The good news and the bad

Well this morning was a roller coaster of a morning. I received another email from immigration letting me know our file was complete and was being mailed off. Yea!!!! That meant I didn't have to make a 6 hour round trip to pick it up next week. As excited as I was one minute the next minute I was deflated. Our agency called and I could tell by her voice she was saddened with the news she had for me. They tried and tried to get consulate appointments for not only us but several other families, but the Chinese Consulate was completely overbooked. They were completely booked up through Oct 9th. That knocked our September 13th date out of the water. I was dissapointed to say the least. As she talked I kept thinking "God has perfect timing, God has perfect timing". I know that helped relieve some of the pain, momentarily anyways. With all of the closures in China in October due to Chinese holidays and the Trade Fair I knew it was on to our second option for travel. October 25th..Yuck!!! That's another 58 days until I meet Annabel and I was so thinking that 11 days seemed like an eternity. I am not thrilled but after waiting almost 2 years since God layed adoption on our hearts...it's just a few more weeks..a drop in the bucket. At least we finally have a confirmed date of travel. YEA!!! I know I sound so ok with it right now. Believe me I had my deep belly crying episode this morning. I was so glad the kids were at school. They would have thought the world was coming to an end. When I was done and proceeded to pick myself up I felt God nudging me to open my bible. I did and isn't it amazing how He always has the perfect words for our aching hearts? He simply layed the kids on my heart over and over and reminded me that His timing is always perfect. The kids really need us over the next few weeks to help them fall into some patterns with school just starting. Especially with them each starting new schools. And we have some special events that we would have missed had we been gone. So we will dedicate the rest of our wait time to praying for Annabel, working on getting the house baby proofed, painting bathrooms, continue with our responsibilities that God has called us to do at church, working our jobs, holding garage sales to make room for baby, and as I have heard many times...this too shall pass. Before we know it we will be on a plane headed for China. It might be a little colder then it would have been had we left next week...but hey we are use to cold winters right? Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. Continue to pray for all the families leaving next week. I can't wait to follow their reuinions with their children.

God is answering prayers!!!

Keep those prayers coming. We can feel them. I got an email this morning from the Immigration office that our file would be completed in the next couple of days. I don't see this as a problem any longer. If I have to drive over and pick up my I-171H on Tuesday or Wednesday I can always do that. But I am sure they would over night it to me since they realize the urgency. Mark and I decided if we have to skip the Bejing tour we would do that too. We just don't want to wait until the end of October to travel with the next travel group. Many agencies don't send groups over in October because there are various fairs and such going on in Bejing during that time frame. So our choices were next week or the end of October. Now you see why we are asking for those prayers. So we are just waiting to hear now whether we have a Consulate Appointment. I am confident God will answer that prayer too. He has taken us through so much to get us to today. It has been a tremendous growing experience and we are grateful for all that we have learned. But the simple fact is that it is time for Annabel to have a family. I am packed and it is time to pick her up. It's just that simple. God is more powerful then a piece of paper and more powerful then an appointment. I have faith He will make it happen for her. Not for us...but for her. Well let's be honest....there's a little something in it for us too. hehe. A precious little girl who is going to grow up knowing Jesus and the love of a family. It doesn't get much better then that!!!!