Discouraged....

It's been one of those weeks, starting with two days prior to Thanksgiving, getting a notice from the ICAB (Philippines adoption board) saying that they needed a couple more bits of information from us....information, not easy to acquire, especially so close to the holiday. We are now waiting on our psycholgist to write a letter including test results and some other information the ICAB needed. We also had to go to my former boss because they said they needed my prior employee to send in a reference because I have only been at my current job for 3 1/2 years, not the required 5 years. Our social worker said that is not even a requirement she has ever heard of! Anyway, I went the Monday after Thanksgiving and talked to my prior boss. She said she would do a reference letter. Then on Tuesday of that week, I got very sick and ended up having to have an emergency appendectomy. So, I have been out of commission for a week. And  today we are still waiting to get the reference letter and the letter from the psychologist. I have to admit, I am discouraged. Here we are getting close to the Christmas season and I thought we would know by now. I thought we would be able to send Christmas packages. I am struggling with the craziness of all the government is asking of us. It seems rediculous. Have you ever just been so discouraged, you want to quit? That's how I feel right now. Discouraged beyond my ability to keep on going on. Discouraged because this is taking an overwhelming amount of time. Just plain discouarged....And yet, I know we are following the will of God and that He has everything under control. That is the knowledge that gives me strength to carry on even through this overwhelming time of discouragement. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. Pray that we will get these letters this week and that they will be everything the ICAB requires so they can approve us to adopt.  Pray that there will be no more bumps in the road and that our adoption journey will go smoothly from here on out. Pray that we will continue to know what direction God is taking us. Thank you for your prayers!!!