Friday, July 23, 2010

God Does It Again...

This time last week Darren and I were feeling pretty good about our progress. We had just been to the courthouse and got the certified copies of the birth certificate and marriage certificate and had gotten the background checks done. Two huge steps in our dossier process completed! When we got home I was looking over the paperwork and I came across the guidelines to the background check. It stated that the report must show 'no record'. China's criteria for adopting is, among other things, no criminal record. Well, we knew we would be fine on that particular criteria until last Friday. Darren's background check showed a speeding ticket from 2005 and because of the wording on the official background check form, it looked as if he had a criminal record. I panicked. We called our wonderful dossier expert at CCAI, Jamie, and she did not have news we wanted to hear. The form had to state, 'no criminal record'. She suggested going through the City of Dunn, but they kept referring us to Lillington. It seemed the more phone calls we made to get it straightened out the more road blocks we hit. Very frustrating! All because of a speeding ticket. So, over the weekend, I really had to do some talking to myself. It's ok to talk to yourself...David talked to himself in the Bible in Psalm 43...he asked himself, 'why are you cast down, o my soul...hope in God.' And that is what I told myself...it would work out... to keep trusting in Him. In the meantime, Darren faxed the form to Jamie to see what she thought and what needed to happen. Little did we know it was about to get worse. She called back Monday and told us that the wording is all wrong and the form has to state that Darren has no criminal record. She suggested again that we go through our city police office and then told us that we both had to have exact matching forms...Darren's could not be different from mine. So that would mean another 50 bucks. More frustrations. So Darren calls a friend of his on the police department and hits yet another dead end. The City of Dunn would not do a background check...we have to go through the county. When Darren called to tell me this...I really could not believe a traffic ticket could stop us from what I believed God was calling us to. I prayed and asked God to help me and him figure this out. Then I remembered my sister's mother-in-law worked at the courthouse and I asked Mary Jo to call her and see if she could help us. She did...she called a sweet lady at the clerk's office and asked her to help us and she was more than willing to. We went back today and after much prayer and phone calls to Jamie, the wording on the form is enough for China to approve and we can continue with the adoption. Y'all...God is teaching me so much about trust, faithfulness, love and not being afraid to ask for help through all of this. I feel as if I am caught up in a whirlwind of adventure with God at the helm and the only thing I need to do is just let Him lead. I wouldn't trade this for anything! Yes, it has been hard and yes it is frustrating...but how glorious it is to see God work things out when our hands are tied! And nothing worth anything is ever easy to attain. It has been my prayer since the beginning that God would get the glory through this adoption, and He is!

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