NOC approval!!! Woo Hoo!

Great news!!! We got our NOC approval!! In faster than anticipated time! We received news this past Friday that the central adoption processing center of India had received our paperwork and issued our No Objection Certificate for our case. Our case has been sent back to the local courts in Calcutta and will go before the judge this coming week sometime. What this means is that it is in the last two steps of the final process. They will check over our paperwork (typical time frame six weeks) and then once that is done start guardianship hearings (2-3 months typical waiting time for this step.) Once guardianship is granted, we are notified we can make our travel plans. We recognize the average waiting time for this process, but we also recognize we do not serve an average, typical kind of God. I am praying specifically for God to do immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine. He is not limited in anyway by the legal system or our rules. I am trusting his timing because I know there is purpose in EVERYTHING He does, but I am asking for miraculous intervention and quicker than imaginable time for the proceedings. Thanks for all your prayers and please keep it up!!! I am also going to attempt to go to a conference in September on starting an orphan care ministry in our church. I can't wait to bring my daughter home and am very committed to that, but there are so many more that need homes, love and to hear the message of the gospel. I long to see them find homes and truth as well. Will keep everyone posted!!!

Health and case status...

Got some info about Mia's growth and development....she is now up to a little over 11 pounds and is close to 26 inches in length. She is on all fours doing the precrawl rocking thing. She sits propped up on her hands and is smiling socially now. We did also find out that she has a benign growth on her lip that will go away as she gets older. Other than that, she is doing well! We also found out about a second step in addition to the NOC that has to be issued and that is after the NOC approval, our case is then sent to the courts where gaurdianship will be granted to us. It is at this time we will be notified that we are free to travel and pick Mia up. It is excited to think that we are on somewhat of a countdown, but at the same time, I am also weary. It makes it hard for me to immerse myself in preparation, even though I know there are some more books I need to read before we go. I really can't think of a better word than just emotionally weary. For those of you who are keeping up in prayer, that is a definite need. Strength and perseverance so that there will be fruit from this time of waiting, not just tolerance of the wait. We do still need to sell about twenty or so more shirts, but are currently out of women's fitted. We have regular style t-shirts and we have men's fitted. We really don't want to order more unless we know we are going to sell them. I have been given an opportunity to sell my dresses in November at a bazaar for a local elementary. I have a handful made but am planning on making more. I am also trying to get what I have now up on Etsy, an online site where home made goods can be sold or bought. That's all the news I have for now!!!

Got new pictures and update should follow soon...

We received new pictures today of our girl, and were told an update should follow shortly on her growth and progress. We are officially still just waiting on the courts in India to okay all our paperwork and to issue the no objection certificate (NOC). Still praying for a quicker than normal time frame on this. Will update as we know. The waiting is much harder than I anticipated. I had a rough weekend last weekend...very emotional. I know God has purpose in the waiting, although that feels like words right now. Hopefully half of Calcutta is somehow miraculously coming to Jesus as we speak as a result of our waiting :-) One can always hope.

Wait, wait, wait

Well, this part is going slower than I had hoped, although we were warned it could take this long. Right now, the agency is telling us to expect to not be able to go for another six months. This is not what I want to hear, of course. We are praying for miraculous intervention to expedite the process. Waiting for our paperwork to be sent to CARA, the organization in India which will issue our no objection certificate (NOC) which is our green light. This should happen soon, but the NOC may take a while, thus the six months waiting. Thanks for your prayers, and we still need to sell the rest of our T-shirts. We are out of the women's but have plenty of the regular T-shirts and mens fitted sizes left.

Approval granted

Yay! We heard back from our agency and the approval was granted. I guess the next step is confirmation that the Visa center received our paperwork, then the embassy in New Dehli, then the orphanage communicates with the visa center there and sends paperwork to them, and then we wait on a NOC (no objection certificate). Don't really know how long all of this will take. Our job is to wait patiently. Please pray with us for the okay to travel by September. October is not an option as that is when the government offices close down for month-long holidays. I have great peace knowing Father is absolutely in control. In the meantime, we are enjoying our summer, swimming, spending time with friends, and getting ready for vacation. Great time of year to need to pass the time. Will keep everyone updated. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Providence bears with the rules of men...

This was a lyric from the sweet sweet song our friend wrote and sang for us at the benefit concert recently and it won't stop rolling around in my head. We are currently living this line out in that we were informed by immigration that there were a couple of documents they still needed in order to permit us to classify Mia as our daughter. I don't' understand all of it, but from my conversation with our case manager, I am getting that there are many bugs in this process due to the newness of the Hague thing that happened and that at least one of the documents they are asking for is not available to our agency to send until we are in the country, I think. At any rate, news like this is not what you want to hear, but I still know God is in control. I am just ready to get my daughter. It seems so silly. She needs a family, we are a family, we want her, so why does it take so long to just pick her up? I know God is totally in control, I am just ready to go :-)

In awe...

In Judges 7, Gideon was charged with taking the Isrealites to war with the Midianites. The most memorable part of this story to me was when God on several occasions began to tell Gideon that he needed to shave the number of people he had in his army down. It was too large. Gideon started in the tens of thousands and eventually ended up with 300 men. They were grossly outnumbered, yet this was God's number. God led them into battle and they defeated their enemies. Of course, God's reason was so that Isreal could not boast that her own strength saved her, so she would know that it was her God that did it. This is how I feel about the last few weeks as we have journeyed through raising funds and stepping out to do all we have set out to do. There was a remarkably low number of people that turned out for the concert, especially considering all the promotion we did, however, among those who numbered less than a hundred, we were able to raise over 6000 dollars. That is God. Short and simple. I just finished reading the book "The Shack" (I know quotes are not grammatically correct here, just can't get italics to work :-)) and have started " Crazy Love" and the thing I am so struck by in both of these is the fact that God truly is the center of the story. Always. It is all about Him and He is the one with the power that makes all things glorious and He is the only one worthy to be the center of the story. I have heard this so many times, but having walked through the last few weeks, seeing my lack of ability to accomplish what has been accomplished, and to see the overwhelming and unlikely response generated from our efforts, this truth is very much embedded in the depths of my soul in a way that it was merely a thought before. Though there are parts of our flesh that resist this, many times, I am finding a huge sense of relief in the gravity of this truth. If He really is the center (which no doubt he is), and all things are working together by his hand in order that more of Him may be revealed through our little stories, then really there are no limits to what He will do for the glory of His name. And the amazing thing is, we are found, within His story right in the middle of His love. Adoption is not my mission. Unveiling Him and his heart is my mission. Adoption is just the platform for which he is revealing his Papa heart in the midst of my life in this moment. It is easy to oversimplify here as there are many more emotions that play into this, but this truly is the core of what we are doing and why. It should always be. What joy there is in this! What freedom! He will finish what he set out to do, and it will be glorious in that if it is a reflection of him, how could it be anything less. I am not the center, Mia is not the center, this adoption is not the center. He is the center. Gaze into the scene unfolding before you. As He works through the details observe his hand and his heart. He wants to challenge all of us to let Him do greater things in our lives. Things we can't accomplish, not by even a long shot, on our own. Things not humanly possible. Let him grow your faith in him. What unspeakable desires do you have in the depths of your soul? What things that you know are impossible for you to accomplish, yet you can't shake the feeling that they are callings, things that seem He is leading you into? I would venture to say, the closer you get to these places these desires, the closer you are getting to His will for you. I believe this with all my heart. These last few weeks have not been hard. They have been joy. I am tired, don't get me wrong, but I have not been stressed or worried. I have truly felt peace and a leading like I have never known. I am so in love with the God I serve. I am anxious to hear of the stirrings he will do in and through this in the hearts of others. He can't move in ways like He is moving now and it not stir what is in the souls of His children who watch. I can't wait to watch with you, as I feel as much like a spectator in all of this as you do, I just have a really good seat.