Thank you for your prayers- Keep them coming!

My husband and I left the house around 7:35 am this morning (this is really early for me!) to drive down to Oxnard to get our Immigration fingerprints taken. We wanted to be there when it opened at 8 am, but we got there around 8:15 am.

I told the lady that we wanted to see if they could fit us in and explained that our appointment wasn't for two weeks, but we are adopting a child with special needs and we also won't be in town for the date they had given us. She groaned and said today was one of their busiest days with 100 appointments. etc. But she stamped our letter and let us sign in. We waited for about ten minutes and then were called. They took our prints and we left. Ok, what was the big deal? Yeaaaaa!

I had a very emotional day yesterday (thank you hormones!) and was praying a lot and crying and pretty exhausted. I am so thankful for my sister. I don't know why, but she has really been wanting to help us out a lot lately. It has been such a blessing, because I've been able to go to appointments and get so many things done that I couldn't do dragging my kids around. My sister drove up last night to watch my kids because we weren't sure how long we would be gone and most of my friends can't watch my kids all day. Thank you Brie!

Tonight we drive down to my parents house in L.A. and then Saturday morning we drive down to Temecula for a big birthday party for Grandpa Tierney who will be turning 90 next week! It will be like a big family reunion. They were asking us to send pictures of us with him, and we all realized we didn't have many pictures with Grandpa, even though we visit him several times a year. So we are going to be sure to take photos with him, individual and group, at the party. Most of his life he has spent serving the Lord. He is still a pastor and teaches Sunday school and Bible studies and preaches too. Everyone loves him! They asked us to write down a memory of him and this is what I wrote: "Grandpa Tierney taught me about living a life of devotion to the Lord and faith in action. I was always impressed by his Faith Promise project. I loved hearing the stories of people committing to an amount of money to support missionaries and trusting with faith in the Lord to provide the money. And then hearing the amazing ways that God provided the money that they never expected.  And you couldn't go on a walk with Grandpa and Grandma, without them spying a coin on the ground and picking it up to put in their Faith Promise account!"

We love you Grandpa- Happy 90th Birthday!

That was fast!

We sent our homestudy to Immigration a week ago and we already received our fingerprint appointments!  We are going to try to walk in this Friday to get it completed sooner. There is no guarantee that they will take us, so that's where you come in! Will you please pray that we can get these done on Friday? We actually can't go on the day of the appointment, either, so we would have to ask for a new appointment if they don't take us which would push everything back by about 4 weeks.

Tomorrow I will be sending in four adoption grant applications. Praying that we can get some funds!

Tomorrow night we will be having our first prayer night for the Orphan Care and Adoption Ministry at our church. Excited to see how God moves His people for His children!

Dossier

That's the word for the big stack of papers we send to Maria's country in order to adopt her.

Last week our completed home study arrived and I whisked the kids off the same day to overnight it to Immigration (After wrestling with the baby's carseat belt that wouldn't click because a Trader Joe's peanut butter pretzel (yum!) crumb had gotten wedged in the buckle). We barely made the cutoff and the Fedex guy even waited as I frantically filled out the paper. It arrived promptly even though I had written in the wrong date!  Next they will send us a fingerprinting appointment and after that we will wait for their approval. Please pray there are no unnecessary delays!

This week we are finishing getting all of our documents notarized and will be sending them to the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento. My sweet friend has saved us about $600 by notarizing it all for free! I really hope nothing gets lost. We've been working since September to get all of these gathered. And do you want to take a guess at how many there are? Go ahead, take a stab. Ok, I'll tell you: 59. That's right 5-9. And when we get our Immigration approval it will be 60. And do you know what Sacramento charges to get these docs apostilled (certified)? $20 each! Yes, the grand total will be $1200 for 60 docs to be certified. The good news is that the Lord has provided this money. But it still is staggering, isn't it?

Please pray that we can get the house we've put an offer in for. It is a short sale and there are some extra fees that they want us to pay and we're just waiting and trusting God to see if this is the house He wants for us. Of course we would like this to happen soon so we can move and get settled before we travel and before we bring home Maria.

Your kingdom come your will be done.

Oh and I just have to link this post here. What an amazing testimony about God's heart for the orphan from the perspective of a father who will be bringing his new daughter home tomorrow! Look at her!