Always on Time

The long-awaited (and much prayed for) I171-H came in the mail on Monday!! This was the last piece of the puzzle that we needed to be able to send our dossier to Ethiopia. It was a reminder from God that He is sovereign and completely in control of our adoption journey. It’s a bit of a long story, but here it is (for anyone that wants to know):

We have been praying, and praying, and praying some more that we would be able to complete this “paperchasing” phase since October. My human spirit wants to hurry…..and wait……and hurry…….and wait. God has revealed to me my “lack” factor – trust!! and also my short-comings – control issues!! Life is very easy and seems to go a lot smoother when I am in control, but I have had NO CONTROL over this adoption process. I have had no other choice but to pray and trust the Lord; after all, me telling Him what to do hasn’t worked out so well for me.

All of our part of the paperwork was collected by August, and I had been hoping to submit the dossier by October 6. Obviously, I have had to push the date back again and again. Insurance changes. Home Study Hold-ups. Fingerprints. USCIS. Every month I begged God to just be done….

After a very hectic holiday season and roller coaster of emotions, I just told God that I was done telling Him what to do. I relinquished any notions of control as we waited for the last government form to come in the mail. I started submitting prayer requests to our church prayer team. I asked them to pray that we would receive the form quickly – I would like to send the dossier before the end of January. (But I wasn’t going to be devastated if it was later.)

On Monday, Morgan went to the mailbox at 5:00 pm. She dropped the mail on the counter and went to the living room to play with Reagan. I was thumbing through all of the junk and bills……and there it was!!! I started screaming and jumping and crying, all at the same time. I called John and told him I was headed off to FedEx to get the dossier in the mail.

I’m sure the man at Postal Web Plus thought I was terribly insane. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking as he notarized the final copies and filed them into manila envelopes. He asked about options to send it – overnight, of course! Should I pay $95 to have it there by 3:00 or $125 to deliver by 10:30? I went with the later option, received a tracking number, and rushed home to email our agency with the good news.

On Tuesday morning (at 10:30), I called Emily (our family coordinator) to make sure that she received my email. I could sense her smile as she answered “….your dossier is on my desk right now.” WHAT?!?! It wasn’t supposed to get there until 3:00?!?!??! It left Houston on Monday at 6:30….and was on her desk by Tuesday at 10:30?!?!? It was with her next statement that the Lord reminded me that He is in control…..

“We send out dossiers to Ethiopia on Fridays only. They must be in our office by 11:00 am on the Tuesday before so we can process them to send them out by Friday. Your official DTE date (that’s adoption lingo for Dossier to Ethiopia) is THE LAST FRIDAY OF JANUARY 1/28/11.”

Yes, I lost it on the phone…..and once again, God saves the day (or date). It was at this moment that I was humbled, knowing that the God of the universe is significantly involved in the very details of my insignificant life.

Thank you Lord for showing your power, You are always right on time, please remind my doubting heart of this EVERY DAY of my life!!

Vanessa