Cleared!!!! What a beautiful word!!

It still doesn't seem real, but that was the word I read as I opened my eyes at 6:00 am this morning and picked up my cell phone to see if by chance today was going to be the day.... TODAY WAS THE DAY!!
I spent the morning getting our flights scheduled for a quick departure (like 2 days from now quick!) and trying to wrap my head around what needs to happen in the next 48 hours. The girls were thrilled to hear we had cleared and that the wait is really almost over. One week from tomorrow, we officially begin life in the Jones home as a family of 5.

These past 3 weeks have been the hardest by far but God brought us through it. We really had to lean into him and into his promises because quite honestly, how else could we keep perspective after such a long journey. We have felt so loved and supported by our family and friends. We really are truly blessed.

We will keep the blog updated as we can from Ethiopia.... 3 nights in country makes for a quick trip! Please pray for Jeremiah's heart and mind as he is about to experience quite a transition. Perhaps upheaval is really a better word. We know God has all of it, the good and the hard, in his control and for that, we are so grateful.

Silence....

In today's faced paced world, full of noise, silence can often be something that is rarely heard and yet very welcomed. However, silence from the US embassy in our situation is not something we have welcomed in the least. It has been 18 days since we were submitted to the US embassy, therefore it is has been 18 days of living on the edge of our seats. All we have heard from the embassy is that they wanted the phone number of the police officer who did all the investigating of Jeremiah's case. Our agency provided that the following day (August 28th) as well as a taped interview of the police officer. We had hoped that after watching the video and making the call to the officer that we would receive immediate clearance. Easy right? Yes, it could be that easy but not in our case. We do not know if they have called the officer yet, or if they have called, have they been able to get him on the phone. Things in Ethiopia are different than here in America, so perhaps it is not as easy as we think it is to get someone on the phone when you need them. Another factor that might have contributed to the delay is that the prime minister of Ethiopia died almost 3 weeks ago. Last week was the final week of mourning and his funeral. There is some speculation that this has caused a slow down in getting things done in a timely manner.  

Waiting at this stage of the adoption has proved to be the most difficult. Jeremiah is legally our son.  If we were in Ethiopia right now, he could be staying at the Guest House with us.  Many of Jeremiah's little friends are beginning to leave to go home to their forever families. Our bags are halfway packed and we are keeping our calendars cleared. We say "no" to commitments that we would usually say yes to because we so not know if we will be here a week from now.  We are ready to bring him home yet we cannot do that until the embassy says "you are clear".  We have had delays at every stage of this entire process and were hoping for a break on this one but once again, we are faced with delays. There are people who clear embassy in the first week and there are times when it can take a few months.  So, according to our agency, we are still within the normal range. For some reason, that doesn't really bring us much comfort.  Our patience has been tested and continues to be tested. We have been stretched.  It is easy to focus on the numbers...

 

 ~ 675 days since our paperwork was mailed to Ethiopia

  ~193 days since we saw his face for the first time in an email

 ~ 110 days since we said good bye to him in Ethiopia

 ~ 58 days since we FINALLY passed court

 ~ 18 days since we were submitted to embassy

While those numbers can increase our frustration, these facts can easily send us over the edge....

~There are multiple families who met their children in June for their court trip and have already cleared embassy and brought them home. 

~There are already a handful of families who traveled at the beginning of August for court who have already been submitted to embassy- 1 week after we were. 

That is how this works.  There is no timeline that they can give you and obviously there are no guarantees that we will will have him home by any set date. Each case is different and therefore we begin another week of waiting. 

However, while we wait, we keep reminding ourselves that God has a better plan than we do and therefore we have to trust him. Someone sent me a great quote this week from Charles Spurgeon....

"although we cannot see, it is always safe to trust the God who sees all" 

God knows we are ready to go. He knows our hearts are aching and that we are very weary of the waiting.  So we will ask him to help us to endure however many more days we have to wait. We know he will sustain us. 

Into the hands of the US Embassy!!!

Yes, it is true.... WE WERE OFFICIALLY SUBMITTED TO THE US EMBASSY TODAY!!
We are praising him that it was today and not next week because we are more than ready to go get Jeremiah and bring him home. A major praise of this whole thing is that as I have said before, they only submit paperwork on Wednesdays to the US Embassy. One of the items that has to be submitted is a medical report.  Jeremiah's medical report wasn't completed but was to be delivered this Thursday. However, since it was coming on Thursday, the US Embassy allowed our paperwork to be submitted today instead of having to wait another week. WOW! Given how things have gone so far with all the delays, you can see how we were surprised that they didn't make us wait until next week!


So, now we hope and pray that the embassy looks at our paperwork, wants no more information, and gives us clearance to come and get him within the next 2 weeks. Could it take longer? Of course it could! If they want more information, it would take longer to process the information and then give us clearance but we are praying that they have all they need.

One step closer on this very long journey.... we are thankful to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

God is always on time. God is sovereign over all the details. God knows the perfect time to bring Jeremiah home and will do it according to His perfect will.

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, and Happy Birthday!

Yes, we have a lot to celebrate this week! Mallory turned 11 on August 2nd, Jeremiah's birthday is TODAY, and Courtney turns 8 on the 5th! WHEW!  We so wish we could celebrate with him this year but that was not part of the plan. We will celebrate big next year! Tony's sweet grandmother (age 90!) sent Jeremiah his first birthday card ever. Too, too sweet!

Today marks 3 weeks post passing court. It really has flown by since we have been enjoying the last part of our summer and preparing for birthday fun. We received an email from our agency today telling us that that think we will be submitted to the U.S. embassy on either the 22nd or the 29th. (paperwork can only be submitted on Wednesdays) So, once we are submitted, we should find out within 10 days what the embassy will do next. They will either clear us without further action or they will request more information. While we still do not know the exact time we can go, we know we are getting closer and that it will most likely be early September!

We had a great reminder this morning that God is truly in the details....
Tony has a daily bible verse subscription that he receives via email. While I was out running today he forwarded it to me. you'll never guess what verse it was.....

Daily Bible (@The_Gospels) 8/3/12 7:54 AM For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you & not to harm you, plans to give you hope & a future. -Jer 29:11 What a perfect reminder on Jeremiah's birthday that God has all of this in the palm of his hands and that He loves Jeremiah more than we do! Happy Birthday to Jeremiah Jones!

July 13,2012

Today is a day we will remember for a long time. It is the day that that we officially became a family of 5. It is the day that we heard the news that we finally passed court... Oh what a glorious day!!

We got the call bright and early (7am) but unfortunately Tony had left to have breakfast with some friends. So the girls and I decided to make a sign and head to his work. I had told Tony I needed to drop off the girls for 1 hour so that I could go to a visitation. I was going to have the girls standing outside his office with the sign and I was going to call him outside. Well, that plan got thrown out the window because it was pouring down rain. So, as soon as we pulled in the parking lot, he saw us and I waved him towards the car. (He couldn't quite understand why I wasn't just sending the girls inside)  He ran out, hopped in the car,  and he saw the girls in the back seat holding the sign. Once it registered what the sign meant, he was overjoyed!

Needless to say, we are so thankful for this answer to prayer! We have felt so loved and prayed for this week through all of  this by our family and friends. We really are truly blessed!

So, what's next??? ............U.S. Embassy!
It takes an average of 3-5 weeks to get all the paperwork ready to be submitted to the U.S. embassy. It can only be submitted on Wednesdays so if it is completed on a Thursday, they have to wait 6 more days. Then once we are submitted, it takes anywhere from 1-5 weeks to "clear embassy". Once we get the email that says "You have cleared embassy" we will fly out within a few days to pick up Jeremiah Jones!

So that is where we are.... the next phase of waiting!!

But this little guy is worth the wait!!!

                                                   Still trying to see if we can photoshop Courtney into this picture!! :)

 If only we could call him to tell him the good news!!!

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
The King of creation
O my soul, praise Him
For He is thy health and salvation
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near
Praise Him in glad adoration

Praise to the Lord
Who o'er all things so wonderfully reigneth
Shelters thee under His wings
Yea, so gladly sustaineth
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth

Praise to the Lord
Who doth prosper they work and defend thee
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do
If with His love He befriend thee

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him
All that hath life and breath
Come now with praises before Him
Let the 'amen' sound from His people again
Gladly for aye we adore Him

Court Date..... ! yes I found it in me to use an !

I cannot believe I am typing this but we have a court date for THIS FRIDAY. Yes, Tony was quick to point out that it is on Friday the 13th, but thankfully we are not too superstitious around here! I'll go with "third times a charm" or even "Lucky #13" before I fear Friday the 13th! :)

So.... what does this all mean?? It means that MOWCYA asked for a court date and they got it. 2 days from now we will hopefully hear that MOWCYA did their part and wrote the letter and that we passed court. 

It also means that we are trying our best to guard our emotions and remember that there are definitely not any guarantees that we will pass. 

And finally it means that we will be on our knees praying for good news. We are ready for this step to be behind us and move on to the next stage of waiting. We would love for you all to pray with us that we pass on Friday. 

All of this is for our good, for Jeremiah's good and ultimately for God's glory. May we remember that if we receive good news on Friday and may we also remember it if we receive bad news on Friday. 

Psalm 33:20-22

We wait in hope for the Lord:

he is our help and our shield

In him our hearts rejoice,

for we trust in his holy name

May your unfailing love rest upon us , O Lord,

even as we put our hope in you.

We Are Weary....

Yes it is true, we are weary. We are weary of hearing the same thing over and over from our agency. "The letter hasn't been written. MOWCYA says it will be next week" No letter. "It will be next week" no letter. And then today the message comes that MOWCYA is now requesting that we have another court date scheduled in order for them to write the letter. Not sure why they are requesting it but that is what they have done. So now we wait yet again for another court date. Obviously, it is our hope and prayer that this will be the final court date and that this part of the process will be behind us.  However, our emotions are so trampled on that we struggle to find the hope in passing the next court date.  So, yes, we are weary.

We are weary of telling the same story over and over again. There are days that I feel like the knife is being driven into my heart deeper every time I say "We have no idea when we will pass court and therefore we really have no idea when we will be able to bring him home" We will not celebrate his 3rd birthday with him and yes the girls will  have already gone back to school.
Is this our idea of perfect timing? No.
Is it HIS perfect timing?.... Yes.
Am I struggling to understand this timing?... Yes.

A single girl I know once said she grows weary of going on first dates because she gets tired of telling her story over and over again on first dates. However, she realized that it isn't her story but that it is God's story. It should remind her where He has brought her and how He has worked in her life. So today I am trying to remember that. As much as I am beginning to cringe at my own voice as I listen to myself say the same things over and over again, I need to remember that this is Jeremiah's story too.  God has already woven our hearts to his and all of this painful waiting will be a testimony to him one day of how loved he was by his family (and friends!) before we even had him in our home. It is a reminder that God has woven his story together perfectly even though we cannot see how it is "perfect" quite yet. It is a reminder that we have to lean on Him in all of our weariness because he has promised something for the weary....

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.

 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;

 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Once we have a court date, I will post again and ask for all of our prayer warriors to join us once again in prayer and petition that we would pass and move one step closer to the day we can bring Jeremiah home.