Feeling the Love in Paperwork!

So, we have been as busier as ever updating adoption paperwork because of our move, and also because our dossier (or huge packet of paperwork) has expired.  Once a document is two years old, it is no longer considered valid in Ethiopia.  That means birth certificates, marriage licenses... EVERYTHING... must be reordered, notarized again, and state sealed.  Imagine doing this for say... 22 different documents.  And that is just for the international side!

 

I really don't mind doing it, in fact I really like it in the beginning.  I feel as if I am doing SOMETHING to help the adoption process along.  Usually I am just sitting around waiting, so it helps a lot.  That is, until we have a paperwork issue that causing us to pay, repay, and redo a document several times.  I was  little perturbed, to say the least, about a few documents we had to redo for the fourth time!  But then it hit me.  Mike and I are not the only ones working diligently to help bring our baby home.  The nurses for our wonderful doctor, Dr. Caulfield, who have been so kind and so patient with me.  They have returned, I would estimate, 10 phone calls and have redid 5 medical letters without so much as a sigh of annoyance.  Rose Cooper, a new friend I have made at our new church, will be going with me to the medical clinic AGAIN to notarize a letter from my doctor.  Robbie Roberson, our accountant/notary/friend/past coworker, has notarized more than 35 documents for us FOR NO FEE!  Mike's coworkers at Winco Fireworks have overnighted documents to us that we have asked for and have went backwards and forwards to help with his employment letters... and the list goes on and on. 

 

I have never felt so loved and so cared for by so many people.   I hope to one day show my son the long list of names of friends, family, and strangers who helped to bring him home.

Update- Still Waiting!

Ok... so it has been over a year since I have posted on our blog, so here are a few bullet points to sum up our lives since then:

• We moved to Louisiana! 
• We bought a house!
• I changed jobs!
• Mike got a promotion!

There is a lot more that could be said in each of those bullet points, but if I tried to expand this post would be about 20 pages long!

I can say, however, that we are really enjoying our new lives in Lousiana.  Do I miss Hattiesburg?  Yes, yes I do.  The person who left Hattiesburg this past year is not the same one who moved there back in 2007.  I made some wonderful friendships there that I hope last a lifetime and met some people who dramatically changed my life.   I miss them all terribly and try to go back there as often as I can!

The move to Louisiana, however, has been a great one.  Within a few weeks of moving here we met a couple who is also adopting from Ethiopia and have become quick friends.  We have had to do quite a bit of adoption paperwork recently (because of the change of address and also because we have been waiting so long for a referral!) and the pain of waiting has become more raw.  Through this time I have realized that I have been neglecting my relationship with God because I was not wanting to acknowledge the painful feelings I had about the abscence of our baby, but He has been showing me that, even though I was ignoring His presence, He was always there.  We have such a wonderfully constant God who is so good and it humbles me to know that He too was waiting many many years to adopt me as His child, but I was not ready or willing to come to him.  Yet He was patient and ever ready to pull me close to Him when the timing was perfect.  Our baby is out there.  He is the son that God has chosen for our family.  If I tried to rush the timing, or make the timeline fit mine instead of God's, I may lose the opportunity to adopt the perfect son who was created for our family.  I am trying to reflect on this during my times of impatience and pain... that as my Savior waited to adopt me as his own, I will wait for my child as well... for as long as it takes.

Pitter Patter Art

One of the blogs I frequent (ie stalk) is Pitter Patter Art.  This wonderful family is currently waiting for their adoption referral as well.  Every month they have a art giveaway, check it ou by going to the link below:

http://pitterpatterart.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/10-months-waiting-art-giveaway/#comment-6156

Learning the Joy in Patience

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. ~Psalm 28:7

So, this happens everytime.  I try to go to our blog and instead of typing in thefleenerfamily.blogspot.com, I leave the the off.  Out there is another adorable couple that is also a "Fleener family" with the same blog address as us, without that pesky the.  No big deal, I give them a Fleener nod and go about my way.  Well today their post caught my eye....


28 Weeks and counting!  Only 12 more weeks to go:)

Oh the mixture of emotions I felt while looking at that title.  A few minutes before attempting to go to our blog, I was just sitting at my trusty ole computer looking at adoption blogs and forums and longing to be able to put a date on when we will get to meet our little one.  I admire families in the adoption process who post vacation photos of their family with signs that say "Waiting for YOU", but honestly, I am not strong enough to have the constant reminder that our baby is not here yet.  I praise God that through this time He has been by my side and given me the strength I need and the patience to endure.


I wish we could just skip all the uncomfortable trials, and tears, and waiting waiting waiting that has to occur between today and the day when I finally get to hold my sweet darling in my arms for the first time.  My heart breaks for the family that will go through heartache and loss for my gain and I pray that God will be given all the glory for whatever happens from this moment to "gotcha day." 

Until we meet, my son, know your mommy is praying for you and "Waiting for YOU"  from now until that unknown date that will be in God's perfect timing.

Peace That Transcends All Understanding

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22,23)

On June 20th I said goodbye to the most wonderful man I ever knew...

my papa, R.B. Patterson, Jr.

Papa taught me so much, but most of all he taught me unconditional love.  He loved our family with such passion and looked past all of our mistakes and flaws and somehow always saw the best parts of us. When I told him that Mike and I were adopting, he squeezed my hand, looked me in eyes, and told me "You are doing so good."  That is a moment I will never forget and will cherish for the rest of my life.

On June 20th I rejoiced knowing that one day I would see my beloved Papa again.  As I leaned down to kiss him one last time I felt the greatest peace, which transcended all understanding, come over me.   You are always in my thoughts, my prayers, and you will never be forgotten. 

Everyday is One Day Closer to You

This is something I have to keep reminding myself.... I want SO BADLY for our adoption to happen on MY timetable, but I have to realize that God is ultimately in control and that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  So these hiccups that are happening in the paperwork and the weeks that have passed without having control over the process are working together to bring us to our son at the exact moment that God has planned.

May your power be made perfect in my weakness!  I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me!

The neverending journey to recieve USCIS Approval!

So.... it has been exactly three weeks, 3 days and one hour and 15 minutes since we were fingerprinted at the immigration office.  But who is counting?

After several daily trips to the mailbox and what might constitute the stalking of our mailman...

we finally recieved a letter from immigration!!

Was it our approval?  No.  But that is ok, because it was SOMETHING!  I can now "control" the process of collecting a couple more documents and getting them sent in to complete the adjudication, as immigration calls it, of our documents.

So are we one step closer?  I would like to believe so.  There are several new policies and steps being added to the Ethiopian adoption process and I would rather us have to clear up paperwork issues on the front end, rather than in the middle or end.

Thank you family and thank you friends for your continued prayers for our growing family.  As you know, I am not always the most patient person and I know God is using these small "bumps" to help me grow closer to Him!  To God be the glory!