I almost forgot to mention

I almost forgot to mention when I was telling of the events of Thursday...

Let me back up a tad. The last part of completing our Dossier is the fingerprinting in New Orleans. All of the reports that we had received from our Social Worker indicated that this office in New Orleans was extremely backed up and had been since Hurricane Katrina. And that we couldn't submit our application until the completion of our home study, even though in other states you can. The estimated time frame on completing this part of our paperwork would, under normal circumstances take only 30-45 days to complete. In New Orleans, it was taking closer to 6 months! 6 Months! Having to wait 6 months would delay everything quite some time. When we first met with her at the end of February she told me that she had couples who were still waiting on fingerprints since Sept/Oct of '06. This was not good.

Those of you who know me best know that this would cause me to lose sleep and panick...for the entire 6 months. Well, that is, the old me. The new me, with God driving and all...couldn't panick or worry to save my life...literally (believe me...I sort of tried to worry about this but I couldn't). I even tried to post about these delays, but never felt a release about it. I didn't want to claim or confess it at all.

This is huge for me.

HUGE.

I talked to a few close people about this whenever talking about the adoption. And every time I'd mention it, it was always like, "My God is bigger than this" or "God is still in the miracle working business" or even "I know God is in control, but I'd love to have you pray with me for favor in this situation". Whenever I would think of this situation, I would have the utmost confidence that God would go before me and work this out. And, that if it took 6 months then that was ok too because God has had this entire thing mapped out from before I was even born. So, He is in control...if it's 6 months then months it will be. The end. So my prayers have been "God, I know that you have this entire situation in your hands and that your perfect timing will prevail." Said with total peace.

So, after Jason's meeting with the social worker Thursday she told me that she had a surprise for me. She and some other social workers on some board or something met with the USCIS officials earlier in the week. This was a meeting that the social workers had been lobbying for since January. In the meeting the officials reported that they now have the man power to process 100-120 fingerprints a day and that they are currently working on February applications. Which means the time frame has decreased from 6 months to 60 days!! (I have no doubt that it will only get quicker, because like I think I may have mentioned before...God has this all worked out.) AND, we get to submit our application NOW even though we haven't finished the home study yet!! So Jason went online last night and set up an appointment for me to go to turn in our application Tuesday morning. We will fed-ex our Home Study report to them when we get it in about 2-3 weeks or so.

I don't know...I think I may be God's favorite or something! (Inside joke at HOF women!)

Father God, this is a huge blessing that you have poured out on us and the other couples in La who are in the process of adoption. God, I thank you that our Social Worker is so concerned with time-frames and orphans that she has been on the backs of these officials since early this year. They recognized that this was unacceptable and they lobbied to change it...for us. God, thank you for continuing to amaze me at how you are blazing the pathway for us to bring our daughter home. I am in awe of your goodness!

A Face for Grace,
Holly