Letter Seeking Confirmation

I am not very good at this blogging thing.  I think about it all the time, but actually taking the time to sit down and write just doesn't seem to happen as often as I would like.  But this week we have such an important day to document on this journey I knew I needed to set aside some time to blog.

We waited 83 days for our Letter Seeking Confirmation (also known as Letter of Approval) to finally come.  This is a document sent by the Ch*na Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption that basically says they no longer see Mercy as an orphan, but as a child waiting for her family.  It's a pretty big deal in the adoption world and without it everything was at a screeching halt.  I am told to fasten my seat belt now because it's all down hill from here.  Our agency says in about three more months we will travel to bring her home.  We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So here are a few things I want to remember as I reflect on the wait...

Waiting is hard and there is not much anyone can say to you that makes it easier.  I'm not sure why that is, but if you know someone waiting just know that they are going through a tough season.  However, waiting is good, yes it really is.  It's good because during the wait God draws close, if you let Him.  I learned a lot through the wait and maybe someday I can make some sense out of it and blog down some of the things I have learned.  

God is Sovereign and His timing is perfect.  I hated hearing that, I will confess it.  Please don't take it personally if you were someone who said it to me!  I heard it too many times to count and well quite frankly I got tired of that "Christian" line that you are supposed to be encouraged by but seldom are.  Here's the thing, I might have hated hearing it, but I believe it to be true.  And today I think it's safe to say I believe it to be more true than yesterday, and tomorrow I hope I will believe it to be more true than today.  We prayed that we would travel to Ch*na for our daughters second birthday, well that happens to be this Sunday and here I am sitting in my house at my computer 11,000+ miles away from Ch*na.  Is that a good thing?  Well let me give you a window into this past week.  On Tuesday we had to put our sweet dog of 14 years to sleep.  Old age got the best of him, he was suffering, and it was time.  On Tuesday night we spent the evening in a hospital with family visiting my Grandmother for what would wind up being the last time anyone saw her conscious.  On Thursday afternoon she took her last breath and is now resting in her eternal home with Jesus.  I think it's more than safe to say God knew this, we couldn't see any of it, but He knew and He knew we would need to be here and not in Ch*na...yet.  I'm thankful that despite my grumbling and complaining and my pleading for quick travel, God did not answer the way I wanted.  I'm so thankful I did not "get my way!"  Is His timing perfect?  Yes, I am choosing to trust that it is.

Here is another window into this past week.  The very minute that my husband and I were at the vet saying a tear filled goodbye to our sweet dog, my phone began vibrating in my pocket.  It was our caseworker and she was calling to tell us that DHL had just delivered our Letter Seeking Confirmation.  So between saying goodbye to Bailey that morning and saying goodbye to my Grandmother that evening, we had this moment of joy to carry us through.  But it gets better.  Tuesday night I was able to tell my Grandmother that we finally received our approval for Mercy.  My grandmother, having been adopted herself, has a sweet spot in her heart where she has held Mercy very close.  She smiled and blew a kiss to Mercy's picture.  She loved this little one who she has only known by a face.  She has walked a mile in her shoes and she loved her deeply.  I'm heartbroken that she will not get to meet her on this side of Heaven.

So while this may not be the most exciting LSC announcement circulating the blogger world today, it's our story and God is writing it and I am thankful.