February 22, 2007
The goodness of the Lord is so wonderful! After my last email, every one of you must have hit your knees in prayer, and I thank you so very much!!!! As you see, I am back online and am very thankful to Linda and her daughter, Ariel, for allowing me to use their computer until mine is repaired. God has so blessed me with such wonderful friends in EACH OF YOU! Thank you for your prayers and emails!!!!
I do pray that each of you are well!! :o)
I want to give you a quick update on how things are going with this amazing journey! I don’t want to bore you with too many details, but I do want to give God ALL of the glory for the great things HE has done!!!
I’ll start with the last two visits with Beverley Lewin, my Social Worker. THANKS so very much for your prayers for those meetings!!!! I met Beverley in Dallas on January 30th. We had a good visit, and I was able to get my fingerprints taken at the Immigration office that same day. I had taken a personal day from work to do all of that, and it really was an adventure!! All went well!
Then, on February 10th, Beverley came to Longview to see the house. My dad had come over several days that week to help me do a few things around the house to get ready. I so appreciated his help! Thanks to those who came over for the “White Glove” test that Friday night! It was humbling asking friends to come look for spider webs, dust, and whatever dirt I’d gotten used to. Beverley actually arrived thirty minutes early that Saturday, and I had just gotten out of the shower. My hair was wet and I had no make-up on. I felt so bad that I was not more “together” when she arrived. I had actually gone to the Saturday clinic to see the doctor that morning for a horrible cough. I wasn’t feeling that well. :o( Beverley stayed for about two and a half hours and shared about what to expect when I meet my Sweet Angel. It was an interesting meeting! God took care of that visit, and all went well! I do appreciate your willingness to pray for all of these meetings!!!!
Now we’re up to current events with the computer situation. I had a bit of a “melt down” on Wednesday night, the 14th. I was so tired and exhausted. I was trying to get some work done on my dossier and all of this when I decided to sit in the floor and cry. I told the Lord, “I QUIT!” I have been pushing, staying up all hours, etc. working on all this for my Sweet Angel for over two months and had hit a wall of exhaustion and frustration. Then on Thursday the 15th, I realized something awful had happened with my computer. It had “QUIT!” I think God heard me and took me literally! :o)
A dear friend and roommate from Baylor, Dianne, came to Longview on Friday and stayed through the weekend. We had a great time catching up! She tried to take a look at my computer, and as smart as she is, she couldn’t fix it either. :o( I took my computer to Best Buy on Monday and got the dreaded news I shared with you. The hard drive on my computer had crashed, and Best Buy was unable to retrieve my data. I realize it was my fault for not backing up my files. I pray that I’ve learned my lesson! My dad took my computer to someone he and Jan know that will try again to get my data off. I will then replace the hard drive and call this a valuable lesson learned!!
I really did ask God to forgive me for wanting to give up and QUIT! And this is where God, in His sweet mercy and grace, steps in and turns everything around for His good!! :o) This past Tuesday (the day after I emailed about my computer crashing), I received a precious blessing in the mail. I received my most important document from US Immigration, the I-171H. CCAI calls this the “GOLD” letter. When you get it, you’re supposed to celebrate because you’ve just been given permission from the US to adopt a baby from China! ISN’T GOD GOOD!!!!!!! His mercies are new every morning! GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS!! The I-171H was dated the 14th – my “melt down” day. I felt the Lord was confirming for me that He is in control of all of this, and that I am to TRUST Him!! I felt Him saying, “Pick up and go on! Get moving!!” So I did. :o) I realized that God had protected several of my Dossier documents, in that I had already printed copies from my computer before it crashed, and I didn’t have to go back and recreate those. PRAISE GOD!!!!
On Wednesday, I received my notarized copies of the Home Study Report from Beverley Lewin, where she approved me to adopt! WOW!!!! Another reason to shout “Hallelujah!!!!” ALL of my Dossier documents are now complete!! I must believe that God is moving me forward , so I stayed up late last night (this morning) and finished preparing my Dossier to go to the Secretary of State in Austin for Certification. I finished the last few details after school today, Thursday, and my Dossier is on a UPS truck right now headed to Austin and set to arrive by 10:30 Friday morning! Truly, the Lord is GOOD!!!!
I end this update with a heart of sincere thanks to God for ALL of this and for you! It is a wonderful blessing to have true friends who will stand in the gap and pray and encourage me during this journey! My life’s verse continues to hold true!
My love and prayers for each of you!!
Gwen
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