God Answers Prayer....Again!

Got a call from the FBI today (so grateful they took the time to call!). My fingerprints were legible, they have been processed, and the clearance was mailed out yesterday! Thank you, Lord, for looking after us, and for answering our prayers! Psalm 106:1 "Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

God Answers Prayer

Immigration approval for our kids came today!  We praise the Lord that all requirements were met the first time around, and that paperwork is done!
A call to the FBI today went well as my fingerprints have been marked to process quicker than the usual 8 weeks. He said it could be a few days or a week or two but not 8 weeks!
Please still pray that they will be legible this time, and will be returned within a week so we can proceed with getting a travel date.
We thank you for your prayers and we are so grateful for God watching over us and moving things along!

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.

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!

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.

Which God prepared beforehand

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." It's been 8 days and we are still waiting for the corrected letter so we can send in the reports to immigration. Wow, what a test of patience and trust in the fact that God indeed has prepared the way before us, including these long days of waiting. Only He can see the road ahead and plan exactly for the best dates to travel to see our kids. In the meantime, His grace is sufficient!

Reports Completed

The kids' reports are ready to review and sign today! We are waiting for one letter to accompany the reports for the immigration approval, then we will send them in and wait 10 days for approval. After that, we will be ready to travel to Atlanta to obtain our special adoption visas, then we'll be headed to Colombia to meet our kids! Thanks for praying!