"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life." ~Proverbs 13:12
For those of you who do not know, I work for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. The "C" in YMCA actually stands for Christian which means that I get to freely live out my faith on a daily basis at work. Having worked in non-Christian environments before, I cannot even begin to express how meaningful it is to work at a place where we have devotions and prayer at the beginning of most meetings. This verse about hope came from the devotion in a meeting I had this morning. Needless to say, it bowled me over.
In all of these of years of waiting and longing for parenthood, I had not heard this verse before. I am not sure I can accurately describe the instant rush of emotion that I felt when I first read it. It is just truly beautiful. I think that the best way to describe it is that I felt like God was saying "I understand what you feel." I know on the most basic level of my faith that He, of course, knows what we feel--after all we are created in His image. But this verse felt personal. I can't remember a time when I have ever waited for something for so long, and for there to be a verse in the Bible that describes what long periods of waiting does to your heart is just...so comforting. I don't know why I am so surprised that such comfort and empathy exists in the Word, but I am glad I was reminded of it today.
On a side note, and going back meetings and the Y, the joke at our branch is that the "M" stands for "Meetings" since all we seem to do is go from meeting to meeting.
Hope you all are doing well!
Our Sons - Muy Guapo!
Samuel, 7 years old
Daniel, 5 years old
Luis, 5 years old
Other Adoption Journeys
Important Dates
- August 7, 2008: HOMECOMING!!! The boys are now officially U.S. citizens!
- August 4, 2008: Embassy visit to apply for the boys' visas. This was a lot of waiting, but pretty much straightforward.
- July 31, 2008: Fly to Bogotá. Meet with the embassy doctor.
- July 24, 2008: Sentencia! We are officially a family in the eyes of the Colombian government. The boys now have the last name Eisenberger-Woods!
- July 16, 2008: Integration Meeting at ICBF. This was a blur of meeting with a ton of questions that were answered. Now the legal process begins and we do nothing but enjoy the boys while we await Sentencia.
- July 11, 2008: Meeting with the psychologist from ICBF. She came by the hotel to check in and see if we have any initial questions that we need answers to (of course we do!) She also wanted to see how the boys were doing in their new environment.
- July 9, 2008: Presentation Day. What a beautiful, exhausting day it has been.
- July 8, 2008: Fly to Pereira. Get settled in to our hotel and pray for a good night's sleep.
- July 5, 2008: Travel to Bogota. Spend a couple of days sightseeing and then off to Pereira.
- June 20, 2008: Plane tickets purchased, but we couldn't get the exact dates we wanted, so we are traveling on July 5 instead.
- June 19, 2008: We got our official travel dates! July 7 we fly to Bogota, July 8 we fly to Pereira, and July 9 we meet our sons!
- June 11, 2008: The English version of the paperwork arrived in our inboxes! It is amazing to read about our hijos!
- June 9, 2008: The Spanish paperwork arrived on our doorstep at 8:11 AM. We are making our way through it. The translated version is due to arrive some time later this week.
- May 14, 2008: Sarah called to let us know that ICBF has 3 boys for us and that they will have more information for us in the next few days!
- March 8, 2008: Sarah, our caseworker, asked us to update some of our paperwork because they think we will be getting our referral within a month from Pereira.
- November 26, 2007: ICBF has sent our dossier to the city of Pereira to look for a match for us.
- November 15, 2007: Colombia has approved us to adopt 3 children under the age of 6!!!
- September 24, 2007: Approval received!!! It is dated August 16, so we have been on the list for about 5 weeks.
- May 11, 2007: Dossier translation complete and submitted to ICBF for approval
- April 23, 2007: Dossier shipped to Colombia
- Apri 18, 2007: Dossier sent to Commonwealth Adoptions International
5 comments:
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my site, it is about the CresceNet, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . A hug.
Hi! Saw that you are from Charlotte. We moved down to Atlanta 2 years ago from Charlotte. If you haven't already found them there is a good Colombian restaurant on South Blvd and a Colombian Bakery and a grocery store also on South but south of the interstate. If you don't know where they are let me know and I'll ask my husband exactly where they are.
Good luck to you. Looking forward to following your story. Our blog is http://andreslaura.wordpress.com.
Laura
Just found your site and wanted to say hello. We just returned from Colombia a few weeks ago and are happy to see others adopting sibling groups. We're blessed beyond belief with our kiddos! Best of luck to you! My gut instinct says you're probably not looking at much more of a wait before you get the referral! Good luck and we'll be popping back in checking your progress. Our blog is at http://halfaskyaway.blogspot.com
Warmest Wishes and May God Bless,
Genece & Rick
Hi, I have just seen your site and it is so exciting to see other people adopting siblings! We are in Florence AL, and our paperwork was approved and is in the region of Boyaca. If you don't mind I would love to add your site to our blog. www.theboyachekadventures.blogspot.com
God Bless,
Jaime
The Y is such a great place to be during a time like this. It is so full of hope. You are always in my prayers:) Miss you very much.
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