No Visas Yet

We are feeling discouraged today because our visas did not arrive and they did not ship out. It is not looking good for our travel on Friday.

There is another family traveling with us who is adopting a little girl from Ghana.  They also mailed their expedited visa application on the same day and have not received anything back.  They have decided to drive to DC tonight and go to the Ghanaian embassy tomorrow with the hopes of picking up  all of our visas.  If they are successful they would overnight them to us and we would hopefully fly out on Friday as planned.

I share this with you so you can pray

1. For the safety of our friends as they drive all night.
2. For God's favor at the embassy tomorrow, that they can get all 4 visas.
3. For peace as we wait
4. For wisdom in how to best handle our flights and court date if we can't get the visas tomorrow.

IF you choose to pray with us you should know that regardless of the outcome we KNOW God has this plan in His hand. We will give Him praise and glory with or without visas tomorrow and with or without a flight on Friday. His ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. 

So....we pray, and hope for what we think is best and then we trust! 

Here we go....I type this to remind myself of things I know but still struggle with.  Trust me, this girl is not feeling peace, hope and trust right now. She is praying for God's power to be made perfect in her weakness.  

Here I am God...I am weak and things are completely out of my hands...I DO trust you. Please give us clarity and direction as we take one step at a time. 

I will update tomorrow...

Prayers requested

When God called us on this journey we knew it would not be an easy one and we were, and still are, OK with that. 

Up to this point things have been so smooth....even getting a call for court 2 months before expected!!!

We recognize that God has orchestrated every step of this process and so we trust His timing and plan. 

Late yesterday afternoon the US Embassy posted this statement:

Ghana

May 13, 2013

Alert: Government of Ghana Suspends Intercountry Adoptions

The Government of Ghana has temporarily suspended processing of all adoption cases, including intercountry adoptions, pending Ghana’s review of its current adoption procedures. The U.S. Embassy in Accra is seeking further clarification of the scope and duration of this temporary suspension by the Government of Ghana and how this suspension may effect pending adoptions. The U.S. Embassy will continue processing adoption cases already approved by Ghanaian authorities.

The Department of State will continue providing updated information on adoption.state.gov as it becomes available. If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues at 1-888-407-4747 within the United States, or 202-501-4444 from outside the United States. Email inquiries may be directed to AdoptionUSCA@state.gov.

We don't know what this really means for us, but there are many factors involved that help our situation (the agency we are with, our current status in the process, etc.) 

The truth is not a lot has changed from our perspective....

We are not in control and we know that God is!

This will continue to be our perspective until we get these kids home and until we finish our job as parents, for that matter. 

Please pray for:

-Our visas to get here before Friday, without them we cannot leave.

-The court approval to go smoothly on Thursday, May 23.

-our time with our new children to be sweet and awesome

-My sister as she cares for her four kids and Liz and Cael next week

-Safe travel and good health

-the US Embassy to approve our adoption in a timely manner despite this recent statement. 

Thank you friends!  We couldn't do this without you!!!

Mom X 4

This time next week I will be meeting my 2 new kids for the first time in person.  It is a thought that makes my heart beat a little quicker and my eyes fill with instant tears. 

Today is Mother's Day. I already know the joy of being a mom and I love it.  But, today as I celebrate that wonderful job that God has blessed me with I cannot help but consider that if all goes well next Thursday in court that blessing will be times 4! ;-)

Liz and Cael bring me so much joy. They asked me this morning if I had to pick an age that I loved them best which age would I pick. 

"Well, when you were little newborn babies, I thought 'this is the best age ever'. 

And then when you were just learning to crawl, I thought, 'this is the best age ever'.

Then during those early walking years, I thought, 'this is the best age ever'.

Then when you were two and three and talking with such sweet voices and thoughts, I thought, 'this is the best age ever'.

Then when you were four, I just loved your independence yet innocence. I got to have you at home and hang out with you everyday, I thought, 'this is the best age ever.'

And now that you are 11 and 9........I wish you were five."

That's really what I said on the way to church this morning, in response to their question. We all laughed our heads off and then I explained that really dad and I have often said to one another "this is the best age ever!" over the years.

We have missed the first 5 years of our sweet new daughter's life and the first 6 years of our precious son's life so we will have a lot of "bests" to look forward to. There is no question, Liz and Cael are going to be such amazing role models to their new siblings. The way their speak and act and treat others is a shining example of Christ and that is what we hope to be to these new children. 

My mommy heart is bursting with joy times 4 today!

 

My way are not your ways

There is one thing you can count on in the adoption process...things will not likely go according to your plan.

We accepted a referral for two precious kids on April 17th...

Our Sources:  "Ghana requires 3 months from the signed placement letter until court date".

Us: "We have seen other families get quicker court dates why do we have to wait 3 months?"

Our Sources: "Those families likely adopted waiting children that had already been in the system for a little while so they were given an earlier date. We will let you know when your placement letter has been signed and then your court date will likely be about 3 months from then."

Us: "Ok...looking forward to court at the end of July.".......April turns to May and no signed placement letter...."OK..looking forward to court sometime in early August."

EMAIL MESSAGE MAY 3, 2013 (STILL NO SIGNED PLACEMENT LETTER) "You have a probable court date of May 23rd. We will let you know more soon."

Us:................................... (a little speechless)...........Thank you God!

That is AMAZING of course! We weren't expecting it until late July at the EARLIEST. Besides that being the last week of school here and crazy life plans, it is also the weekend of the Legacy Retreat in Orlando. Phew!  They will be fine without me but I am having a hard time getting my mind to settle down. So many details to pull together for court, Liz and Cael back home, the Legacy Retreat....plus I am going to meet my new kids in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!  Kinda freakin' out here! Clearly this is God's plan because it is miraculous timing but my human mind is having a really hard time trying to keep up. ;-)

All night as I tried to sleep one verse kept going around and around in my mind:

Isaiah 55:8-9
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so our my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

All this time I was praying for patience to wait as I thought it would likely drag on and instead God went turbo speed on us!  Now I am praying for peace and clarity and trust. He is good all the time!

Today I booked two plane tickets to Accra, Ghana and we will be there ready to meet our precious kids on May 18th. Please pray for our visas to be processed efficiently and for our travel to go smoothly.  Pray for our time with our new children, for the first meeting to be sweet and for our week with them to make up for the first 5 and 6 years of their lives that we have missed.  We also ask for prayer on May 23rd as we go to court to officially adopt our sweet kids.

Feeling overwhelmed, satisfied, grateful and incredibly blessed today!

Our Kids!!!

Bethany Christian Services has always been clear that the Ghana adoption program is a pilot program so it is difficult to predict any sort of timeline for referrals .  That being said, for the last several months both Adam and I have been asked daily, “What’s going on with the adoption?”  My standard reply is, “We are just waiting for the call…it could be today or it could be a year from today.” Most people would just look at me a little flabbergasted by the unknown-ness.  I had made this same comment on Wednesday morning, April 17^th while having breakfast with my friend, Tamara. Then I went to the car wash and then to the grocery store.  I was driving home when my cell phone rang with a call from Michigan. “Hello?” It was Kim Batts, the International Adoption Director calling with our referrals.  Oh my goodness! Today was the day!!!  I was overwhelmed. As she talked I cried, shook a little, and somehow kept driving home.  I was almost desperate to see the pictures that she was emailing me. She told me about 2 kids, biological cousins that were raised as siblings. The little boy was born without a father and raised by his single mom for a little while. When mom got remarried her new husband wanted nothing to do with this young boy so mom asked her brother to take in her son.  I have a deep admiration for a mom who found a safe family member who she trusted to raise her son properly. She chose a male figure in her life that she loved and respected. Her brother also had a daughter and a son. So…here is a single father who makes VERY little money trying to raise three kids. (They were all abandoned by the mom when the son was a baby). Clearly, their lives were not easy or fun. Big boy/nephew had a lot of responsibility for his young age. Dad determined he could only afford to raise one child and relinquished his rights to his daughter and nephew. These are our new children. They are beautiful and perfect!  God truly hand-picked them to be Thompsons.

*I am unable to use names or post pictures at this time* 
Trust, me they are CUTE! ;-) 

Boy was listed with a birthdate that indicated he was 6 years old but upon evaluation and observation the social workers and professionals have deemed him to be 8 years old. We are very excited that Cael will have a brother so close to his age.  This little boy is described as very outgoing, social, active, athletic, smiles a lot. Cael’s comment…”That’s my little bro!” Really they sound so much a like!  And according to the new birthdate he was given the two of them will be the same age for about a month every year. FUN!

Girl just turned 5 years old. Based on her medicals we can see that she is a very tiny little girl. She is absolutely precious.  Big beautiful brown eyes and a sweet little face. She is described as shy and quiet.  She feels secure around her big brother and relies on him to protect her and look out for her.  He refuses to eat a meal until she has been served. LOVE!

Both of them are extremely healthy. Neither of them speak English very well but have reached almost all of their developmental milestones. They are absolutely wonderful and we can’t wait to get them home.

We are praying intently for littlest brother that was kept at home. We pray for his safety, health and well-being. We deeply desire to keep these kids together and pray that if that is God’s will He will make that happen somehow. It is totally out of our hands.  We have been clearly called to raise this boy and girl as our own and we are thrilled and blessed that God has given us this opportunity.

We will be traveling to country for court sometime this summer and hopefully bringing them home this fall. In the meantime, we recognize God’s calling to raise the two He has already given us at home as best as we can so we will continue in that busy calling  while praying fervently for our other two across the ocean.

On a side note….we feel incredibly blessed that our children are in a VERY loving, intimate orphanage with great people and great community. They are experiencing family for the first time in this children’s home. We were fortunate to see several additional pictures of them as this loving children’s home posts blog updates and lovely pictures of the kids frequently.  For those of you in our shoes, you know how desperate you become for more information and pictures. This find was a HUGE gift and you can bet I will be checking that site VERY often for more glimpses of our babes!  They have only been in this home for 2 months and it is clear their friendships already run deep. It will be difficult for them to leave! This is a hard reality for us and yet it demonstrates their great adaptability and aptitude for attachment.  For those in the adoption world you know that those things are priceless. Their sadness in leaving all of their new friends/family will be very difficult and we will already begin praying for that transition. We also know that the love and “family” they have right now is only a taste of what is to come and for that we give great thanks!

Extraordinary Worship

God has shown us RADICAL GRACE through the sacrifice of Jesus and his redemptive act of love on the cross.

The ONLY true response to that radical grace is through EXTRAORDINARY WORSHIP.

When we fully consider what God's grace means to us....that it has given us true life and freedom, we cannot just live normally after that. We cannot just go through the motions of each day. If we really consider that grace, then there has to be a response.   Extraordinary worship.

What does that look like to me?

• singing and praising God with reckless abandon- in my church, in my home, in my car, in my shower, in my life
• lavishly giving- my money, my time, my possessions
• loving His children- orphans, widows, my neighbors

Have you ever tried not to smile or laugh when someone is intentionally trying to make you smile or laugh? It is almost painful and often impossible (if they are good).  Well, God is good at showing radical grace. The perfect act of grace is finished and He continues to show grace to us each and every day.  It is impossible for us to stare that in the face and not respond appropriately. 

Gush with words of gratefulness. 

Respond with shouts of praises. 

Serve with overflowing hearts. 

Lay our lives at His feet. 

That is extraordinary worship and that is the only way to respond to God's radical grace. 

When I consider the path before us with the adoption of siblings from Ghana I am sometimes scared. There is no doubt our lives are going to change drastically.  We will have struggles. Some times will be difficult. Then I realize that is the point. If I keep my life easy and comfortable am I truly worshipping extraordinarily or just ordinarily? Isn't there an implied message of sacrifice when you worship extraordinarily? Sacrifice is usually not easy or comfortable but it is an intentional response. It is a way to say, "God, you gave me everything, please show me what you want me to do with it." Give? Adopt? Serve? Speak? Pray? Fast? Listen?.....

This blog took root at my church Sunday. To hear the message that I heard see below:

Louie Giglio

Passion City Church January 27th podcast  

Water

I am so thankful that I am a work in progress.  I am thankful that God has not left me where I was yesterday, or last month, or last year.  I am thankful that He continues to work in my heart to mold me into a better person.

Yesterday I was visiting the Georgia State Capital to get a few more adoption documents State Sealed (I AM FINISHED....BY THE WAY!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!)  Anyway, I parked in a parking garage and was trying to find the quickest and easiest way out to the road.  The closest exit to my parking spot led to an outdoor stairway and I was only on the second floor so I thought I would just use that exit.  WELL...I don't think that exit is used very often.  Especially since it leads outside and it was pouring down rain.  When I opened the door it was as if someone had put a bucket of water over the door jam as a booby trap.  Immediately a load of cold, smelly, stagnant water was dumped on my head. Gross! I literally gasped.

Once I got my bearings I thanked God that my phone and my folder with precious documents did not get drenched.  Then I did my best to wipe, dry, shake the rest of my body.  Of course, after a while I began to dry and it wasn't that big of a deal.  However, even as I dried, I stunk.  It was clear to me that the water had been stagnant above that door jam for awhile because it had a very bad stench which was now in my hair and covering the right side of my sweater.

It was dirty water because it hadn't been refilled, purified, refined, or moved.

I never want to be like a puddle of the same old water day in and day out. I want fresh, clean water to refill me each day. Living water.

I never want to be like sewage, stinky water full of grime and disease. I want to be purified and refined. That doesn't just happen.  It is a process.

I don't want to be like a stagnant bucket of water that remains unmoved and unused.  I want to be moved and changed daily to be more useable and purposeful.

Thank you Lord for pouring your rain down on Atlanta for the past 4 days and reminding me that you are still working on me. Create in me a clean heart Lord and renew a right spirit within me.