The process of adoption has no doubt taught us significantly more about patience and reliance on prayer. It is interesting how these two really go hand in hand. It also is such a blessing that we have so many on our prayer team: friends, family, our Sunday School class, pastor, co-workers, physicians, and our team at Lifeline. Samuel has been prayed over countless times, and this will not end once he is home. We also pray that we will continue to have patience. The Lord's timing is so difficult to understand, but we are not called to understand. We are called to trust Him. Honestly, I am terrible at this. I like to be in control, but truly none of us are in control at all.
We received the call December 17 (Sam's birthday) that we had been approved to adopt him, but needed to wait for official paper work. This was estimated to take a couple of weeks since the Colombian governmental agencies took a nice long Christmas break. Sounds nice, doesn't it? While we were waiting, we spoke with a few doctors about his cardiac condition. I will not go into details, but some information was difficult to swallow. What wasn't difficult is we KNOW this is our son, and even our parents already talk about him like he is THEIR grandson. Yes, there may be hard times ahead, but we will take it one day at a time. Right now, we are just beyond ready to meet this little guy.
We assumed our paper work would arrive by early to mid January at the latest. You know what they say about assuming, though. Mid-January came and went, and no paperwork had come. We learned that the Colombian government was experiencing a form of a shut down. Despite the fact that Brent is a wealth of knowledge about any and everything political, I am a political moron when it comes to American politics, so I cannot even attempt to understand Colombian government. Nonetheless, the child care agency in Colombia was at a stand still due to whatever was going on. This meant no possibility of official approval until the government was back to normal.
Today is January 28. 5 weeks since we first received work of approval. We still do not have the paperwork, but we did find out the shut down is over! Woohoo! It is my understanding that any day now we could find something out! All of you who are reading, please pray this happens this week!
On a happier note, Sam's room is really coming along. It has bunkbeds with madras bedding and is nautical themed. Considering we have only decorated for girls so far, I think we are doing a not-too-shabby job. My parents helped us put it together and were a huge help! Thanks MaMere and Pops!
Also, while we are experiencing snow, slush, ice, sleet, freezes, wrecks, and overall unexpected Alabamian winter weather, it is a balmy 91 degrees in Medellin, Colombia. Literally as I typed this it started snowing. I guess it's time to put on snow clothes, drink some hot chocolate, and go make a 3 inch tall snow man. Adios!
(I will post some pictures later on, if I can figure out how).
