Shower of Love

As I work through the initial shock and then disappointment of not getting my FBI clearance, I am so gently reminded of the Father's Love. Today as I sat in church thinking too much on this, a gentleman sang a song. I think it is called The Father has the final Word or something along this line. The first time I visited this church 2 years ago this March, I went with my friend Lisa to an evening service. I think it was in the middle of waiting for reaccreditation. This song was sung that night. I will have to try to get the words, but the gist of it talked about how circumstances can seem like everything is falling apart despite all that you are doing and at times you are wondering about your faith, BUT the Father has the final word. And that is really what it is all about, isn't it? So no matter what happens or when it happens, the Lord has the final word. There is a lot of comfort in that. He just reminded me once again, that he has it all under control.
This afternoon several friends threw a shower for me and many of my friends came! I was so blessed not only by their love but their excitement to meet Natalie (the name I have chosen for my daughter.) As we watched the video, it was so sweet to hear their comments and see how precious they all thought she is. Some how sharing her with them has helped there be grace again for the wait. I am also so grateful for their gifts and I know Natalie will be to!!
As Sunday winds down, I can honestly say that I was able to slow down and truly enjoy this weekend!! Tomorrow back to the job and memorizing a new UPS tracking number!

Flashback: Once I heard back from AWAA, the next step was to locate an agency to do my homestudy. At the time I signed up with AWAA, they were not licensed to do homestudies in NC. I went with Children's Home Society of NC. The homestudy is one of the most important document in your dossier. The dossier is a collection of documents that must be acquired, notarized and apostilled (that is a state seal placed on the document.) In about 2 weeks I heard from the social worker and we set up a time for her to come to the house. Meanwhile I began collecting other documents that I would need. I think I had gotten about 3 when I got a call from my FC. That stands for Family Coordinator and that is the person at the adoption agency who coordinates all your paperwork and guides you through the process. It turned out that the sister agency that they worked with in Russia had not managed to get their reaccreditation. At that time, agencies underwent yearly or maybe every 2 years (I'm not sure) procedure known as reaccreditation to continue working in the country. The process at that time usually took about 3 months. Since this was taking longer the agency was going to switch me to another sister agency and would send the new document list requirement. This was the first of many "bumps in the road" to come.