Waiting

Another family who is adopting from Rwanda had a blog post titled "Empty Mailboxes Full Hearts" and that is exactly where we are at right now. We are WAITING for important papers in the mail and then it is off to the Department of State in DC. If you think of it, please pray that we would receive everything we need in His awesome and perfect timing (even though everything in me is screaming NOW, I want it NOW). The blessing on the other side of this waiting will be worth it!!!

Psalm 138:8

We heard from the embassy today and the news was less than wonderful. They are asking for an additional authentication from the Department of State that they did not specify previously and more money. My wonderful friends Tina and Becca have jumped into action and are helping to resolve the issue. God is faithful always!!!

Tina sent me this scripture and it is so timely.
Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands."

Perspective

We have been talking about Elijah at our church for the past couple of weeks. He was a mighty man who experienced God’s supernatural strength to do the extraordinary. This morning, however, we studied 1 Kings 19 where we find Elijah fearful, running scared, exhausted, depressed, and wanting to die. Undoubtedly his obstacles were monumentous, but he had forgotton something of crucial importance- GOD WAS WITH HIM. Even in his despair, God sought him out and ministered to him, calling him back to faith.

We are by no means where Elijah was in 1 Kings 19, but we can imagine that this process of waiting has the capacity to drain our faith. Knowing this, we want to keep at the forefront of our mind GOD'S TRUTH. Our lives are in the hands of a God who loves us and loves our future children more than we ever could!!! In every circumstance of life, we must rest in that, both now and in the days to come. First Corinthians 13:7 says “love . . . believes all things, hopes all things.” The same is true for faith according to Heb. 11:1. But 1 Corinthians 13:7 also says, “love bears all things, . . . endures all things.” Notice that, believing and hoping is located directly between bearing and enduring.

May HIS peace guard your heart and mind as you trust in him this week!

Pray for our paperwork!!!

Well, we thought our paperwork was sitting on the desk of Mr. Michael Rukata awaiting approval, but through some recent communication, it seems that they are uncertain as to the exact whereabouts of our dossier (yikes!). We know God is in control of even these little details, and we would appreciate your prayers on our behalf. THANK YOU!!!

MILLIONS minus 2 (hopefully)

By now I think most of you have heard (which is why you are here) that we are expanding our family in the near-ish future!!! Desiring to have children and knowing that there are MILLIONS of orphans in the world, we have decided to adopt two children from Rwanda. One of the most heartbreaking realities of this broken world is that there are parents who long for children and children who long for parents and they never meet!!! Adoption is truly one of those small glimpses of redemption we get to see on this side of heaven.

Here's the list of what has happened so far...

• We received our completed homestudy! It only took 4 weeks, which is REALLY fast!
• We sent in our I600A which is an advance petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative. We had to wait for our homestudy to do this. They will send us for fingerprinting with the department of homeland security.
• We had all our documents "Authenticated" with the great seal of Michigan- it only cost $1/document (which is great because there were 34 documents).
• We compiled everything into a 3 ring binder and sent it to the Rwandan Embassy in Washington DC for yet another "Authentication," this time it costs $30/document but we only needed 7 documents to go through this process (we think). At this time, some of the leadership that governs adoption is changing and so there may be some adjustments. We are sending the money and documents in faith that they are correct, and hopefully they will notify us if they aren't.

Next Steps...a very simplified version:)

We wait for our paperwork to return from DC and once we receive it, we will send it to The Minsiter of Family and Gender in Rwanda. At this point we will probably go several months with no news. If we are approved, we will move on to the portion where we are matched with children from Mother Teresa's Home of Hope in Kigali, Rwanda. After that, we will travel to pick up the newest members of the Dorband family!!!

Prayer/Praise!!!

Praise!!!! God has lead us and given us open doors in every aspect of this adoption and we just want to give him praise for allowing us to expand our family this way.

Pray that the First Counselor, Michael Rukata, in DC will approve our dossier and give us a letter of no objection.

Pray that everything will happen in HIS great and perfect time so we get the kids God already has picked out for us!

Pray for our child/ren (they may already be born), that God would take care of them.

Pray that God's perfect will would be done in every aspect of this process and in our lives now and in the future:)