Small consolations...

After my emotional breakdown of Wednesday night, I was numb...

I could not even think about my poor baby waiting for 3 more months for us for no good reason...

The next morning I woke up to an early voicemail...

It was my contact from Reece's Rainbow (the non-profit working with us to facilitate Henry's adoption) saying that our dossier was officially "submitted" in Henry's country...

This is a big deal.

Before the shut-down, it would mean that we were only weeks away from getting a travel date to meet our sweet baby.

Now, it does not mean that.

What it DOES mean is that the clock has stopped on all the paperwork in our dossier...that nothing can expire for the next year...

that we are close to being first in line to be issued a travel date when the country opens up again...

and most importantly...

that Henry is alive and available for adoption.

As the day went on and my numbness started to wear off, I became more and more grateful for this encouragement....

this sign that the Lord continues to work for our and Henry's good.

*****************************************

There will be no posts next week due to our family camping and canoeing vacation - didn't want anyone to worry!

We are done for now....

please pray for our sweet Henry...

his country is not accepting any more dates for travel before the shutdown July 11...

it will be at least 3 months from then until we can travel to get him (think late October or later)...

we can only hope that our paperwork is still "good" when they re-open and that we do not have to redo everything because it will have "expired" by then...

please pray also that we may joyfully accept God's will....

Our Lady, I beg you to hold my sweet baby (turning 1 on July 23) under your mantle of protection until he can come home.

Waiting....

Yep, my friend Nancy was right....

this is the hard part.

Nothing to do but wait.

That is why prayer is such a gift.

We are able to take our energy, our desires, our intentions...and DO something with them....

turn them over to God.

So I will ask for 2 prayers.

First, that our Petition to Adopt Henry is "submitted" in his country TOMORROW, Thursday, June 23. This is a long shot...

the dossier just arrived on Monday the 20th, needs to translated, and then another piece of paper ordered in the country must accompany it AND someone at the SDA must actually process it.

But getting our I 171H in ONE DAY was a long shot too...

I firmly believe in miracles!!

Second, that the family trying to adopt sweet little Nathaniel can get him before the country closes down for at least 3 months in July....

Nathaniel could very likely DIE if he has to wait 3 months.

Go here to see: http://www.savenathaniel.blogspot.com/

Ask for the intercession of St. Thomas More if you are so inclined...his Feast Day is today! He is the patron saint of lawyers (thus my husband's and my devotion and giving our son Logan the middle name Thomas).

After his beloved first wife Jane died he was married again to a widow, Alice Middleton, to provide a mother to his 4 children....and he raised her daughter from her previous marriage as his own. More was an affectionate father who wrote letters to his children when he was away on legal or government business. He took a serious interest in the education of women, an attitude that was highly unusual at the time, and insisted on giving his daughters the same classical education given to his son!

He was a man of action AND a man of prayer.

Now the time for our action is done....

and we will wait in prayer.

Our finish line...for now...

Our fingerprints were processed only 24 hours after they were taken...

Our I-171H arrived by Fax on Friday, June 17, at noon....

I met my husband at work and we re-signed and re-notarized the paper accompanying the I-171H and we headed downtown...

We received our Apostille from the Secretary of State's office at 3pm...

We went to the same UPS store ("Weren't you just here yesterday?" she asked ) and sent this document to the same address as the stack of paperwork for our dossier the day before...

both packages will arrive in Henry's country on Monday, June 20.

We have done everything we can.

Now we pray (please join us!)....

and wait.

My husband asked what I wanted for our Anniversary...

......and I said, "My baby home from Eastern Europe."

He said, "I am working on that."



Happy Anniversary to my dearest love....

22 wonderful years and 6 children behind us...

at least 1 more baby and many more joyful years ahead....

Shamelessly begging for prayers...

What a difference a few hours makes!

Things were looking so promising around noon at my last blog post...

and then the dreaded email came.

Henry's country is closing down to foreign adoptions on July 11.

For at least 3 months (maybe longer since no plan/location/new government department has yet been set up to handle the re-opening).

We have one chance.

It is a very small one.

IF

we can get our fingerprints done tomorrow and

IF

those prints get back to USCIS on Friday and

IF

our Officer issues our I171H to us immediately (by fax or email) and

IF

we can get that last piece of paper to Henry's counrty by June 23.....

we might have a chance to travel in the next two weeks to bring him home.

If not....

he waits for at least another 3 months.

In an orphanage. In a crib. Unable to walk. With a cleft palate that can cause multiple ear infections and contribute to malnutrition. He turns "1" on July 23. His entire infancy gone, with no mommy or daddy.

We have very little control over all these "IF's"...

But God does. He is in charge. We need to cling to him like to a raft in dark and stormy seas.

So I greedily covet and shamelessly beg for your prayers and those of your families over the next few days.

St. Joseph, Patron of Adoptive Parents, Pray for Us!

We have an Officer!

After you send in your I-600A (application for advance processing of orphan petition) and your homestudy approving you to adopt is attached, you are issued an appointment to get fingerprinted by USCIS.

Once the fingersprints clear, you need to have an Officer from USCIS assigned to your case to finish processing your file and issue the coveted "golden ticket" - the I171H! The magic form that allows you to leave the country to adopt.

Yesterday we received the call that WE HAVE AN OFFICER!

This will speed things up tremendously once we are fingerprinted!

Our fingerprinting appointment is on Friday, June 17, our 22nd Anniversary!

If you had told me one year ago that we would be spending our anniversary driving to Indiana to get fingerprinted for the foreign adoption of our 7th child...

I would have said you were one french fry short of a Happy Meal.

But God has plans for us that are even BETTER than the ones we have dreamed for ourselves!

If we are just open and a keep a bit quiet and listen to Him whispering....

Today I am pondering....

the words of Pope John Paul II....

To adopt a child is a great work of love.

When it is done, much is given, but much is also received.

It is a true exchange of gifts.

(found at http://www.foreverforalwaysnomatterwhat.com/)

"ALL IN"

This is the whole family at the White Sox game last Sunday afternoon to celebrate our oldest son's graduation from high school

"ALL IN"

That is the motto for the 2011 White Sox this year.

The ads are a hoot.

A big pic of a guy with briefcase and tie and Sox cap on the wall of the Stadium with the logo -

"All In" is wearing your Sox hat with your 3 piece suit.

A commercial where the catcher AJ Pierizynski rubs dirt from a planter onto the arm of a player getting treatment in the locker room -

"All In" doesn't believe in that medical mumbo-jumbo.

His next line is -

"All In" gives more and takes less.

When my dear husband was told that little Henry might have other unknown medical problems because the presence of both cleft palate AND arthrogryposis makes is possible he has other congenital conditions, he said to the orthopedic surgeon:

"We will deal with that if we have to when he gets home. We are ALL IN."

Are you ALL IN?

To what God wants from you in life?

To what His will is for you this very moment??

ALL IN means being fully in the present...

in the NOW.

While we cannot ignore the future, its possible problems and our fears of them should not be our overriding concern.

"Give us THIS DAY our daily bread."

Just this day...not tomorrow...not 5 years or 10 years....just this day...

just for today....

are you ALL IN?

Yard Sale Report!

I am feeling a bit "under the weather" today...

And my oldest son's high school graduation is in about 3 hours...

But I had to check in to report that the Yard Sale was a success!

While Friday was much busier and made 5 times the money of Saturday, the weekend total was almost exactly what we were hoping for!

Thank you to everyone who came or donated or prayed!!

Onward and forward -

Next item is our fingerprint appointment scheduled with USCIS next week!!

We inch closer and closer to Henry....

Please pray for the other children in Henry's orphanage who do not have mommies and daddies coming to get them.....

Yet.