As many of you know from me blasting the good news on FB, we got our LOA this week!!!! The crazy part about it is that after waiting 81 days, God decided to have it come through in a week that it 'shouldn't' have. We had prepared ourselves the week before to not expect any progress to be made this week because it is a holiday week in China. The legal holidays were on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but I am sure it is much like our Christmas time where the whole week is pretty much shot for hoping to get anything done.
I was very disappointed when I found out about the holiday week because from what I had heard, all we were waiting on the previous week was a signature from the department director so that our LOA could be issued. I was feeling very frustrated on Friday when nothing came through and I knew we were going to have to wait the week out waiting only for the signature. Though I was trying to give it all over to God and trust Him in His timing, I couldn't help but send up a quiet prayer that He would work a little miracle and somehow have it come through this week. When Monday came and went and there wasn't any word, I figured we would for sure be waiting until next week.
On Tuesday Sis had a field trip with her preschool class and as I was helping the kids get through the line at the potty before we left, my phone started ringing and I saw that it was from the agency. Well, any time the agency calls you can't help but jump and I ran outside to call them back. At first I couldn't get a hold of our contact there but finally I got through to her and she told me that somehow our status had been changed online and our LOA had been issued. My heart just about burst! You could actually hear the surprise in her voice that it had come through this week. She said that we would have to wait it out to see if they had actually got it in the mail on Monday before the holiday as well. We could see it as early as Friday if we were lucky but otherwise, it would be next week after the holiday. It wasn't in my hands yet but it was coming! I was so excited and so praising God for His faithfulness.
Well, then God wasn't done showing off and not only did the LOA come this week, but it was here a day earlier than it 'should' have been. :) Once again, I got a phone call from the contact at the agency with surprise in her voice again that it was here. Oh happy day! I drove all the way over to the agency that day just so I could have it in my hands. We could check the box and sign our names to formally accept the referral of our sweet little Chen Jiao. :)
As I reflect on what God did this week, I am humbled by how intentionally He chooses to speak to us at times. God could have brought that little piece of paper to us at anytime in the last 81 days. It has been SUCH a long, heart-wearying process. If I am totally honest with you, there have been times that my heart started doubting that God was in control of it all. It felt like we were at the whim of imperfect processes and paperwork. What was our life and child at stake in our minds was just a job to someone else across the ocean. I can't tell you how thankful I am of God's gentle but powerful reminders to the contrary. Whether it was rainbows to remind me that God is always faithful to His promises or verses of scripture that spoke straight to my heart, He always knew when I most needed to hear from Him. What God did this week is just another reminder of how intimately involved He is and how much He wants us to be aware of it- of Him. Like I said, He could have sent it any time. But instead, He waited until a week that as far as the process and the people involved go, it 'should' not have happened. And then, not only did it come this week but it came EARLY this week. A poignant reminder that He is, in fact, powerful over the process and is leading the way. It is in HIS timing. Not my timing. Not China's timing. Not in the U.S.'s timing. His.
We still have several more steps to go before we leave for China. Now we are waiting for our request for her immigration to be approved. That 'should' take about 3 weeks. Then there is a week's wait for the approval to be 'cabled' to China. Another 2 weeks for her visa to be sorted out. Then we will be waiting for our Travel Approval (TA) which is a formal invitation from China to come and get her. :) This usually takes 2-3 wks. Once we have that, our agency can schedule our Consulate Appointment (CA) and based on when that appointment is, we schedule our trip (usually set for about two weeks after TA). Thankfully, all the steps from here have shorter wait times and will hopefully feel much more like 'active waiting'.
I can't say that in the next several months I won't get caught up in the waiting and longing and craziness of paperwork and red tape. I can't say that I won't slip into doubts and fears and worries. I can't say that I won't cry out to God to make the time go faster. But what I can say is this. My God is faithful. My God is good. And in His timing, we will be face to face with a little girl who has rooted herself into the depths of my heart long before I ever held her in my arms.
