Welcome

We have been forever changed by experiencing a faith-filled journey that first brought us our sweet Caitlin, then an adoption that ended in disappointment, and now one that placed us in the NICU with a sweet little baby boy. Never would we have chosen the disappointment and grief of losing children we had come to love and now worrying about the health of our new little addition, but God's plan has been to forever leave His mark of grace, brokenness, and freedom to obey even when we don’t understand. To Him be the glory for what He has done, and is doing, and will do!

With love and gratefulness to our Heavenly Father who has adopted us into His forever family, and to you, our family and friends,

Robert, Carlene and Caitlin Belue

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Needing a miracle and knowing God can do anything!

  We've been thinking for awhile now that we've only got a month to travel; but, with 3 documents needing correction and longer processing times for U.S. immigration, that month hasn't gotten any shorter.
    Our fingerprint clearance cannot be older than 6 months at the time we appear in court in Colombia. They take 8 weeks (alnost on the dot) to get back. We had them done in Dec. so needed to send them in again in the spring, which we did. After 7 weeks, they were returned to us saying they were not clear enough to read. So, we sent in another set at the end of May. We just got back the notice saying that Robert's were clear enough (so he has clearance for another 6 months) but that mine were not, and need to be re-submitted (of, course with a separate fee involved and a wait of 8 more weeks).
The customer service at the FBI office said there was no way to expedite the fingerprint process because it's first-come, first-serve in the data base, and to expect the 8 weeks processing time once again.
So, we need a miracle! Please pray that my prints will be able to be processed in half the normal time, so as not to hold up travel once the other documents are complete!
 Although we are discouraged, we know without a doubt that God can do anything He pleases (no matter what the 'normal" processing times may be) and He continues to have His hand on every detail in this very long adoption, and on our kids who are having a hard time understanding why we are taking so long to come!
 We so appreciate your prayers for them, for encouragement for us, and for the financial needs still to be met (as we received 1 out of 3 grants applied for, so are a bit behind where we were expecting to be at this point).
We sure are grateful we have such great prayer support, and we know that God is doing a work beyond what we can see or imagine and He has the eternal perspective. 
A friend posted this recently: "Waiting times are not an excuse for spiritual laziness but a season for gaining His strength & seeking His wisdom for the days ahead, while continuing to proclaim His name!"  May we continue to proclaim His name while we wait! because He knows all things and can do all things, and has good things planned for those who love Him.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Psalm 68:6 "God sets the solitary in families." We are so excited and thankful that God is setting Laura, Oscar and Daniela in our family. This week, we hope to get back immigration approval for the three of them and receive our updated fingerprint clearances. Then, we can be assigned a travel date. We appreciate your prayers, especially for our kids who are getting anxious!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Time is in His hands

Psalms 66: 5,6 "Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land; they went through the river on foot." Two documents with mistakes were corrected two weeks ago, however one was still needing correction (by the way, it's my name misspelled Marlene) and it will be another two weeks on Monday waiting for that correction to be made. Although, it's hard to understand why changing one letter (literally) could take so long, we know that this time of waiting on something out of our control, is ultimately in the same hands that faithfully parted the Red Sea so long ago.