The road to Tyson, Part 1

I've been asked in many ways: What is God trying to teach you? I've asked God that many times, and I've asked myself that many times. I have read 1st and 2nd Samuel trying to figure it out. I am faithful to God, I do what he says, but I'm not perfect. I relate a lot to David (not the whole cheating thing of course) in that he wanted to do what was right, but he has weaknesses. My weakness is my impatience. I tend to blow a fuse now and then. I am also a mover and a shaker. I have no problem making things happen with a phone call, and email, or an in-person visit. If there's one thing you don't do, it's waste my time! So I am trying to stay positive and keep my eye on God. I know I am supposed to get something out of this, but what? More faith? patience? love? strength? endurance? maybe all of these things! Or, maybe it is to share my journey and faith and encourage others in their adoption process. I have learned so much from others as they have shared their stories, so maybe it's time to share mine. Not just the good, but the bad and the ugly too. Adoption is a beautiful thing, and so is giving birth. But when I had K-bear, I was shocked at how truly disgusting the actual birth process was! My beautiful dd K-bear was the result. And Tyson will be the result of this long, arduous road, which is not always rosy.

So then I think of the road to Tyson. How did we get here? If you have read my timeline on the side of the blog, you have a basic idea. But what you don't know are the heart wrenching details, some of which I have never shared with many people, only my closest of friends. I'll start with some of the amazing things that God did just while assembling our dossier.

1. The day I met with our agency and chose to officially adopt was Good Friday, March 21, 2008.
2. Whenever I was in a hurry to mail something to the agency, there was ALWAYS a close parking space at the post office with a short line.
3. When we had our medicals, we knew we had to have the paperwork notarized in front of us and the doctor. We prayed before we left, and when we got there, the Dr's office had it all worked out! We told them the situation, but we didn't act on it. They did! Wow!
4. We actually had our dossier almost ready in 2 months.

You see, God could have closed this door many times. He could have said, "No, this is not your road," and closed the door. But he didn't.

At the end of May 08, our social worker told us that the USCIS decided Dan needed child abuse clearances from every country he lived in: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia. We had to give those countries six months to respond to our requests. I figured then that this was over. In August, we were ready to give up, but there was something in me that just couldn't give up. After a lot of tears, we got a call in August that said Dan didn't need the clearances because those were combat situations. So at last, the homestudy was complete, and on Aug. 22nd, our paperwork was received at USCIS. We soon got fingerprint appointments for Sept. 18th.

So all summer I became numb to the process. So now, I needed to get our pictures for our dossier done, and to get our special needs checklist done. This was one thing I did work on throughout the summer. I researched on the web, I ordered books, read blogs, and joined yahoo groups. I was a sponge, soaking up all the info I could find.

This is a good place to stop. The point is, I think, that God could have closed the door, but he didn't. He kept it open. I was so excited! Little did I know what would happen in the month of September.