The Waiting Room

Perspective…… the Latin root of it is perspicere, to look through.

And although I have been busy, there has been much time to look through things and allow my perspective to change.

We had an appointment this week for our 3^rd set of finger prints. This was with the Department of Homeland Security. It was part of our quest to get our 797. The 797 is basically the last piece that we need to complete our dossier packet. And now we wait for it.

Someone asked this week how I am doing with the waiting. I guess they must know that waiting has not always been on strong suitJ I have been trying to voice how exactly I am doing. Yes, the waiting stinks, totally stinks. It is always hard to imagine there is a little girl waiting for her family to come get her. And sometimes you just want to scream let’s move a little bit quicker people.  But at the same time, this waiting process has been one that I have complete peace with. It might be because we are so busy with getting things done and working on the house, work has been keeping us busy or, because it is just because God has given me the peace that I need in this time.

I get a devotional every morning, it is the first thing that I read before I put my feet on the floor this morning. And I think it describes exactly what the Lord has been doing in my heart.

From the TGIS Devotional by Os Hillman.

"Be still and know that I am God...." Psalm 46:10

There is a time and place in our walk with God in which He sets us in a place of waiting. It is a place in which all past experiences are of no value. It is a time of such stillness that it can disturb the most faithful if we do not understand that He is the one who has brought us to this place for only a season. It is as if God has placed a wall around us. No new opportunities--simply inactivity.

During these times, God is calling us aside to fashion something new in us. It is an isolation chamber designed to call us to deeper roots of prayer and faith. It is not a comfortable place, especially for a task-driven workplace believer. Our nature cries out, "You must do something," while God is saying, "Be still and know that I am God." You know the signs that you have been brought into this chamber when He has removed many things from your life and you can't seem to change anything. Perhaps you are unemployed. Perhaps you are laid up with an illness.

Most religious people live a very planned and orchestrated life where they know almost everything that will happen. But for people in whom God is performing a deeper work, He brings them into a time of quietness that seems almost eerie. They cannot say what God is doing. They just know that He is doing a work that cannot be explained to themselves or to others.

Has God brought you to a place of being still? Be still and know that He really is God. When this happens, the chamber will open soon after. 

Soon after our dossier packet gets to China, we will be in another season of waiting. I hope that this peaks to you as well.

Love,

Jennifer

Quickly moving along.......

As I stated back in July, there were a few words that have come to mind during the adoption process. So I thought I would continue along those lines as I sit on the very same continent that my daughter is sitting on as we speak.

Preparation is defined as the action or process of making something ready for use or service or of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty.

Busy is defined as engaged in action.

These both seemed to fit well together as I make my way through China.

Our house is in preparation mode. I guess you could say as we begin to hit the “third trimester” of this paper pregnancy, we are nesting.  We are beginning to work on our daughters room. Making the necessary repairs for her arrival, taking down shelves, repairing a damaged ceiling everything short of painting and turning the room into a haven for a very special little girl.

We are also preparing our hearts. We are constantly anticipating the day that we get to find out who she is. We are already praying for her transition into this family, to America and to all those that are anxiously awaiting her arrival. We are preparing for the moments that will be filled with love, preparing for the moments that will require tender love as she learns to trust us, and the exhaustion we will go through as she is in our lives.

So as you can see, Busy and Preparation go hand in hand. Life for us is also very busy. At the same time we are doing all of our preparation, we are also working through a ton of paperwork. We are currently anxiously awaiting our appointment with the Department of Homeland Security (On the 24^th) to do our biometrics (aka finger prints). We were told this appointment could take up to 3 months to get and we were able to get ours in 3 weeks. During this time we are also preparing our Dossier packet. This is encompasses many, many hours of paperwork, our lives essentially written out for the Chinese government.

Currently we are working on getting our stamps from the state of Georgia and the state of New York and then all will go off to the Chinese consulate. Once that is all done we can begin to have things translated for the Chinese government. Once our biometrics are off, we can send everything off to China.

Simultaneously, our agency had begun to pour over all of the children that are waiting for a match to look for our daughter. They are trying to get a feel for what we are exactly looking for. But, we cannot be matched until we have a LID (Log In Date) from the Chinese government.

By all that is listed above, you can see that we are extremely busy getting ready. I am currently in China for work. Visiting our schools has always been a highlight of my job. It is also bitter sweet as I know that it will probably be a long time before I potentially come back to China for work. The next time I step foot on this soil, it will be to bring home a Bowden.

Much Love,

Jennifer