Hey Guys! Thanks for checking in with us again! My Mr. Wonderful is back at work again for another 2 days. So now its my turn to take up posting! So, there are a few things that I wanted to talk about tonight.
The Fees:
Here is what some of the fees are for:
$3000 this is for the Home Study Fee. This includes interviews, consent forms,emergency plans, 30 some hours of training, background checks, fingerprinting, medical reports,TB tests, etc. This money is due before a set of three interviews with the caseworker.
Once the home study is approved, we have to pay an additional $4.600. This fee is for the assistance of preparing our dossier, document support and USCIS document preparation. So instead of me thinking it was only going to cost $3000 to complete the Home study, $7600 will be due when our home study is complete.
After the Home Study is done, and your dossier is complete, it gets sent off to be translated, and then is sent to the country.
The Waiting Game:
Here are the current wait times as of yesterday
"• Dossiers in Ethiopia (waiting for referral): 132
• Families open to a child ages 0-3 years (up to 48 months)(not open to older than 48 months): 96
We did not take into account the numbers of families waiting for referrals of siblings only. Bethany continues to see very few younger siblings (0-8 years) referred for intercountry adoption in Ethiopia. We continue to note that the Ethiopia program can be best for families open only to younger sibling groups only if those families are willing and/or able to wait for long periods of time. "
Looking at all of these dollar signs and long long months of waiting can make my mind overwhelmed so quickly! I have to constantly remind myself that God is Bigger than anything we can even begin to think or imagine. We cannot let our minds be susceptible to doubt.When we doubt we leave open a door for the devil to enter in and take control of our thoughts. He wants to crush the Grand and mind blowing dreams that God has for us. We need to constantly be fed through the word.We constantly need to be having a dialogue with our Father we cares so vastly and so deeply for us. I was reminded of this as the Lord lead me through Job this morning.
For those of you who are not familiar with the story of Job, here is a nutshell version for you. Job was a very wealthy and blessed man. He had integrity, feared God and turned away from evil. One day after roaming the earth Satan came before the Lord and the Lord asked Satan if he considered His servant Job who feared God. Satan said to God that if God struck him, and took away everything then Job would curse God. So God allowed Satan to take away everything that Job owned and inflict sores upon his body. Yet Job did not curse God. In the end, Job is doubly blessed for his faithfulness to God. But, between the bad and the good, Job justifies himself rather than God.
Elihu was younger than Job or his 3 friends and had a few chapters worth of words to say to Job. In 33:3 " My words come from my upright heart, and my lips speak with sincerity what they know. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."
I love what Elihu say to Job beginning in Chapter 36:22-37:24 (this is from The Message Version)
22-25 “Do you have any idea how powerful God is?
Have you ever heard of a teacher like him?
Has anyone ever had to tell him what to do,
or correct him, saying, ‘You did that all wrong!’?
Remember, then, to praise his workmanship,
which is so often celebrated in song.
Everybody sees it;
nobody is too far away to see it.
Have you ever heard of a teacher like him?
Has anyone ever had to tell him what to do,
or correct him, saying, ‘You did that all wrong!’?
Remember, then, to praise his workmanship,
which is so often celebrated in song.
Everybody sees it;
nobody is too far away to see it.
No One Can Escape from God
26 “Take a long, hard look. See how great he is—infinite,
greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!
greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!
27-33 “He pulls water up out of the sea,
distills it, and fills up his rain-cloud cisterns.
Then the skies open up
and pour out soaking showers on everyone.
Does anyone have the slightest idea how this happens?
How he arranges the clouds, how he speaks in thunder?
Just look at that lightning, his sky-filling light show
illumining the dark depths of the sea!
These are the symbols of his sovereignty,
his generosity, his loving care.
He hurls arrows of light,
taking sure and accurate aim.
The High God roars in the thunder,
angry against evil.”
distills it, and fills up his rain-cloud cisterns.
Then the skies open up
and pour out soaking showers on everyone.
Does anyone have the slightest idea how this happens?
How he arranges the clouds, how he speaks in thunder?
Just look at that lightning, his sky-filling light show
illumining the dark depths of the sea!
These are the symbols of his sovereignty,
his generosity, his loving care.
He hurls arrows of light,
taking sure and accurate aim.
The High God roars in the thunder,
angry against evil.”
37 1-13 “Whenever this happens, my heart stops—
I’m stunned, I can’t catch my breath.
Listen to it! Listen to his thunder,
the rolling, rumbling thunder of his voice.
He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon,
lighting up the earth from pole to pole.
In their wake, the thunder echoes his voice,
powerful and majestic.
He lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back.
No one can mistake that voice—
His word thundering so wondrously,
his mighty acts staggering our understanding.
He orders the snow, ‘Blanket the earth!’
and the rain, ‘Soak the whole countryside!’
No one can escape the weather—it’s there.
And no one can escape from God.
Wild animals take shelter,
crawling into their dens,
When blizzards roar out of the north
and freezing rain crusts the land.
It’s God’s breath that forms the ice,
it’s God’s breath that turns lakes and rivers solid.
And yes, it’s God who fills clouds with rainwater
and hurls lightning from them every which way.
He puts them through their paces—first this way, then that—
commands them to do what he says all over the world.
Whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love,
he makes sure they make their mark.
I’m stunned, I can’t catch my breath.
Listen to it! Listen to his thunder,
the rolling, rumbling thunder of his voice.
He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon,
lighting up the earth from pole to pole.
In their wake, the thunder echoes his voice,
powerful and majestic.
He lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back.
No one can mistake that voice—
His word thundering so wondrously,
his mighty acts staggering our understanding.
He orders the snow, ‘Blanket the earth!’
and the rain, ‘Soak the whole countryside!’
No one can escape the weather—it’s there.
And no one can escape from God.
Wild animals take shelter,
crawling into their dens,
When blizzards roar out of the north
and freezing rain crusts the land.
It’s God’s breath that forms the ice,
it’s God’s breath that turns lakes and rivers solid.
And yes, it’s God who fills clouds with rainwater
and hurls lightning from them every which way.
He puts them through their paces—first this way, then that—
commands them to do what he says all over the world.
Whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love,
he makes sure they make their mark.
A Terrible Beauty Streams from God
14-18 “Job, are you listening? Have you noticed all this?
Stop in your tracks! Take in God’s miracle-wonders!
Do you have any idea how God does it all,
how he makes bright lightning from dark storms,
How he piles up the cumulus clouds—
all these miracle-wonders of a perfect Mind?
Why, you don’t even know how to keep cool
on a sweltering hot day,
So how could you even dream
of making a dent in that hot-tin-roof sky?
Stop in your tracks! Take in God’s miracle-wonders!
Do you have any idea how God does it all,
how he makes bright lightning from dark storms,
How he piles up the cumulus clouds—
all these miracle-wonders of a perfect Mind?
Why, you don’t even know how to keep cool
on a sweltering hot day,
So how could you even dream
of making a dent in that hot-tin-roof sky?
19-22 “If you’re so smart, give us a lesson in how to address God.
We’re in the dark and can’t figure it out.
Do you think I’m dumb enough to challenge God?
Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?
No one in his right mind stares straight at the sun
on a clear and cloudless day.
As gold comes from the northern mountains,
so a terrible beauty streams from God.
We’re in the dark and can’t figure it out.
Do you think I’m dumb enough to challenge God?
Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?
No one in his right mind stares straight at the sun
on a clear and cloudless day.
As gold comes from the northern mountains,
so a terrible beauty streams from God.
23-24 “Mighty God! Far beyond our reach!
Unsurpassable in power and justice!
It’s unthinkable that he’d treat anyone unfairly.
So bow to him in deep reverence, one and all!
If you’re wise, you’ll most certainly worship him.”
Unsurpassable in power and justice!
It’s unthinkable that he’d treat anyone unfairly.
So bow to him in deep reverence, one and all!
If you’re wise, you’ll most certainly worship him.”
SO, after reading all that...dollar signs and waiting numbers are nothing to GOD!
I think that THAT is pretty cool!
Im glad we are following his calling on our lives.
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