Time is beautiful

Time is beautiful. It really is. But when it comes to getting our daughter in China, I have to continually lay that truth before my God.

     Matt & I learned that time is beautiful through the selling of our previous house. Three homes on our street at that time sold within one month of posting a 'For Sale' sign. So, we figured the sale of our house would be quick too. Not so much. While we waited for the sale of ours, we would drive through other neighborhoods to see where we wanted to live. We found a place that we thought would be perfect, but were bummed when our house wasn't selling. We had quite a few showings, but no one wanted to buy.
     Well, there was a reason our house took 7 months to sell. The builder was offering a financial plan in March that wasn't available back in August. And as a result, we were able to build a bigger home AND pay off a car. It was a huge blessing! We were able to look back and thank our God for His timing and not ours.

     I want to do the same with this stage of life. With our Maggie Mei. She is now 19 months old and I received an e-mail from the orphanage director telling me they were taking good care of her. I am so thankful, but I long for the day that we can take care of her.
     Our dossier was sent to China this past Friday!! That is a huge praise!!! I have a friend who received her LOA (the approval from China) within 45 days. Those approvals are now running around 80 days, which means we will not get her until late Feb/early March. One month later than we had hoped. Makes my heart sad and yet it is a quiet sad that my God holds near Him.
     I choose to believe time is beautiful because God is perfect, which means His timing is never early and never late. He already knows our 'Gotcha Day' and China's government doesn't change that.

My heart is so FULL

     Joy. True joy, that only comes from Jesus, is mine today. We received this picture of Maggie this morning. The joy is that she is walking and smiling! Two things we have not seen in previous pictures!! I asked the orphanage director when she was 15months if she was walking. At that time she was not. So my heart is very happy today!

     We were approved at US immigration last week! That is the final document that we were waiting on to be able to send our dossier to China! I got it in the mail yesterday at 4p, took it to Fedex at 6:30p. They delivered it to a courier (who was FABULOUS) in Columbia, SC for the secretary of State, and then sent it onto Washington, D.C. for the US State Department and Chinese Embassy approval. Whew! Are you tired just reading that?!?
     Every one of the documents for the dossier went through that procedure. It is a lot, but I have loved every minute of it! Now that our paperwork is almost ready for China, I'm not sure what to do b/c I don't have anymore packages to track!!
     We are still in need of $6,000.00, and I am just waiting for the next thing up God's "sleeve". Should be good!