There is nothing more powerful than prayer!! I just received word that we WILL be able to travel on our original dates!! USCIS decided to allow those families that already had travel dates to go ahead and travel. I knew God would be faithful. I knew He had heard and answered our prayers in a mighty way last week about travel dates. I didn't believe He would allow the devil to steal our joy or take our miracle. I have never seen the hand of God work in my life in such a mighty and awesome way. He gave us a peace that I have never felt before. This is the first time I have totally turned a situation over to Him and allowed Him to work. I have learned through this experience that God loves me and wants the best for me. All I have to do is ask and believe on Him.
I know that this is a miracle. I know that this is made possible by God. I give Him all of the praise and the glory. Only the hand of God could change the mind of the USCIS! Thank you to all of you that prayed to the Lord on our behalf! Your prayers moved the hand of God in an awesome way!!!
We just found out that the wonderful US government is screwing us over yet again. The USCIS (immigration) has decided to change the rules for Vietnam adoptions. There is a form that is normally filed once you are in country. Now they have decided that effective 10/29 it has to be filed here. This means that we can't travel until we get the form filed and receive the approval. Our USCIS is in New Orleans and have always been extremely slow. We are looking at possibly not traveling for three months.
The frustrating thing is that if the USCIS had let our agency know that this was coming we could have filed at the end of August when we first received Ava's referral. Please pray that we receive our approval in record time.
I spent yesterday making our travel arrangements. Our flights and hotel have both been confirmed. We will fly out of Jackson at 3:25 pm on Thursday Nov. 8. We will arrive in Hanoi, Vietnam on Saturday Nov. 10 around 10 am. We will be staying at the Somerset Grand in a two bedroom apartment.
I still can't believe that we have our travel dates. I keep pinching myself. Unfortunately two of the families that I was waiting with still don't have their dates. It breaks my heart because I know full well what they are going through. It's made worse by the fact that they are the last or almost last of the Dong Anh families waiting. I'm hoping they get to travel the week after us. Waiting for travel is the most difficult time. There is really nothing anyone can say to help. Even though you know that everything is fine and the agency and the people in Vietnam are doing everything they can it's still hard. All you want is to hold you child in your arms. Please keep the families that are still waiting in your prayers.
Praise the Lord we got our travel dates!!! God does hear and answer our prayers. Judy E sent an email late last night. Normally I check my email before I go to bed but last night I didn't. I didn't rush to the computer this morning either. Davis walked out the door to go to work & I sat down to check email. When I saw Judy's email I took off running out into the garage screaming for Davis! He came in and read the email before he headed to work.
We get to leave with the Nov 10 group! We will leave either Thur or Fri and arrive on Sat the 10th. There are 5 other families in our group. We will have Ava in our arms just after she turns 8 months old. Needless to say we are on cloud 999!!!
We had a great experience in Sunday school this morning. At the end of class they asked for prayer requests. I haven't ask for prayer about our adoption yet so I finally asked this morning. We had a class member teaching as our regular teacher was speaking during the worship service. I figured they would just pray and dismiss class. The teacher had the class gather around Davis & I and lay hands on us and pray specifically for our travel dates. It was so moving. I know God hears and answers our prayers. Several of our class members committed to praying for us this week. I can't wait to see how God answers these prayers.
When we returned from the fair I checked my email and 9 families received their travel dates. It's great to finally see some of the Dong Anh families cases clearing. Maybe we won't be too far behind.
