One Day at a Time

This has been some week and it is only Tuesday. I took Ciara to the doctor yesterday for her asthma. The doctor said that in addition to her wheezing, she also has the croup, so she has been pretty uncomfortable. I praise God for giving me a job where I have so much flexibility and can be at home with her for all of her treatments and special cuddle time. We are slowly continuing to make progress on our paperwork. Yesterday we were able to mail off a chunk of paperwork to our agency (for the homestudy) and our FBI fingerprint cards to the FBI (part of the dossier) and that was about it for any progress on this adoption. I thought that I was going to be able to start getting some of our dossier documents authenticated with the Secretary of State, but we received an email late last night stating that both of our letters need to be redone.

I've shared with many of you that I don't know of anything that has grown me in my faith like Ciara's adoption. I'm so thankful for these opportunities where God uses everyday events to draw us nearer to Him. I don't know how we (or anyone) could go through this process without God, because quite honestly, it gets a bit overwhelming and frustrating to keep having to back track and redo documents. This experience is definitely humbling me in that I'm getting a real dose of what all the families I work with have to go through (for those of you who don't know what I do, I am the Director of Social Services for AWAA of NC, a Christian international adoption agency). Last night, I was driving home with Ciara, and I was talking with her about all the things in the world that God has made for us to enjoy. We talked about the trees, the birds, family and friends that He has given us, and the sunset. She then asked me if God painted the sunset. I told her that it is kind of like He does and that He creates one for us to look at everyday. Thinking back on our conversation last night, I can't help but think of Psalm 139 and how God is or has created a child specifically for our family, that He has/will know that child in his/her mother's womb, and that He knows all of his/her days before they come to be. From the sunsets He gives us to the unique masterpieces He creates when He creates each of us, He truly is an amazing Creator!

This morning, Sean and I were able to get our bloodwork completed for the adoption and our TB skin tests (Mom stayed home and loved on Ciara). We also got started on our vaccinations, receiving our Hepatitis A (we both already have had the Hep B vaccines) and the Meningococcal (menigitis) vaccine (about $100/person that the insurance doesn't cover, so it had better work!). Since we will be staying in Addis Ababa, the capital city, we (and our doctor) feel pretty safe that we shouldn't have to worry about rabies. Because of Sean's work, he has already been vaccinated, so I have warned him that he will have to be the one to deal with any rabid animals on this adventure. Because of the strict documentation that is required for the yellow fever vaccine, we're going to have to call around to try to find a clinic that has it . We'll get our typhoid vaccine and start taking antimalarial meds after we get a court date (which is months down the road).

Psalm 139: 1-16

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.