It totally made my day when I logged into my agency’s website and found that they just updated their waiting child list.
Status – Adoption Pending
That’s my girl!
Pilgrimage by Lynne Austin
When it showed up in the list of books available for review, I jumped on it. A nonfiction book by one of my favorite authors? I couldn’t wait to start reading it.
Pilgrimage is subtitled: My Journey to a Deeper Faith in the Land Where Jesus Walked. I was excited to see what Ms. Austin learned while spending time in the same places Jesus lived.
The book started off a bit slow but quickly became more interesting. Austin shares a very personal experience of how God spoke to her through her Bible reading, providing her with a text that was so applicable to her current situation that it seemed as if God Himself had written it in a letter addressed to her. When trying to determine if a trip to Israel was within God’s will for her life, she read the following text. “Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end” (Psalm 48, quoted on page 80).
When I read of this life experience, I felt reassured by God. When we were trying to determine if adoption is God’s plan for us, God placed a text in front of me that spoke just as clearly as in Austin’s prayer for direction. It was awe-inspiring to watch God work.
The book taught me a few facts that I did not know. For instance, in the chapter titled Holy Week, Austin talks about the different feasts and celebrations. She writes, “the Feast of Firstfruits is always celebrated on a Sunday, regardless of which day Passover and Unleavened Bread happen to fall. Since Passover is decided by the phases of the moon, the three feasts rarely occur on three consecutive days. But in God’s perfect timing, in the year that Christ was crucified, they did. Such precision helps me trust His timing in my own life” (page 150). God’s timing is always amazing!
In the chapter titled Galilee, Austin writes about the Great Commission. She writes, “we are supposed to go out into the world, not wait for the world to come to us, even if God has to turn our comfortable lives upside down to get us to do it. I’m told that in the original Greek language, the wording of Jesus’ Great Commission reads: “As you are going into the world… make disciples.” Jesus assumes that we will be going; His orders are to make disciples along the way” (pages 183-184). I don’t know Greek, so I cannot verify her interpretation, but it’s an interesting thought and one that I am still pondering.
There was one more section that really resonated with me, the chapter called Sabbath Rest. I am very honest about the fact that I am a Sabbath keeper. It’s a big part of my religious beliefs and I find the Sabbath incredibly important. While in Israel, Austin also had a realization of the importance of the Sabbath. She writes:
On the Sabbath we remember to rest on God, trusting Him for all of our practical needs such as our daily bread and for strength in our trials. The Sabbath helps us to remember to trust in God, trusting Him for our salvation, knowing that none of the work we do will ever gain us entrance into heaven. And it helps us to remember to rest for God, because when we organize our lives and our work around a special day to honor Him, He is glorified. Can you imagine what a witness we would be to a restless, exhausted world if Christians set apart the Sabbath as holy, making it different from our ordinary days?
Amen!
I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to read and review this book. Many thanks to Bethany House for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. All thoughts are my own.
An additional disclaimer – There are Amazon affiliate links in this post. Any money that I earn when you shop through my links goes toward buying things we need to prepare for our daughter’s arrival. Thanks!
Well, I’m not actually knitting for Thailand. I finished a knit project for a specific young lady in Thailand whom I have gotten to know through letters over the past year. I hope she likes what I’ve knit her.
Getting ready to start
Bruno watching over my knitting efforts
Blocking in progress
Bruno inspecting my blocking
Finished hat and scarf
Lace detail
I will be mailing these off tomorrow, along with a couple of pictures of me knitting them. I’m afraid to say that I’m too shy about being photographed and have not yet sent any pictures of myself to my sponsored kids. I do send them photos of other things, just not of me. But my Thai girl asked for a photo in her last letter so I’m sending her one. I guess it’s only fair, as I look forward to her upcoming photo update!
The sponsorship trip is in just a couple of weeks. I am so, so, so grateful to the sponsor who offered to deliver my gift. If it wasn’t for her, I’d never be able to send anything more than paper. And while studies have shown that the sponsored kids are most encouraged by the words we write, it’s a blessing to be allowed to send something I made and prayed over especially for her.
I’ve always been a big fan of New Years because I love writing resolutions. I love the feeling of starting a new year with new goals and aspirations. Over the past year, however, I’ve discovered that I need something more than New Year resolutions. While they are inspirational, if I don’t make a detailed plan of how I am going to accomplish each resolution, I fail. I forget. I get derailed.
This year I’m going to do something different. I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I’m going to focus on just two things.
Bring my daughter home.
Finish all of the half completed projects around the house before we travel to Taiwan.
That’s it.
I get excited about projects, work on them for awhile, and then neglect them. As a result, I have at least a half dozen projects in various states of completion. A homemaker’s schedule. Several knitting projects. Two quilts. A recipe book.
There are probably a few other things as well. Over the next week, I’m going to walk around my house and poke into all of the bags and notebooks to find out what has been started but not completed. When our daughter comes home, I probably won’t have time for personal projects. We will be spending all of our time and energy helping her learn what it’s like to live in a family, teaching her English, and determining her education level. I’m sure we’ll be busy.
Maybe, in a way, I do have a New Year’s resolution – to go to Taiwan without any loose ends plaguing me. As I have no idea when we’re traveling, I don’t know how much time I have to complete everything. It will be at least six months but hopefully less than a year. I’d better get busy!
It has been a long process for one approval.
10/8 – Mailed off our I-600A application.
10/11 – USCIS receives our application.
10/16 – We are logged into the system.
11/1 – We receive an RFE (request for further evidence).
11/5 – FBI fingerprinting!
11/14 – Mail off RFE paperwork.
12/17 – Discover Jeff’s birth year is incorrect on the home study.
12/18 – Home study is corrected.
12/19 – APPROVAL!! (We don’t know it yet)
12/27 – We receive verbal confirmation of approval.
12/30 – We receive approval in the mail.
Whew!
Today is a monumental day. First, we received the approval we need to progress with the dossier. And today marks exactly six months since we decided to adopt our girl. We can’t wait to officially become her mama and baba!
I was feeling very frustrated this afternoon that we still have not received the decision on our I600-A application. I know the officer told us that it would be 7-10 days before we received notice but I was really, really hoping to know before Christmas. Maybe it will arrive Thursday, as that would be one week after Jeff talked to the officer.
I’m having a hard time with the unknown. I keep reminding myself that God knows best. That His timing is working out perfectly so far so that we can pay all of the adoption fees as they come due. But it’s still hard to wait. I am such an impatient person.
Today I came across this quote:
Sometimes we see what God sees as “better” and it makes sense. Sometimes we don’t. The joy of God is that we don’t have to see it – we can just know that His is better. All the time. No matter what. For His is the eternal view with everlasting impact based in love. His love for me. –Casa de Alegria
I am grateful for the reminder and I pray for patience to wait on God. His way is better. His timing is better. I just have to trust Him.
We received a voicemail from the doctor’s office on Saturday afternoon that our medical clearances were ready to be picked up. Hallelujah! As soon as they opened this morning, I was in their office picking up our precious forms. My favorite line:
Is the adoption applicant’s state of health suitable for raising a child? Yes!
And that assurance is signed and notarized. Woohoo!
The last big piece of paperwork needed before dossier submission is the I171-H approval, which gives us authorization to bring a child into the United States. When Jeff talked to USCIS last Thursday, they said we should have the decision in the mail sometime this week. We hoped it would arrive today. I stalked the mailbox. But no approval today. Maybe tomorrow?
We’ve been waiting for this immigration approval since the beginning of October and it has been nerve-wracking. We feel that it’s the last approval that judges us as potential parents. Everything after this point is just paperwork, just formalities. We have been scrutinized under a microscope and the immigration approval gives that final vote of approval that we need.
A friend has reminded us that it WILL come because God has had His hand all over our adoption process thus far. I’m still asking God to help grow my faith!
It has been a roller coaster week. I’m so glad that the Sabbath is almost here!
1 – We flew down to Phoenix for my husband’s annual company holiday party. It was great to see some of the coworkers and to see the boss face to face. Hubby is very blessed to have his boss. He’s a great boss but he has also provided a personal reference letter for our adoption and has been fully supportive of the adoption, giving time off as needed for extra doctor appointments, seeing the notary, etc.
2 – While in Phoenix, I was able to spend two days with my mom. We had fun playing games and hanging out. My mom and I keep in contact frequently via text and phone but it was nice to see her in person! This trip is probably our last before we travel to Taiwan sometime in 2014.
3 – I visited an eye specialist this week, as my optometrist found a concerning growth on my eye. She referred me to the specialist, who diagnosed it as a Salzman’s nodule. He said that surgery might be an option in the future but for now we have nothing to worry about and can just monitor it. I need to make sure to visit my optometrist regularly so that she can keep an eye on it, no pun intended.
4 – We had a flurry of emails and phone calls between our social worker, our agency, and USCIS. Apparently, even though we read it twice, we missed a typo on the first page of our home study. According to our home study, my husband is actually two years older than his real age! Oops. We’re grateful the mistake was caught now instead of by a Taiwan judge, but it held up our USCIS application. According to the last update call, we should be receiving the final decision in the mail sometime next week.
5 – In addition to the eye specialist, we also visited a regular M.D. this week to fill out our medical clearances. After a long doctor’s visit and two blood draws, we were deemed healthy enough to adopt. The doctor asked that I type up the form for him so that it wouldn’t be rejected due to illegible handwriting. I dropped off the forms this afternoon and he’s going to sign and notarize them this weekend.
6 – Phew. No wonder my husband ended up sick. It was a stressful week! Not all bad stress, but stressful. Now he’s out with a cold and fever and I’m praying that I don’t get sick as well. I hope he feels better soon!
Next week is Christmas and I pray we receive our completed medical clearances and USCIS approval before Tuesday afternoon. That would be a great Christmas present!
Even though we can’t celebrate with her, we wanted to celebrate our future daughter’s birthday.
Happy birthday, dear one! We hope to celebrate with you next year!
Every month, Bethany House sends out an email to book addicts like me. This email contains a list of titles that are available to read and review. I love books and I love free books even more.
I chose How to Talk to a Skeptic
Last year, a gentleman emailed me after coming across my blog and seeing that I’m a Christian. His intent was to convince Christians one by one that God doesn’t exist. We chatted via email for about a year, discussing topics like the reliability of the Bible, the character of God, the age of the earth, whether miracles really occur, etc. It didn’t take me long to realize that even though I knew way more about the Bible than my correspondent, he was better able to form coherent thoughts and arguments. I felt like a failure because I couldn’t explain why I believe God exists, why I trust the Bible, and why I believe God is love.
How to Talk to a Skeptic
Well, it’s definitely not a book to be read lightly if the reader is not already familiar with apologetics (and this reader is not). Johnson starts off with some remarkable advice: listen! Instead of jumping in to defend your faith or your beliefs, start asking questions. Find out what the other person believes and why. “Specifically, you want to find out first what is his own worldview, and second, what he understands to be the Christian worldview” (46). By doing so, you will not waste time trying to convince someone of something he or she already believes. Also, and more importantly, it lets the other person know that you actually care about him or her as a person and are interested in what he or she believes.
Unfortunately, I cannot compare this book to others on apologetics. It’s not a topic I am familiar with; this is my first introduction to apologetics. I do believe that How to Talk to a Skeptic
Many thanks to Bethany House for providing this book in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts are my own!