He gives us Beauty for Ashes....

I don't even know where to begin...

The past month has been full of extreme highs and monumental lows...there will come a day when I am able to share it all, when I'm able to gather all of my thoughts enough to put it into words, but for now let's just focus on the positive because there's a lot of that going on too! Praise God for working all things for good. He is bigger than anything we can face...I can guarantee you that!

After over 100 days, our home study is FINALLY complete! The entire process has been a bit challenging to put it lightly. We are just focusing on the fact that it is behind us now! They are overnighting it to us and it will be in our hands tomorrow! What a great feeling that is.

So, here we go...Hold on...this is going to get confusing! :)

So, remember a while back I told you that Sarah, our placement agency social worker, resigned???

She was replaced by a new social worker. In that time, there were problems and lots of inconsistencies. We know how hard this transition must have been for the new girl. In fact, I'm grateful for the opportunity I had on Friday to tell her we were praying for her, we knew how overwhelmed she must be and she had our promise of patience in this transition. She said she was grateful for the encouraging words. I'm especially glad for that conversation now because she is no longer working with our agency.

Let me further explain.....So, I know I haven't posted a lot lately and like I said, it's for good reason, I assure you. I will eventually share it all. I promise. We were just laying low, but I finally felt like this week was time to get back to reality and back into some sense of a routine. So....On Monday, I called the office to speak to our new social worker. They informed me that "she is no longer with us".

SAY WHAT????? WHAT NOW????

I was then informed that my sweet friend SARAH IS BACK. She has graciously agreed to fill the gap while our agency finds a replacement. You see, Sarah doesn't look at this like it's just a job. She understands this is about building families. There are little lives at stake here and she just "gets it". It was literally music to my ears to hear those three words! In a matter of 24 hours we were back on course!

It is crystal clear to me that OUR GREAT GOD has been working! I've said it before, but now I believe it even more...His timing is perfection!! While I would have preferred not to have to endure all of the ups and downs of the last month, ultimately we had JOY to occupy our hearts and minds. God gave us JOY. It could have been different. We could've had anxiety and worry to fill that time, and knowing me, you know there was a little of that too, but more than that there was JOY....INDESCRIBABLE JOY! And now....like no one else can do, God has reminded us to continue to walk in faith, JUST ONE DAY AT A TIME....TRUSTING HIM!!! More to come later....

Now onto our I-800A.....