It's just this easy:

Don't Be Surprised

Our adoption process cleared another hurdle today. Just 9 days ago, Heather and I had an appointment in Metarie to be fingerprinted so the US Citizenship and Immigration Service could make a determination on whether Heather and I can adopt Eli. We received the approval letter in the mail today.

This step in the adoption process could have taken quite some time. We have heard the horror stories from other families and their dealing with the USCIS. Praise the Lord we did not have any problems so far. Our adoption worker told us that the USCIS process could take several months to complete. We were scheduled appointments 2 weeks after submitting our paperwork and received the approval just 9 days later. Of course, everything else in our case has moved along very quickly so we shouldn't have been surprised when this step went quickly, but we were. Now we are praying that the last step...the court process in Taiwan...would go quickly.

I called our adoption worker, Jill, to tell her about receiving clearance from USCIS. As we said goodbye, Jill said to have a Merry Christmas since I want talk to you again until after the holidays. Join us in praying that she will speak to us before Christmas. Because the next call should be the call to set a travel date.

USCIS appointment

Tuesday morning, Heather and I were in Metarie at the US Immigration office to be fingerprinted. This is a necessary step in being able to acquire Eli's visa so that he can travel back to the states with us. It was just one step closer to bringing him home.

We have heard nothing for several weeks. Our dossier is in country and has been placed on a court's docket. Now we just wait for the judge to make a ruling. It is very likely that we will not hear anything until we receive word that it is time to travel.

Heather and I are spending these months preparing ourselves for the trip to Taiwan. We have been studying Taipei hotels and the public transportation system there. Heather's brother has offered to donate his flyer miles to help us with the plane tickets, so we are trying to understand how the American Airlines rewards program works. And of course we are still praying for the money needed to travel. At this point, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the only money we have left to raise is travel money. What a blessing it has been to see the Lord move and work and provide in our lives. Let me give you an example...

A few days ago, I was sitting at home eating lunch when I heard someone pull up in our driveway. I walked outside to see who was there. I didn't know the person, but I recognized him from seeing him around town. He asked me if we were adopting. I told that we were and he asked me how much money we needed. I sort of mumbled around a bit and talked about how the Lord was blessing us and all our needs were being met. He asked me again...how much money do you need...although this time, he waved his checkbook in front of me. I told him about how much our next payment was and he proceeded to give me a check for that amount plus some extra. It was the largest single donation we have received. The very next day that bill that we owed, the one I mentioned to him, came due. How amazing is our God!!

Please continue to pray for our family. Following the holidays, we will begin to prepare our home for Eli's arrival. We have so much to do because it has been 7 years since we had such a little one in our home. I sure hope Heather knows what she is doing.