Frustration In The Waiting

There has been quite a bit that has happened since our last post.  Some good and some very frustrating.


Will start with the good,
We have successfully finished our puzzle fundraiser.  You all have gone above and beyond in helping to support us in bringing our daughters/sisters HOME.  We did not only reach the 550 pieces we are only 15 pieces away form 600!!!  I will be holding off on having the puzzle completed to see if we have any last minute donations come in to reach the 600.  Just makes it easier for the person making the puzzle :)

We also have been told that we are being considered for yet another grant from A Child Waits.  Plan to have that finished this week.

We received a $1000 grant that was a total surprise.  Came at just the right time.  Thank you Lord!

Now the frustrating,

We put our next step of paperwork in the mail the day after we received Callie's LOA June 21, 2016. 

I did everything like I was told.  The end of that week we were told that USCIS had received our paperwork.  I started calling the beginning of the following week to have them tell me that they no longer do the paperwork the way I submitted it.  WHAT???  You have to be kidding me.  I got on the phone right away with our agency.  They told me they would get on it right away.  That they just did paperwork the way I did the week before.  After I made a few calls and they made a few calls we were pretty much told some Officers might bend the rules a little and others will not.  If we get assigned to an Officer that won't bend the rules we could loss 1-2 weeks more.  If they want to they could issue us a RFE (Request For Evidence) which would require us to resubmit some of our paperwork.  So our agency and I continued to call daily to hope to catch the Officer they assign us to right away to explain that we have the paper they want can they please just approve us and we will email it to them. Well we waited and waited all week.

We were told in the midst of all of the paperwork frustration that the orphanage did NOT approve our request to drop one of the girls orphanage fees or even reduce it.  This was a disappointment.  We were hoping at least for a reduction to help with the high cost of flights and hotels since we will be traveling during some of the highest tourist season.

Then Friday afternoon we were told we had been assigned to Officer Lam.  In the back of my mind I was pretty sure this is the Officer that everyone was saying you don't want to get.  At this point all of my "fight" is beginning to dwindle away.  We are so frustrated with seeming to hit a "bump" every step of the way in this journey to our daughters.  I asked about Officer Lam in some of my FB groups and my fears were confirmed.  We were told he politely ignores you, he takes forever, is cryptic, has you convinced you will receive an RFE and just doesn't care.  Well you can only imagine the emotions we were feeling after hearing all of this.  Then came the good news, he was amazing, two different mistakes in our paperwork and he fixed them and approved us quickly, we emailed him and he responded.  Well we are praying for the latter when our agency calls him tomorrow.

In the midst of our frustration we reached out for some prayer support and the verse one friend shared with us was Exodus 17:12, When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it.  Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other-so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Then had another friend share this with us,

I want to encourage you that God has placed people around you that are battling for you guys when you get tired.  Today I saw this first hand for myself.  Your family/adoption has been coming to my mind ALOT, as in, every day and multiple times most days for several weeks now.  So, late this morning I was doing stuff and you guys and the adoption come to my mind and I know I am suppose to pray.  So, I prayed and then I kept talking to God.  I asked Him why you keep coming to mind, is it because I have the quilt fabric sitting here?  He replies no.  It wasn't because of that, it's because you are getting weary and He's telling others to keep standing in the gap in prayer!  And now I read your request for prayer and you share your weariness.  It is confirming exactly what your other friend shared.  And He is placing it on my heart and others hearts to be praying before you even ask because THAT'S HOW GOOD OF A DADDY HE IS FOR YOU!  You can trust Him, He's got ALL 6 of your backs covered.  Enjoy your weekend, God's got the details worked out already!  Be present today, don't worry about tomorrow.

Did you get that??  God gave this word for us to a friend before she even realized we were feeling frustrated and our "fight" was dwindling :)  Thank you Daddy for your confirmation again!

So this is what we tried to do this weekend.  We were at the mountains when all the stress started from the Officer and then we received this word.  So we made a choice and it was to have fun this weekend.  We dropped Ciara off at Penn State for a volleyball camp with 11 of her high school team mates on Friday until today.  They had fun.  We did hear ouch, oh and that hurts quite a bit on the way home :)

Manheim Central Volleyball Team Mates

Then we headed to the cabin for fun and relaxation.  Played lots of cards, ate good food and simply enjoyed the mountains.  We also celebrated Conrad's 19th Birthday!

Still my Baby :)

We are having to resign ourselves to the fact that we will probably not be traveling before school starts.  This is very hard.  Especially since Ciara is planning to go along.  Mom was hoping to have some help before she headed back to school to help with transition with the girls and really didn't want her to have to deal with school work while we were gone.  Doesn't look like it is going to happen.  Even if she could only miss the first week it would be great.  I did talk to the Principle this past week and he has agreed to work with us for her school work.

So prayer requests for now:

*That the girls are starting to form a strong bond with each other

*That the Lord is supernaturally start to bond their hearts with ours

*For the amazing family that they have been placed with to care for them for now

*That Officer Lam is in a good mood tomorrow when he gets called :)

*That we can finish this journey without anymore "bumps"

*When we schedule our flights and hotels that our agency can find reasonable prices

*That Ciara only has to miss a minimum of school and volleyball

*That Ciara's coach doesn't hold it against her if she misses some of preseason when it comes time to pick her teams for the season.

*That we can finish this journey with a good attitude and bring glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ