One of the things (most) Christians know, is that our trials are not of the flesh, but of powers and principalities that are often unseen (in other words, spiritual warfare). This is especially true when we step out in faith and follow God's leading. The past two weeks have been a powerful testament that our family must be doing something right, because apparently the enemy has been trying hard to get at us. I'm going to take that as a good thing, and look at our trials in a positive light.
Last week was the week we planned to get our FBI finger prints done. We also planned to get a formal family photo taken (it's been 18 months, and we only have one with Katie Mei in it) so we could include it in our dossier photo page. What started as a day planned to get some of these tasks done turned out to be an evening of calling the insurance company after Jay came home a little late from work with a sad look on his face saying, "I broke my truck." Thankfully, no one was hurt, but between the lengthy phone calls, no matching clothes for the kids' photos, the preferred photo clothes still being in the laundry, and Jay running late, it was a no-brainer that we had to postpone the photos for the next night.
The following evening Jay planned to come home a little early so we could swing by the sheriff's office to get fingerprints done. No problem. However, we had to drop the truck off at the body shop first, and then by the time we got to the sheriff's office they were doing intakes of inmates, and civilians weren't allowed in the back while inmates were out of their cells. So we had to wait. To the tune of about an hour. Finally, I got printed, and then their printer decided not to work and they couldn't get my prints on the form (technology can really make a simple thing so difficult sometimes!). So Jay went back and got his prints done, and finally my prints were able to be printed, too.
Well, by this time it was about 6:15 pm and we still had to dash home, change clothes, and get to the photographers by our appointment at 7 pm. And may I add, no one had even come close to having dinner yet. I just knew we were going to be late to our appointment and expected some grouchy faces on at least one kid for our photos. I was really praying God would bind the enemy right about now, and please stretch time for us so we wouldn't be too late. Sure enough, God was faithful as ever, and we were somehow miraculously a little early for our appointment. The kids were beautiful and our photos were fine for our purposes! I was nearly on my knees in gratitude!
The rest of the week proved a continuation of the same thing, with missing signatures on the FBI prints, kids vaccinations that turned out to include lots of missing medical records (won't even go there, but just for the purpose of future recall, Jacob had three shots he didn't need and Merrilee had two! A total of 20 missing entries in their combined shot records...I was a bit ticked off, to say the least.), and a solid 13 days with scheduled sports/church/school activities without a break. We are all in need of a break now. I did manage to send about 21 completed documents to the home study agency, so at least I can say I made some progress despite the desire to throw in the towel a time or two!
But God has been merciful. Throughout all of this, we have been pretty good about keeping a smile on our faces. There has been some difficulty now and then (and I'll offer up that I'm probably most guilty of being the grouchy one. Yes, it's true, believe it or not! ), but I am amazed at how our family has pulled together and Jay and I haven't had any major arguments through it. Not that we argue very much; we really don't. But if we were going to, it would be during a time like this. Jay has been such a solid rock through the past two weeks, and I am just so blessed to have him around. Of course, he's due to go on travel for the next week, so the worst may be yet to come....
So we continue with the paperwork and other adoption requirements. We've had two home study meetings with our social worker, Emily, and are so blessed that she's not a stranger to us. She's a friend we met on our last trip to China when her family experienced their own first adoption (their fourth daughter). They are now waiting for travel approval to go to China for their first son.
We have also been blessed to have Melissa assigned as our family coordinator with America World. Melissa is an employee at AWAA who travelled with us when we adopted Katie Mei. She went to our province and was present at our very first meeting when we were given custody of Katie Mei. I think it's such a beautiful thing that Melissa can once again be intimately involved in our growing family. This photo is from Katie Mei's adoption; that's Melissa on the left.
This is the first time in all of our adoptions that we're actually able to work with people we've known prior to the adoption. All of our adoptions were blessings, but I feel like this adoption is going to be blessed in a special way, different from the other three. I don't know what it is, but my mind still goes back to John 2:10, where the best wine was saved until last.
So, yes, we face trials because "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12), but we are not without hope of victory! We know without a doubt that what we do is for the glory of God, and He is faithful to bring it to pass.
Please pray for our family as we press on toward to goal to which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. And pray for our little one(s) who still have a long wait in China before Momma and Daddy can come and get them.
Love,
Petrie
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