Thursday, November 30, 2006

ONE. DAY. PEOPLE.

Not sure if we should laugh or cry, but after 6 months of paperchasing and almost 15 months of just waiting, we have officially missed this month's cut-off by ONE DAY. The CCAA website was updated sometime during the night saying they have completed referrals through September 8, 2005. I was a lot sadder than I expected when I first read this, but now have moved on to being glad that we know we will be next. Scott at first couldn't believe we'd missed it by one day, but then we realized that this just fits with our entire journey thus far. He said that we can go through this next month, knowing she is alive, probably b/t 6-12 months old, and we can just pray even more for her each day, knowing we are next. The next batch of referrals should arrive the last week in December or the first week in January.

Unfortunately, this means we will for sure have to renew a big portion of paperwork for our government because it will expire on 2-5-07 and we definitely won't be in China by then. This will cost us a little over $1,000 more and some time to get everything redone and to have the social worker come AGAIN to our house to see we haven't killed anyone or broken the law since our last visit. So while everyone else is praying for snow to fall from our skies this morning, we're praying for dollar bills! Another big bummer $ wise is that because our adoption will not be complete in 2006, we will not be eligible for the $10,000 adoption tax credit on our income taxes until 2008. We were really counting on this money to offset some of the costs and never dreamed we wouldn't complete the adoption in 2006. The good part about the wait is that both Scott and I have really grown in our walk with the Lord and truly know in our heart of hearts that He really will make a way.

The other day we were reading Exodus 33:11-19 where Moses is asking God for details concerning how this plan of Moses leading the people is going to work. Moses says, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." v. 15 How many times we have prayed that prayer concerning our adoption, and every time, in some way, God speaks to our hearts and reassures us just like he did for Moses. God does not answer Moses' request for specifics, but answers in v.14 "The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."" I love how Moses responds in verse 18 "Now, show me your glory!" To me, it's like him saying, "okay, if you're with me, let's do this thing - SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!".

In anticipation,
Dena

2 comments:

Christie said...

Dena - I'm so sorry - I got up this morning anticipating for you and for all of us a "baby boom" - or atleast referrals through Sept. and unfortunately, we got the opposite.

I love the scriptures you posted and your right - I love them, they are very encouraging.

Here's to the next batch - at least you now know for sure what's coming and it's something really wonderful...

Time to finish the Nursery I guess?

Love you lots and big hugs
Christie

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with you. I've had a VERY stressful week watching as the rumors developed to look less and less likely for our 9/9/05 LID. But when I saw it this morning, it was almost a relief -- at least I finally knew for sure, and though I was disappointed, I'd been pretty well prepared for it by the RQ info yesterday. And now WE'RE NEXT and I'm telling EVERYONE.

I almost hate to admit it, but the timing is probably better for us with travel in late Feb or early March than it would have been with the late-Jan travel if we'd received a referral this time. But I *HATE* having to wait. I kept feeling like "God, I know your timing is best, but....". :-)

Pam in Plano
LID 9/9/05
(joining you on a trip to China in about 3 months!)