Certified....

Another task completed! We are now certified in infant, child & adult CPR and First Aid. Michael & I attended our training last night, along with other people working with our agency. It was good to get yet another thing marked off the list. Ahhhh....but not so fast! Just as sure as we are to have almost everything completed, but what do our wondering eyes see.....another stack of papers?! Yes, Dennis, being the wonderful man that he is, gave us another package of documentation that we have to complete. He handed a stack to Michael and Michael thought that he would take one piece and pass it around (you know, like how we would do in school)....but no....that whole stack was just for us! I've never seen so much paperwork before. I haven't counted it but I think it's got to be at least 30 more pages to fill out. This is some of the trickier things, like our disciplinary action plan. How do we plan to discipline our children? What actions do we plan on taking? How will we follow through? etc.... We have to put all of that in writing and in detail. We have to complete a whole series of questions on our marriage, our families, our home, our work ~ basically every aspect of our life...that wasn't necessarily covered in detail in the biographies we wrote. Then we have a behavior policy we have to create, an evacuation plan and map for emergencies has to be made, who we plan to involve in our children's lives (like family members, babysitters, child care providers) on a regular or irregular basis......just to name a few of the things, without looking at the paperwork.

A bit overwhelming but I'm sure we can do it. It's just difficult to put into words how you would do something, or carry out your disciplinary actions, what rules we will have for our household, the responses when they aren't carried out, etc.... They definitely want to get into our minds and see what we're thinking, but I think it's a positive thing.

We also found out last night that we are signed up for the Advanced "quick-start" PRIDE training (our 30 hours required by the state of Texas). Most couples have to do this over a period of 8 - 12 weeks, but our case worker felt very strongly that he wanted us to be in the Advanced class. So, we are signed up for 3 ten hour Saturday classes in May. We were shocked to find out that we'll be finished with all of our training in less than a month! WOW! Once our training is completed, we will be assigned another case worker who will work with us on our actual home study and help us with yet another stack of paperwork. Now I think I know why God gave me the gift of organization and the patience for paperwork!

On a side note, life has been rather crazy for us. Michael's dad gave us a scare last week, when he had a heart attack. Thankfully, he did not have to any extensive surgery (like bypass) done, and they were able to repair the damage with angioplasty and a stint. It was so hard to be so far away during the crisis (as they live in CA) but we are so thankful for his quick recovery and that he is back home.

Last Friday, I had to have a last minute outpatient surgery done and what was supposed to be "simple/easy" did not turn out to be the case with me! I always seem to fall into the "2% of the people get...." I have always been a very slow healer and have difficulty with anesthesia. I was laid up in bed until Tuesday evening. I finally returned to work yesterday, in pain, but have been able to make it through the last 2 days at work. Michael did a very good job of taking care of me, the dog and the house, while I was in bed. I should have my test and biopsy results in 2 weeks and hopefully nothing serious will come of the result. But as in all things, God is a big God and is in control and we are so thankful for the ways that He continues to watch over us, take care of us, meet our needs and walk with us on this journey.

We both appreciate your prayers and support through all that we've been going through! Love you all ~

The FBI and Quest Diagnostics....

.....two places you don't typically want to spend your Saturday morning with, but Michael & I were happy to do so today.

We arrived at the testing facility to get our fingerprints electronically scanned by the FBI and it was actually quite facinating to have done. They scan all 4 fingers, then your thumb, on each hand. Then they go back and individually roll each finger from one side to the next to see all the "branches" of your prints and verify that each fingerprint still matches what was just previously submitted. After 14 prints and 1 photo, we were both on our way to completing the final 2 tasks of this part of our adoption process.

Then it was off to Quest Diagnostics to get our blood work done. I'm usually the one that phlebotomists don't like to work on ~ collapsed veins, hiding veins, running veins, rolling veins ~ you get the picture. I have learned through all my years of blood work, to tell them what they need to do. Do not attempt my arms ~ you will be unsuccessful. They usually argue with me and tell me that they're the best and they can find veins that no one else can. Today though, I did not have to have the fight. I told her that she just needed to draw the viles of blood from my hand with a butterfly needed. There was no need to check anywhere else. She said - ok. OK?! Really?! You mean you're actually going to listen to me? WOW! What a concept! I was thankful that although the needle in the hand is anything but pleasant, it sure does beat getting poked multiple times as the "best" search out the hiding vein. Michael has no issues with his veins, so in the end, we were in and out of there in no time.

So, that completes the 2 things left on our list for this stage of the adoption process. Now, I just have to mail all this paperwork to Dennis and then we'll get our schedule for PRIDE training. WHOO HOOO!

Now here's to enjoying the rest of our weekend....maybe we'll watch one of the 3 movies we have from Blockbuster!

Approved!

I was just finishing up the dishes from dinner, when my phone rang. I glanced over at the phone to see who might be calling. I didn't recognize the number and thought - ugh...my hands are all wet...I'll just let it go to voicemail...but something inside me told me to answer the call...so I did.

"Ms. Thompson?" the caller asked.
"This is she", I replied.
"Hi, this is Dennis with Lutheran Social Services...did I catch you eating dinner?"

We chit-chatted for a bit and he apologized for not calling me sooner. I had left him a message today, just to check and make sure that he had received our application packet that we mailed on Monday. I didn't really expect him to call me back, even if he did get the packet, since I knew that it would be at least a week before we'd hear from him.

He wanted to let me know that he did get the packet the very next day; that he actually had a few hours to review some paperwork that day (only because a meeting got cancelled) and that the first packet he went for "happened" to be ours. (I don't want to boast here - just want to share what he said.) He went on to say that he has never received such an organized, well put together application, with everything actually included, not needing to ask for us any additional information and biographies that were just amazing. I was just standing in the kitchen with my mouth wide open....Michael looking at me with wonderment, not knowing what was going on. He then said that he prayed over the paperwork and felt led by the Lord to bring us into the program. Not only are we accepted and in the program, but he wants to personally oversee our case because he really wanted to help us along the way and make this process as easy and quick for us. I just kept saying "thank you", "we're so excited", etc....actually, I'm not even sure what all I said.

We just have one last thing to make everything final (in this stage) and that's our fingerprinting with the FBI on Saturday morning. This will be our 3rd attempt to get this completed and WE WILL SUCCEED! Once those results are into the agency's office, we will be set up for training. Once training is completed, we will be assigned a case worker, who will then perform the home study on us, as well a whole new pile of paperwork. We are by no means "there yet" but we are one step closer tonight than we were this morning.

All glory be to God! Only God could give us the words to say in our biographies and reach out and touch Dennis' heart. Only God could have our paperwork show up on his desk, just when he had some free time. Only God could have us approved in less than 2 days after paperwork was received. We serve a BIG and AWESOME God! Michael & I are so thankful for all His blessings and how He continually reminds us of His handiwork in building our family.

Thanks so much to all of you for your friendship, encouragement, prayers and support. We love you all and will keep you posted along the journey!

The appointed time

"The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations” (Ps 33:11).

But I must be prepared to wait on God’s timing. His timing is precise, for He does things “at the very time” He has set. It is not for me to know His timing, and in fact I cannot know it – I must wait for it.

I was thinking of Abraham and Sarah this morning and thought - if God had told Abraham that he would have to wait thirty years before holding his promised child in his arms, his heart might have failed him. So God, as an act of His gracious love, hid from Abraham the number of weary years he would be required to wait. Only as the time was approaching did God reveal His promise: “At the appointed time next year….Sarah will have a son” (Gen 18:14).

This morning the Lord spoke to me ~ take heart, Courtney, when I require you to wait. I will not disappoint you. I will never be even five minutes behind “the appointed time”. And soon “your grief will turn to joy” (John 16:20)

Michael & I are now in the true stages of waiting. Our application packet (over 40 pages long) was mailed out to the Houston office on Monday - we FINALLY got it all together! Now, we just have to wait (again) to hear back from teh agency with the approval. Once approved, there are still plenty of steps left to complete as well as training. Interestingly enough, Dennis (our intial case worker) called me on Monday to follow up, since he hadn't received our package. We called him back and he was excited to hear that we had sent the packet in the mail that day. He told us that he had decided to keep us in the Houston office, versus the Woodlands office, due to the fact that the Woodlands office was down to just one case worker and his office has 7 case workers. He said that he felt strongly about keeping us with his group, as the process would move much more quickly and he really wanted to stay involved with us. That was very comforting to hear.

It's all about waiting, being patient, being still, and trusting in the Lord. It is completely out of our hands. We have done what we needed to do and we trust that the Lord will turn our grief into joy at just the appointed time!