child? Ezequiel is a beloved son of the King. He is a treasure in an earthen vessel.
I still feel complete amazement that God is giving us THIS child! This special boy with the extra chromosome and the beautiful face . . . this tiny two year old who just learned to walk is entrusted to MY FAMILY! We could not be more grateful!

APPROVED (YES, I AM SHOUTING!!!!)

I received an email to day from USCIS letting me know that our I-800 petition has been approved!! I can not express the joy I am feeling in words but it is almost uncontainable!!! What is the next step? I'm glad you asked . . .
1.USCIS sends our packet and approval to the National Visa Center
2.The National Visa Center sends a cable to the US Embassy in Manila
3.The US Embassy in Manila tells the Inter Country Adoption Board to schedule
4.Ezequiel's visa and passport appointments
5.The ICAB calls our agency when both documents are ready
6.Our agency calls us to bring home our son!
Due to the fact that ICAB is closed for most of December, we are looking at a late January to early February travel date. I would, of course, love to be leaving RIGHT NOW to get our boy but I believe the Lord is altogether trustworthy. He knows every facet of the lives of everyone involved and has chosen a different travel date from the one I would prefer. I have learned one lesson well through the course of this life: His ways are NOT my ways but His ways are always the BEST! I will try to wait patiently.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday

Yesterday, I took a HUGE leap of faith . . .I'm sure the angels in Heaven sang my name and the demons shook at their very cores . . .I said the phrase "Merry Christmas" out loud, in public to a cashier with other folks in line behind me (ha ha)! I hesitate to use my blog to rant but indulge me. What on Earth is happening when a country believes the phrase "Merry Christmas" is an offense but "happy holidays" is perfectly acceptable?
Folks . . "holiday" means "holy day". The ONLY holy day that takes place in December is the birth of Christ so, I've got news for you. If you're using the phrase "happy holidays". You're still acknowledging the birth of Christ is holy, sacred, set apart and special. Guess what? You're right. It is.
Speaking of birthdays, our sweet Ezequiel turns two on December 17th. He won't be home. We won't be able to bring him a gift and watch him smash cake and smear it all over the place. I know he is in the capable hands of his loving caregivers at Gentle Hands. I am praying daily that the Lord will help us to wait with grace, never losing sight of God's sovereignty in ALL THINGS. It's so much easier said than done.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone!

Ordinary Miracle

Those of you who read my previous post regarding our "snag" with USCIS may recall that our extra paperwork cost an additional $340. Let me share with you what the Lord did YESTERDAY. Last night at church, one of the hard-working gals from Friends of Ezequiel
handed me a card. Inside the card was a check for the proceeds from a recent Lia Sophia jewelery fund raiser held for Ezequiel. You know where this is going, right? The check was for . . . ready . . . $343!!!! God added an extra $3 just to show us He has a sense of humor - ha ha!
GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!!!

Choosing Thankfulness

We have hit another snag in our paperwork with USCIS. Our blessed office of homeland security decided our homestudy wasn't quite specific enough regarding our capability to parent a special needs child. We were asked to submit an addendum (called a supplement 3, to be exact) along with the $340 fee required for this form. IT IS A RACKET! I know many folks like to blame the high cost of adoption on greedy agencies or greedy foreign entities. I can tell you, firsthand, Uncle Sam gets a nice little piece of the pie. I realize the title of this entry is "Choosing Thankfulness" and it sounds suspiciously like I am headed in the wrong direction here. Let me clarify.
On a normal day in the life of our family, a surprise $340 bill would really be painful for us. We have a budget and it rarely includes unexpected expenditures in such a large amount. Thanks to "Friends of Ezequiel" the money was just waiting and ready to be used when we needed it. I am TRULY, DEEPLY thankful today . . .thank you, Friends of Ezequiel for your support. Thank you JESUS for keeping our boy safe as we wait for him. Thank you, most of all, Lord, for saving my soul.

Critical Mass

Yes, I have hit "critical mass"! As all of you adoptive parents out there can attest, there comes a time in the adoption journey when you say "I simply can NOT wait one more day for my child" and then, because you have no choice in the matter, you wait.
I am there. I am positively climbing the walls in anticipation of meeting Ezequiel.
There is nothing more I can do to the house, his room, his clothing, etc. I have read all I can read on Down Syndrome, heart defects, local surgeons and the like. I have answered the question "do you know when you'll travel" at least 1,000 times and it kills me to have to say "sometime between early December and early January" once again.
I am not now and never have been a patient person. I have prayed and asked the Lord to make me satisfied with the here and now. I am not satisfied.
I am praying that our I-800 approval is in the mailbox TODAY. If not, I don't know what I'll do. Oh, yes I do . . . I'll WAIT!

Prayer Request

I just received an email from Ezequiel's orphanage. Apparently, he is becoming very stranger phobic as of late, especially if those "strangers" have white skin.
That poor, sweet baby has no idea what is in store for him - he is getting ready to be taken from all that is familiar by some crazy white lady and her tan kids and husband (ha ha). Please, Please pray that God gives him great peace. Please pray that he is
able to sense just how much I love and want him so he won't be afraid of me.
Most of all, please pray that our precious boy is not traumatized by being taken from
a perfectly loving orphanage and enveloped by our perfectly loving family.
Thank you!!!!

Tears Turned to Joy

I have not blogged in awhile because, honestly, I've been a little down and didn't feel I should share my negative attitude with anyone else. For the last 36 days, the US Department of Homeland Security has been at odds with our wonderful adoption agency regarding the processing of one of our immigration forms for Ezequiel. We knew all along our agency was in the right but getting the person at the "top of the food chain" to tell Homeland Security was another matter altogether. Finally, yesterday, after 36 days of waiting (and knowing that on day 45, our paperwork becomes inactive and we have to refile and repay) we got our miracle. I called my Congressman. His name is David Price and he is not even of the same party affiliation I am but that doesn't seem to matter when the issue is child welfare. His assistant, Robyn, placed a call to Homeland Security and within HOURS we had the approval we had waited 36 days to receive. Sometimes God does miracles and sometimes He uses the people in our lives to do them. Thank you, Jesus, for giving Robyn Winneberger a heart for our case and for getting our approval through. We now wait for the US Embassy in Manila to issue Ezequiel's visa and passport. God is awesome!!!!

It's Official!!!!!

Today in the mail I received the kind of packet adoptive parents long for. It was an updated child study report and two beautiful new pictures of Ezequiel! They are on my fridge and each morning, when I open it, I'll be able to say "good morning" and pray for our boy as we wait. We have gotten the official referral from The Philippines and paid a nice fee and now we are so much closer to bringing him home!
We are waiting for our legal documents from The Philippines so we can apply for his visa and passport and then . . . it will be time to travel! Early December is not so out of reach. I am praising the Lord for all of your prayers, gifts and encouragement. God is so good . . . all the time!