Verse 1: Lord I come, I confess Bowing here I find my rest Without You I fall apart You're the one that guides my heart Chorus: Lord, I need You, oh I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You Verse 2: Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are And where You are Lord I am free Holiness is Christ in me Bridge: So teach my song to rise to You When temptation comes my way And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You Jesus, You're my hope and stay
Our I-800 was approved by USCIS on Thursday, March 28 and we received the hard copy two days later on Saturday. This allows us to classify Caylie as an immediate relative. So thankful that there were no delays with that process, and I appreciate the kindness and helpful attitude of our officer both times we have dealt with USCIS. Our file has been sent to the National Visa Center, and once we are approved by them, they will send our information to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. We are on the final steps, friends. It will still be a few more weeks, but right now we are planning to meet our daughter toward the end of May! And since it's finally April, I can say NEXT MONTH we will have our Caylie JiuChang with us!
Yesterday as we celebrated Easter and our Risen Savior, I couldn't help but think about NEXT year. Next Easter Caylie will have been home close to a year and will know about Jesus! I can't wait to begin to teach her how much He loves her and to share to joy of this day with my little girl. God is orchestrating awesome things, and making all things new. Adoption begins with loss and grief, but it is a story of REDEMPTION and HOPE.
Please pray for Jim and me, as we come closer to The Day. We ask our Father every day to grow an uncommon love for Caylie in our hearts before we even meet her. We know that by His Spirit, that love will grow, and IS growing! How could we even do this without Him?? So grateful for His Spirit and His Word that work things that seem impossible to the world. He is so good! Please also pray that we will have wisdom in parenting and teaching our daughter who is coming from a hard place that we cannot understand. We need Him to direct us at every turn and to give us compassion and understanding for our sweet girl. Thank you, friends.
Please pray also that we would trust without wavering about the finances for our adoption and for our travel. God has blessed us to very much already - many thanks again to those who have helped us financially! - and we know He will be faithful to the end! We also need prayers for wisdom in finding the best flights and hotels. We know our Father will guide us in all of these things. This was HIS idea afterall! I don't need to worry!
Friends, we can see the end. (Which is really The Beginning!) With the steps that have yet to be taken, it looks like we will be able to travel to China in late May or early June. Right now we are awaiting approval from USCIS for our I-800 application. We were approved previously to adopt one child and bring them into this country; now we will be approved to adopt our specific child and bring her into this country! This process should take around three weeks. After our I-800 is approved by USCIS, they will send our information to the National Visa Center. The NVC will enter our information into their system and then send our file to the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou, China when our petition is approved. At that time our agency's in-China rep will carry our hard-copy documents to the embassy, as well. The consulate will ensure that everything is in order and will issue our Article 5 letter. The in-China rep will then take the Article 5 to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) and we will wait for them to issue our Travel Approval! Clear as mud? Yeah, it's taken me awhile to understand it all, too. And mostly I just smile and nod and do what I'm told! But we're getting there! Please pray with us that these things will be done without any unnecessary delay. We know that our sovereign God has orchestrated this journey, and He has planned the exact day for us to meet our daughter. In the meantime, our agency is making another visit to the orphanage in a couple of weeks. We have sent another care package to be given to Caylie, and can't wait for her to receive it. I included another photo album with pictures of our family and things around our house, complete with Mandarin labels! (Haha . . . I used Google Translate, so I hope they make sense!) We are planning on having new photos and video from this visit, as well! We are so grateful that God pointed us to our agency (link is at the top right of the blog). They have been wonderful.
Friends, I want to share with you a couple of VIDEOS that we were given of Caylie back in November after our agency's visit to the orphanage. I was not allowed to post them here until we had LOA, but now here they are! I'm putting the post back in November where it belongs, so please click here to see our cutie girl!
That's right. Our agency received our Letter of Acceptance from China today!! This is an amazing story, friends, because today is Day 35 of our LOA wait. Day Thirty-Five.
You see, I've had this number in my head that I've been praying about for awhile. I didn't tell anyone about this number, not even my husband. The number is 35. It came to my mind back in January when our dossier was sent to China. It came to my mind again when we received our Log-In Date in early February. It was a miracle number, because people rarely ever get LOA in thirty-five days. Usually it's 60-80 days and many times much longer than that. So for us to be LOA in 35 days would have to totally be a God thing.
I didn't know if 35 was just a number in my own head (wishful thinking), or if God had given me that number. But I kept praying for it, knowing that our God - who is Creator and Sustainer of this universe, and Whose heart is for the orphan - can do anything. And yet resting in the fact that He has The Day we will meet our daughter planned out, and that day will not be a day too late.
I knew all last week that today - Monday, March 11 - would be Day 35. I hoped and I prayed, but I didn't know for sure. But today - Day 35 - I got the call. We are LOA.
Some of you may recognize this song from the movie "Fireproof", which is about marriage. However, it's a song with an all-purpose message! God gave me this song last summer when we had just begun our adoption process, and I knew it would be posting it here eventually. So far we have been waiting to bring Caylie home for over 7 1/2 months. We received her file from our agency on July 18, 2012. Although we don't know the day that we will finally hold our sweet girl in our arms, God does know, and that day will not be a day too late!
In the mean time, we want to be faithful to keep our eyes on Jesus as we wait for that day. God is not - and never is - in waiting mode. He's never wondering what to do because things are not progressing as He planned. He's never wringing His hands and saying "Oh dear. What will the Altmans do now?" His plans stand firm! He is Creator and Sustainer of his universe! Why would I ever doubt His sovereignty or worry about things happening in "my" timing??
We so want and need to WORSHIP Him while we are waiting. We want and need to SERVE HIM while we are waiting. We will run the race, even while we wait.
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord And I am hopeful I'm waiting on You, Lord Though it is painful But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident Takeing every step in obedience While I'm waiting I will serve You While I'm waiting I will worship While I'm waiting I will not faint I'll be running the race Even while I wait
I'm waiting I'm waiting on You, Lord And I am peaceful I'm waiting on You, Lord Though it's not easy But faithfully, I will wait Yes, I will wait I will serve You while I'm waiting I will worship while I'm waiting I will serve You while I'm waiting I will worship while I'm waiting I will serve you while I'm waiting I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord
Keelan Josiah is 14 today! We love you, Keelan, and we're so proud of you!
Josiah became king of Israel at only 8 years old and always did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, never turning to the right or to the left. That has always been our prayer for our son.
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