Homestudy!!!

In this journey of adoption...

After compiling a lot of this:

We did a lot of this:

Then asked a lot of people for this:

And then today... this arrives:

Our Homestudy for the Democratic Republic of Congo!  

(Notice how smooth I am at taking a picture of myself.  Of course I had to get the flowers in the background that my husband sent me, and I just couldn't help the cheesy "thumbs up.")

Now that we have the Homestudy in hand, I was able to send in all our documents for our dossier to our agency.  So, I compiled my paperwork, wrote a heavy check, and tied it up with a pretty bow:

And then rushed to the post office to mail it express to our agency:

I also mailed off the homestudy to the USCIS for processing our application to bring a child into the U.S.  

YEAH!  We are now getting put on the waiting list for the DRC in order to receive a referral of a child.  As soon as I find out where we are on the list I will let you know, and then you can pray like crazy that our number moves up the list!  This is so exciting!

Please continue to pray for our Uganda homestudy to arrive soon.  I knew it would be a little bit behind the DRC one, but they are both taking longer than I expected.

So that brings me to something else God showed me today.  The past two and a half weeks I have been a little obsessive about checking my mailbox.  I knew the homestudies would be on the way and I wanted to make sure I picked them up right away.  So, I drove the long 12-minute distance (OK, 12 minutes is not that long) to the Postal Service Center (PSC) where I pick up my mail, and checked my little 5 x 10 inch square box for a package slip.  Each day yielded no Homestudy.  I prayed and prayed.  I asked other people to pray.

Finally, I decided that what I needed was to just believe in faith that they would arrive.  So, I prepared the additional paperwork I needed to just throw in an envelope with the homestudy to mail it off, right there when I was in the post office.  I drove there, parked, and considered if I should bring in all the papers.  I decided, "Today is the day, I am going to bring these papers with me in faith, and my homestudies will just appear in my box."  (Yes, maybe I hoped that God would be a magic genie or something).  They weren't there that day.  I was sad, and confused.  I wondered why it didn't work.  But I kept praying.

Then today arrived.  After having coffee at a friend's house, I drove home to have lunch and then planned on heading to my PSC to check my mail.  When I arrived home, there was a big thick white envelope package on the floor, that had been dropped through my mail slot.  It was the homestudy!  As it turns out they had mailed it to my home instead of my PSC!  I was not expecting that!

I then realized that God was still there answering my prayers, but it a different way then I expected.  That day I went into the post office in faith, I believe God was trying to tell me, "Alison, I see your faith.  I haven't given up on you.  I am still working, but this is not the way that your homestudy will arrive.  My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.  You are worrying so much about missing out on a package that will never arrive in that place.  Rest and trust in Me.  I am in control.  I will answer your prayers in ways you never expect!"

I had put God into a box (maybe even a 5 x 10 inch box).  In my limited understanding, I assumed He only worked in this one way.  But instead, He blew my socks off!  He causes me to look at the bigger picture of His involvement in this whole process.  It is not up to me!  Whether or not I check my PO box does not effect God's plan for this adoption!  He will still make it happen, and it will happen in His perfect timing.  That package dropping through my door was God answering my prayers and the prayers of all my friends, and it was in His perfect way and His perfect time.

What more does He have in store for us?  I can't wait to see how He blows my imagination next!  Praise the Lord with me today!