I'm ready to update now....

So, I have been avoiding the blog since glitches in the court process over the last 2 months. I'll start at the beginning if by chance you haven't heard me explain it a trillion times since our court visit. On November 30,2010 we boarded a plane to go meet our son for the first time and to attend our court date on December 4. We went and thought we successfully passed court and had an incredible visit meeting our son. My mama heartstrings were pulled tight when I met that little boy. I just wanted to scoop him up and never let go until we exited a plane onto that sweet Georgia soil to head home. Well, we had to leave him behind to come home and wait for the US Embassy to invite us back. Two days after we got home I got a phone call from our social worker. I really thought it was to inform us his birth certificate had already been processed and we were one step closer. That wasn't it at all. She told me that the judge and our Bethany worker had overlooked a letter in our file that was requesting updated paperwork instead of the typical letter of acceptance. It literally knocked the wind out of me. I was at Walgreen's picking up my 150 Christmas cards that included pictures of everyone in our quickly expanding family. It was all I could do to get to the car before breaking down. I can not explain the huge hole in my heart for the days following. It seemed like some kind of joke. We were just there and saw and heard the judge congratulate us on having a new son! This couldn't be real and there must be some mix up. For over a week I slept with Bethany every night. The only consolation I had was my girls. If not for them I might have had an emotional breakdown! Most of you know I'm emotional anyways but I was 10x my normal self. So we got all our paperwork in as fast as we could only to be assigned a second court date for February 7th. Four weeks after we submitted it!!! I was hot, but I trusted that the Lord was surprised by none of this and had a reason for the timing of it all. Of course Joey and I prayed about it but we just really had no reason to think that we wouldn't pass the second time around. February 7th rolled around and late in the evening I get a call from our social worker, more bad news. We didn't pass. Evidently our letter of approval is written the day before court and the office was moving locations and didn't write any letters for the entire week. WHAT?!?! It hit me hard. I sobbed like a baby when I got off the phone! I hated to call Joey at work and deliver bad news but he was anxious to hear what the outcome was. He comes home and we are just grieved. I was looking to blame any and everyone for what had happened but mostly I was so angry and upset and disappointed with God. I have never dealt with those feelings towards my Creator. Even with all the loss and sickness that has come in and out of my life, not once have a placed blame on God. Or didn't accept His Providence in all situations. But this time I did. I knew who God was and what He was capable of and the fact that He was allowing our son to stay in an orphanage instead of our warm and loving home was beyond my comprehension. It took me days to even turn to God and speak to Him about all this. I just pushed Him aside and wanted to "punish" Him with a cold shoulder. After a few days He started speaking to my heart and showing me that maybe I had something to do with this outcome. He started challenging my role in bringing JP home. I started to believe that I "had not" because I "asked not". God was wanting me to call out to Him with my prayers and be totally dependent on Him in this situation. Before, I was would call my prayer life in this circumstance very nominal. But He started laying it on my heart to fast and pray. In the bible many things only came by fasting and prayer and I knew God was calling me to this. Joey and I talked about it and made a plan. We got serious about taking this to God and petitioning God through our humble and meek state. Today we got news that we passed court! Hallelujah!!! But our commitment to deep prayer for JP will not end today. We will pray him home! Join us in prayer and get this sweet boy home. The order of events is as follows; 1. Apply for Birth certificate with his new last name 2. Once Birth Cert is in hand, apply for his passport. 3. Once passport is issued our application can be submitted to the US Embassy for an appointment. 4. Appointment must be requested for 2 weeks from the date of submission. Generally the time line is between 4-8 weeks with 4 weeks being the norm. Pray that no more hold-ups arise and it is an uneventful process. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers. Sometimes it has been the only thing to get me through all this. Come back in a few days. I'll be posting about my baby girl turning 1! My computer is down and all the pics are on there. So once our main laptop is restored I will be posting some big girl pics! Tia