I am a Christian. While I don't consider myself to be overly religious, I most certainly believe in God, I believe His son, Jesus, died for us, and I believe there is a heaven. I attend church as often as I can- I am so thankful for our small church's summer schedule as it fits so much better with Evan's own schedule with meals and naps. We haven't been able to attend worship in a while, though I bring the big kids to Sunday School, and it has been so nice to finally be able to worship as a family again.
For the most part, I believe things happen for a reason- a reason that may not be known to us, but for His reason. I believe in destiny.
Mike was just talking to a friend on the phone yesterday, telling him the news of our adoption plans, and I overheard him use the word destiny as well.... that it seems like this whole adoption has been destined for us, how things just seem to be falling into place. Sometimes they are obvious signs, like seeing the words "Must reside in the state of MARYLAND ONLY" on P's page. I swear those words jumped off of my computer screen and screamed into my ears, "Come get me! I am YOURS!" Some are not so obvious signs, like having an important piece of paper you thought for sure was long gone several years ago just land in your fingertips.
We are in the early stages of the adoption process, gathering final documents to complete our application process so we can begin our home study. I went last week for my first round of fingerprinting and have my doctor's appointment this week to have my medical form completed. Mike still needs to have both of these done- it's much more complicated for him taking the time away from work, but hopefully he will be able to get them done in a timely manner. He recently requested his employment verification letter, which turned into quite the fiasco. You see, he's been working at his place of employment since May of 2003, but that company was acquired by a new company- so their records are all mixed up. To make matters worse, this is a rather large company- employing over 20,000 people, and to request this letter he had to call a specific department handling employment verification- which was located in India. From there, a request was made for a letter to be sent out of an office in New Jersey. Mike receives a PDF file of the letter before the hard copy is received, and notices an error right away. His hire date is listed as January 1, 2008, yet it states he has over 8 years of service. You guessed it- 2008 is when the new company acquired the old company. You'd think it would be an easy fix, but apparently it isn't. They have his "adjusted start date" as the date in 2003, but for some reason, they are not making matters easy with this letter! They asked him for his original offer letter from when he was first hired.
Who keeps this stuff? Well, wouldn't you know, just a few months ago (before any talk of adoption), I was FINALLY going through all sorts of papers we've accumulated, shredding all sorts of unneeded documents. I'm talking bank statements and pay stubs from when we first got married- 14 years ago!! I had been shredding and shredding, sorting and shredding.... I found a couple documents I wasn't sure about so I sat them aside for Mike to look at and give me the go ahead for destroying those as well. I sat them on the side of the computer desk and never got around to asking him about them.
Just the other day, Mike comes rushing in from work, goes right upstairs to our room rummaging through papers in his night stand, then rushes down to the basement. Just a couple minutes later he returns upstairs in amazement. He went searching for that offer letter and wouldn't you know it- when he went downstairs to the computer desk- he lifted one paper off the desk and saw the offer letter right there. He couldn't believe it. He thought for sure it was long gone. He told me that if I had asked him right away about it- he would have told me to shred it. But we have it. Crazy stuff.
I pray that the rest of the pieces to this puzzle fall into place just as easily. Sweet P, we know you are meant to be ours, and we are working as hard as we can to bring you home as soon as we can.
For the most part, I believe things happen for a reason- a reason that may not be known to us, but for His reason. I believe in destiny.
Mike was just talking to a friend on the phone yesterday, telling him the news of our adoption plans, and I overheard him use the word destiny as well.... that it seems like this whole adoption has been destined for us, how things just seem to be falling into place. Sometimes they are obvious signs, like seeing the words "Must reside in the state of MARYLAND ONLY" on P's page. I swear those words jumped off of my computer screen and screamed into my ears, "Come get me! I am YOURS!" Some are not so obvious signs, like having an important piece of paper you thought for sure was long gone several years ago just land in your fingertips.
We are in the early stages of the adoption process, gathering final documents to complete our application process so we can begin our home study. I went last week for my first round of fingerprinting and have my doctor's appointment this week to have my medical form completed. Mike still needs to have both of these done- it's much more complicated for him taking the time away from work, but hopefully he will be able to get them done in a timely manner. He recently requested his employment verification letter, which turned into quite the fiasco. You see, he's been working at his place of employment since May of 2003, but that company was acquired by a new company- so their records are all mixed up. To make matters worse, this is a rather large company- employing over 20,000 people, and to request this letter he had to call a specific department handling employment verification- which was located in India. From there, a request was made for a letter to be sent out of an office in New Jersey. Mike receives a PDF file of the letter before the hard copy is received, and notices an error right away. His hire date is listed as January 1, 2008, yet it states he has over 8 years of service. You guessed it- 2008 is when the new company acquired the old company. You'd think it would be an easy fix, but apparently it isn't. They have his "adjusted start date" as the date in 2003, but for some reason, they are not making matters easy with this letter! They asked him for his original offer letter from when he was first hired.
Who keeps this stuff? Well, wouldn't you know, just a few months ago (before any talk of adoption), I was FINALLY going through all sorts of papers we've accumulated, shredding all sorts of unneeded documents. I'm talking bank statements and pay stubs from when we first got married- 14 years ago!! I had been shredding and shredding, sorting and shredding.... I found a couple documents I wasn't sure about so I sat them aside for Mike to look at and give me the go ahead for destroying those as well. I sat them on the side of the computer desk and never got around to asking him about them.
Just the other day, Mike comes rushing in from work, goes right upstairs to our room rummaging through papers in his night stand, then rushes down to the basement. Just a couple minutes later he returns upstairs in amazement. He went searching for that offer letter and wouldn't you know it- when he went downstairs to the computer desk- he lifted one paper off the desk and saw the offer letter right there. He couldn't believe it. He thought for sure it was long gone. He told me that if I had asked him right away about it- he would have told me to shred it. But we have it. Crazy stuff.
I pray that the rest of the pieces to this puzzle fall into place just as easily. Sweet P, we know you are meant to be ours, and we are working as hard as we can to bring you home as soon as we can.
It gives me the chills when you see God working like that!
ReplyDeleteHearing the "coincidence" of the letter brought tears to my eyes! WOW! I am so grateful God is in control! Continued blessings on you all - and the process!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Amy- you could write a book with all these "coincidences!" Seriously, I love it !
ReplyDelete