Still Waiting...

Why, yes! We are still waiting! I think God is trying to teach me patience!!! :)  We found out through an e-mail from the US embassy that our little girl's Visa was issued last week and so now we are waiting for the final call...the call for travel approval! This week marks 1 year since we wrote the letter to the intercountry adoption board as to our intent to adopt our little girl.  We had no idea that the journey would take this long! On September 21 (which happens to be Joy's birthday) it will be 1 LONG year since writing that letter! Oh how I wanted to be with Joy on her birthday to celebrate! Instead, she will have one final birthday celebration with her friends at the orphanage and we will enjoy a belated birthday as a family when we are finally able to be with her! 

I have so many mixed emotions right now! I feel as though this journey is just about to begin, even though it started over 2 years ago with the first paperwork we filled out! I feel like we are at the top of the high hill of a roller coaster and we are about to be unleashed into the "real" ride!  We've been anticipating, preparing, reading, praying, and getting ready, the roller coaster chugging slowly up that huge hill of waiting-and now, I better hang on for the ride of my life! I hope I am ready! I am sure we will encounter many issues we could not even learn about in books; we will also see many miracles happen through God's grace! We know God has orchestrated this adoption and I just pray that He will use us to be His hands extended to our daughter.  He knows exactly what she needs, even if I don't.  I am already asking that He grant me wisdom and understanding to help our little girl.

 Please pray with me for extra grace, patience and understanding during this exciting time. Please pray with us for wisdom to know exactly what Joy needs and how to give it to her, both emotionally and physically.  We know that the next few months are going to be a transition time and we are going to have to spend some time just helping our daughter adjust. Our little girl will be leaving the only home she has ever known and traveling 24 hours away to a place of unfamiliar faces, foods, smells, sights and sounds. Please pray for her that God will calm her fears and give her peace. Please pray for her that God will heal the hurts in her heart and that she will be able to open up to His love and our love in a whole new way.

 Thank you so much for being a HUGE part of this miracle! We cherish your thoughts and prayers over the next couple months! We could not do this without your prayers and also your financial support. Thank you so much for being Christ extended to us as we walk the path that God is leading us. We love and appreciate each one of you!  Soon our daughter will be in our arms! Love, Darren, Jenna, Natalie, Micah and Joy Noelle

Prayers Requested!

To all my blog friends and readers: I would like to ask all of you to pray for us tonight. Last week we found out that our daughter has had her medical visa appointmnet (on Aug. 22), but the attending doctor required her to come back for some further reassessment for her developmental delays. The follow-up appointmnet is Sept. 5th. Since the Philippines is 12 hours ahead of us, for those of you in the US, this will happen TONIGHT!  Please, please pray that everything goes well and they are able to schedule her visa appointment in the next few days. Please pray for no more delays. Please pray for peace for our little girl. Please pray for quick notice from the ICAB so we can travel to bring her home!

I am praying that I will be able to post a good report in the next couple days!

Thank you so much for your prayers! We will be traveling before you know it!

And...the wait continues!

Another week has come and gone with no word on our daughter's medical and visa appointments.I didn't think this wait from referral to travel would be able to compare in any way whatsoever with the long wait to find out if she was going to be our daughter...I thought it would be WAY easier.  I will admit. I was COMPLETELY wrong. There were times, waiting to find out if we were going to be approved to adopt our little girl, I thought I was going to go out of my mind. When we finally recieved our official referral, I thought to myself, "The wait to travel will just fly by. It will be here before we know it!" The first couple months were alright. I was super busy with my job this summer and I was happy with how quickly the paperwork was coming together on our end. Now, however, I am stalking evey blog, trying to determine why we haven't recieved our call telling us when our daughter will have her medical and visa appointments. I am wondering why it is taking so long! The days pass by slowly...and still no news! This waiting is harder than I expected!  I want to hold her in my arms. I want to bring her home and get her settled into our family. I wonder often, "What is she doing right now?" or "Is she disappointed that it is taking so long for us to come?"

We sent a letter to her through our agency and also a list of questions to her caregivers (through our agency, of course!) that might help us prepare better for her when we finally do get to bring her home. These were sent several weeks ago...and still no response on that end either. I know the Inter-Country Adoption Board is very busy and I shouldn't expect answers quickly, but it is getting harder every day to wait.  At this point, we don't know if we will get to be with her on her birthday. More than likely she will not be HOME by her birthday, but there is a possibility we will get to be with her...so I think I will go shopping this weekend and buy some things to wrap to either take to her or send to her for her birthday.  Maybe shopping for her will help with this difficult wait....Praying we hear something by the first of next week!