Government signed, sealed and approved adoption plans

Two weeks ago we got our appointment to appear in Atlanta on Tuesday, February 23 at 9:00am for our biometrics appointment. (That means fingerprinting. I had to learn that one.) So we left our house at 5:30am to make sure we had plenty of time to fight our way through Atlanta traffic. We arrived at the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services) building off of Howell Mill Road in plenty of time for our appointment. As we approached the door we noticed that there was a crowd gathered outside, and the sign on the door said "Closed." This was a little confusing as we could look through the window and see people inside, and we also noticed people exiting the building from another door. So we waited outside along with several other people of various ethnic cultures and speaking many different languages. I would hazard a guess that we were the only people there who were already Americans. We were all clutching our appointment papers as we waited. Shortly before 9:00am, someone came out of the door and told us that the guard would be returning in just a minute. A few minutes later the guard came out the door and told us we could not bring our cell phones in the building. (We had been prepared for this because of our notice, and we left our phones in the car.) Then he said we could not bring in purses either. I was not prepared for this, so Mike got to hike back to the car with my lovely brown shoulder bag. :)

Finally we were allowed into the building. At every step in the process, our hands were inspected. It would have been very interesting to see what might have happened if they turned someone's "hands" away, but that did not happen while we were there. We went through a few different lines, completed a form, and waited for our numbers to be called. When we were called up to the "machine," it was a very quick and painless experience. Actually the whole process was very smooth and organized. This is quite a compliment from me as I have a Masters degree in organizational leadership and do not pass out those comments lightly. We were done in less than an hour and on our way back home.

We left with the expectation that it could be a few weeks to a month before we received our approval notices. I know some friends that waited more than 2 months. To our complete surprise, we received our approval notice on Friday, February 26. According to the post mark, our approval letter was mailed out the day we were there. I thought it must be some kind of a joke, but the paperwork does not lie. Even our social worker was amazed at the speed of our approval and has never seen it happen so fast.

I find I must laugh at myself and my lack of faith. I prayed for this to happen quickly. I know God has His own time frame and can make things happen in His perfect timing, but did I honestly expect this small miracle? Probably not. I have seen God work amazing miracles all through-out my life, but I still seem to be surprised when he works things out in an unexplainable way. So now it is back in our hands.

It is now time to send our dossier (notebook full of paperwork & other stuff) to the Philippines to be approved. Because we did not expect to be approved so quickly, we are not yet prepared for the next financial step. We must turn in our next payment of $900 before we can send our information to the Philippines.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek our next miracle. I know God did not bring us this far to leave us hanging. I will be confident of this as Philippians 1:6 says, "that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." By this I refer to the perfecting of my faith, :) although I know God will continue to be with us every step of this adoption process as well.