Shaking it off

So, now that the initial shock and disappointment has worn off from getting turned down by the one agency we thought would help, we're trying to shake that off and remind ourselves of all God's been showing us these past several weeks. The bottom line is that providing the rest of the monies needed for our adoption is God's job, not ours. We've been faithful to do everything we can on our end but providing is His job and He's NEVER failed to do His job.

One thing I've noticed that God does in my life when He's about to lead me through a BIG trial is, He spends a TON of time reassuring me right and left right before. I've been noticing that pattern with this situation but really hoping that this would not be one of those trials. :-) I have to say that due to all of the stress over the last year or so, my body doesn't handle stress well. I exercise regularly to help manage that but whenever my stress level goes up, my blood pressure will either shoot up or down, depending, and I'll end up w/dizzy spells and/or a bloody nose. Go figure! But God knows what I can handle and what I can't and this is in His hands. At any rate, I've been concerned about going through a big trial like this 'cause this one potentially costs something. The fear of not being able to bring home Jasmine brings me to my knees and yet this too, is something that needs to be given over.

I can't tell you how badly I want to be able to go through this whole thing completely trusting and yes, even celebrating like everything's paid for and it's done! I HATE that I struggle off and on w/doubts and yet I suppose that's human, otherwise, why would we need God?

I HAVE to remember that God is fully present in this adoption and this adoption is fully present in God. That means that as far as God is concerned, this adoption is done and paid for. I only have to worry about my part and trust God to do His. It's easier said than done when there's a time limit on things but how like God to reassure us over and over, knowing we'd have doubts! And He's done that. Every week, sometimes multiple times a week, He's reassured us through a prayer at church, a worship song, an excerpt from a book, an "a-ha" moment, a verse. Praise God that He provides for our needs even before we realize we have them!

We still haven't received our revised I171-h back yet so we'll keep you posted on that. We're still anticipating to get that back any day. We also still have 2 more grant agencies that are considering us so please pray for that!

Other than that, we're all doing fairly well. We've had unusually cold weather here. We woke up to -35 with windchill this morning! Yea baby! Lily had a slight bout w/the flu last week and a little cold this week but is doing amazingly well. We've been all taking a ton of vitamin C, D & probiotics and I think it's helped us all to stay pretty healthy so far. We are very thankful!

Speaking of Lily, she's still doing really well at school. She loves her teachers and her classmates. She's learned to write her name and has been really getting more into drawing and painting. We've reorganized her playroom so we have an easier time playing together...things are more accessible and the space is a little more roomy w/out our old hutch being in there. We've also pulled out all of the old baby toys and clothes and organized and cleaned everything.

Back to the subject of China. So, I'll put some faith into action and say that when we go to China, we'll be in 3 major cities while we're there. We'll most likely fly into Hong Kong and stay there for 2-3 days and then fly to Cheng Du in the Sichuan Province. They'll bring Jasmine to us w/in 1 day of us arriving there and we'll stay in that province for a total of 6-7 days before flying on to Guangzhou. That's where the US Embassy is located and that's where we'll likely be having numerous visits to the embassy to get Jasmine's visa and immigration docs in order. We'll probably be there for another 4-5 days-ish and then either fly home from there or fly to Hong Kong and fly home from there. We're only now slowly checking out information about those cities so that we can try and plan a couple of "fun" excursions while we're in China. For the most part, we'll keep things really low key but we thought it would be fun to try and see a tiny bit of the huge country that our daughter was born into and get some pictures, mini movies & souvenirs to show her when she's older. It really is one-in-a-life-time kind of trip.

Well, that's about it on the Young front. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement. We really cherish them both, especially right now! We'll continue to keep you posted and hope that you're all doing well!