I can't make this stuff up people...

God is good. Yep. 

Here's what happened - 

Tuesday night I was feeling super fearful... just that things wouldn't work out, that the birth certificate wouldn't come, and about the long day Wednesday was sure to be. I didn't tell Jacob how I was feeling... just sat there, worrying to myself about all the "what if's." We knew our final paperwork from the adoption agency couldn't be sent to the US government (don't worry - the shut down won't affect anything) until Belize sent Eric's birth certificate. So... I was freaking out a bit. 

Unbeknownst (big word, huh?) to me, the birth certificate was sitting in my email inbox the entire night... while I was busy being paranoid. Wednesday morning when I finally checked my email, my heart jumped for joy... I opened the attached birth certificate... and stared at the name printed on the line - the given name of our son:

Eric EMMANUEL Chi

Seriously, God? WOW! You should know... I absolutely LOVE names and the meanings they hold.  I told you here about how the name Eric means FOREVER.  And this middle name... the name Emmanuel... meaning "God with us." A holy slap in the face to my fear-stricken heart - Eric "forever" Emmanuel "God with us"... our son's name. 

I CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP PEOPLE!!! God is all over this! It's nuts. 

ALSO... on Wednesday, we got an email that said we are FINALLY able to call Eric!!!!!! YAY!! We can finally communicate with him! :) We tried calling the number last night... and had no luck. Oh, I can't wait to hear his voice... to say, "Eric, we are coming for you!"... to tell him we love him... to tell him about all of you - the people who love him and don't even know him... to tell him we can't wait for him to be home. To listen to him... to know him... to know his favorite color, to hear the stories of his life, to smile and laugh and cry with him!!!! Praying that someone picks up the phone this afternoon so that we can talk with our boy!!!! :) 

BUT even now... this early Friday morning... my heart is fearful and scared of the "what if's." I know... how? God has proved Himself so true and so faithful every step of the way.  Yes... I know, but I am so human and so prone to fear and doubt. I KNOW He is Sovereign. I just want our Eric here for Christmas. The facts of the process and the lengths of time some of those things can take send me into a whirlwind of unbelief. Here's what has to happen next:

Our i-800 (last big paperwork) was sent yesterday to the US government (USCIS) for approval.  This could take up to 5 weeks to get our approvals back. 

Then, that is sent to the US Embassy in Belize. The US Embassy then sends us an Article 5 letter (whatever that is...), which could take up to 3 weeks. 

THEN... they set court dates/travel dates for us to get our son! HOORAY! 

Praise the Lord we are talking in WEEKS now. Praise the Lord that our God is able to move mountains. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE join with us in praying that the paperwork is processed and approved quickly - that the i-800 takes LESS THAN 5 weeks. That the Article 5 letter takes LESS THAN 3 weeks. That court dates are set in December BEFORE the holidays so that days off don't conflict with getting our kiddo! I know He is ABLE! I know He is working on our behalf! Please pray with us that, as long as God's will allows it, this process would be the fastest its ever been. 

Also...

Here is a poem that one of our new friends (an adoptive momma herself) sent me as encouragement. The words of this are so true. In the waiting... He is constantly teaching and molding and equipping and loving us. It's long... but oh so good. And although I have hated many minutes of the WAIT... I would do it all over again because of the leaps and bounds it brought me with the Lord. 

Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .

And the Master so gently said, "Wait." 

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word. 

"My future and all to which I relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign. 

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,

As my Master replied again, "Wait."

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?" 

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."