Surprise!

Last week I emailed our agency about the completion of our Dossier review, which ended up being completed last Thursday (June 24).  After it's review it was scheduled to be sent over to the Congo for their government's review and approval.

As of yesterday I hadn't heard anything about it's mailing, which started to make me a little nervous.  So I emailed our agent about it and apparently it's already in the Congo!  Now, I am not exactly sure how long it takes for them to look everything over and approve us, but I was originally told one or two weeks.  In the crazy world of adoption, this could also be interpreted as three to four weeks, or one to two months.

So as of today, we are waiting for the Congo's approval of our Dossier and our referral.  Once we received Congolese approval, the only thing we're waiting for is our kids.  That's all.  No more applications to complete, no more paperwork to be reviewed, no more mailings, no more notarizing.  Just waiting.

Now, don't be confused.  This doesn't mean all of our paperwork days are over.  They're just suspended until we know our kids.  Then there is a new, huge wave of things to complete and rushing to be done.  It's a crazy emotional state.  When you're doing things it makes you feel like the process is moving along and things are being accomplished.  Even though we're still moving along, waiting makes me feel like we're at a stand-still, or even worse, that something is wrong.

But I have been assured by our agent that everything is okay and that we are actually number one on the list for a referral, we just need kids who match our requirements to come along.  And I know there are so many orphans who need homes in the Congo, it's just a lot of legality to accept a referral since proper abandonment paperwork needs to be completed and approved before we can accept children.  There are a lot of pieces that need to fall into place and until they do, we wait.

We know that God has a big plan for us and we are just going to trust that His timing is perfect.  It's not always easy and I often find myself questioning, "why not now?"  But I must keep telling myself that He is a better planner than I am, now matter how good I think I am :)  Sometimes I try NOT to think about them or the process hoping that as soon as I don't, that's when it will happen.  So far, no such luck.  For now, I continually try to put myself and my plans aside and just rest in the knowledge that he has it all under control.  Like I said, I am trying :)