Our first wait list number was 64 and we are now officially #22. We have moved to a new state, Josh got promoted, Hadley is close to potty trained, Camy starts Pre-K in less than a month.....life happens while you wait. Have I "waited well" so far? In some respects yes and some respects no. My heart loves my son already and is desperate to see him, hold him, and bring him home. I have cried more than I care to admit when my knowledge of God can't get control of my emotions. I have read countless books, blogs, and articles. I will have read through the bible completely here in just a couple more weeks. My marriage has been stretched and grown. My views on the world and the church have evolved. My faith is indeed much stronger than it was last year. So even when it has been ugly on my part, God has used this wait for his glory. My heart is humble and thankful to Him.
Last week we found out that our agency has given out 13 referrals this month! One of which was an infant boy to the #19 family!! We could literally get "the call" any day. Excited doesn't begin to describe it.
Enter set back. Since we moved pretty quickly to Missouri we have been renting a house for the past 8 months. We close on our new house Aug. 22. Our agency advised us to wait and update our home study and USCIS paper work once we were in our permanent residence to save us time, money, and hassle. Once we moved 9 spots to number 22 I contacted them and we decided to do a quick amendment to our home study so that just in case it got to us that we could receive the referral. Upon finding an agency here I learned that by Missouri standards our home study was expired and they cannot amend it. KY home studies are good for 18 months, but not in good ole Missouri. What this means is that we are in a dead sprint to do a full update. This includes fingerprinting (because our fingerprints obviously expire! Note my sarcasm) background checks for 4 states, medical forms, employment verifications, home visit, and a lovely $800. Praise The Lord that we found a really great case worker who is very accommodating and trying to get done as fast as possible. After our update is done we file new immigration paperwork and once that gets approved we are good to go. Immigration approved can range from 3 weeks to 90 days so please pray all of our paperwork gets approved at record speed and we get to see our already beloved son, very soon!
Our agency had no idea that things would move so quickly so this is just one of those things that stinks but The Lord can resolve. When I first found out we had to do a full update I was beside myself. To think that after all this time waiting and praying and hoping we may get skipped on the wait list because of paper work just killed me. I cried for a few days. But, true to who He is The Lord brought me peace through his word, encouraging friends, and prayer. He has ALWAYS taken care of me and he has always known we were going to experience set backs on the road to getting our son, the one He picked for us from the beginning. He is so good and I am so NOT.
So that is where we are, one year on the wait list for Grayson. Thank you for following our journey and know the best part is coming soon!
