Divine Protection

In light of the Protocolo meeting tomorrow at 10:45am CST, I give you this to reflect on during that time:

Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

3 Surely He shall deliver Guatemalan adoptive families from the snare of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover Guatemalan adoptive families with His feathers, and under His wings Guatemalan adoptive families shall take refuge; His truth shall be Guatemalan adoptive families shield and buckler.

5 Guatemalan adoptive families shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near Guatemalan adoptive families.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because Guatemalan adoptive families have made the LORD, who is our refuge, even the Most High, our dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall Guatemalan adoptive families, nor shall any plague come near Guatemalan adoptive families dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over Guatemalan adoptive families, to keep us in all our ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear Guatemalan adoptive families up, lest we dash our foot against a stone.

13 We shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent we shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because we have set our love upon Him, therefore He will deliver us; He will set us on high, because we have known His name.

15 We shall call upon Him, and He will answer us; He will be with us in trouble; He will deliver us and honor us.

16 With long life He will satisfy us, and show us His salvation.”

Still Here & Waiting on this.....

Apparently, we are waiting on the identification information on the birth mother. Do any of you Mommas know about this document?? I am assuming it is a sheet with well, all of her information stats. I am SO ready for this baby girl to get here!!!

Downside of livin' in the plains....

One of the downsides of livin' in the southern plains is livin' in what they also call "tornado alley". Friday they are calling for the first severe weather of the year. This is actually earlier than normal. It's one thing to have tornadoes during the day but when they are night and rain wrapped it's a whole lot scarier!!! I can remember watching the F6 tornado (on TV live) a few years back ripping through Oklahoma City. I can remember praying real hard for anyone and anything that may be in its path.

All that to say this - our local weather guys are calling for nightime tornadoes tomorrow night. They say its not a matter of "if" tornadoes will hit but "where". Please say an extra prayer of protection for all of us in the SOONER state.

So, you say you love horses??

We are still waiting to hear word on the arrival of Analise. So, in the meantime lets talk horses. When you live on a ranch with horses there is endless amounts of things to do everyday. Some of which I will describe to you all today....

We finally had a break in the weather and it reached a balmy 55 degrees on Saturday. We decided to take the opportunity to address a few "horse related" jobs that are always easier to "put off until tomorrow".

The first: Cleaning out the horse trailer (warning: If you have a quesy stomach-move to part two). NO ONE will ever be able to say they enjoy this job. It stinks! Quite literally! We had just returned from a two day drive with a horse. Our horses eat about 22lbs. of hay a day. So, just imagine what that 1200lb. animal left for us in the trailer. It ain't pretty-I can promise you that!!! It took us about two hours to clean the trailer inside and out. I will spare you the details and the before picture....here is our after shot.

The second: Cleaning out the water bins. If someone ever tells you they enjoy this job...ask them what they are smokin'. No matter how hard you try you end up covered in water and muck! You have to use a pressure washer to get the 2 inches of grime off the bottom and sides that has built up over the winter. I took a couple of muck shots to the eye in the process as well!! GROSS!!! Not to mention the smell.....think supermarket day old fish! EGAD!!! I will again spare you the before pics!!

Long story short-we had fun spending time together enjoying what we love - taking care of our horses :)

Waiting on 1 more....

The attorney is waiting on one more document from Analise's testing. Then he will be sending all of her info to the agency!!! Oh yes, can you feel it? Can you feel the anticipation?

I woke up with such peace this morning. I know that everything is in the palm of His hand....

She's coming

OK. So, yesterday I posted that we finally received the I-171. Well, that's not TOTALLY the case.

Yesterday I was really to the point where I felt that my agency wasn't being as proactive about our I-171 as I would like. I knew, I mean I knew it in my heart that something wasn't right, so I called the agency said that I needed some answers. They were, as always, very kind and understanding and immediately called the CIS office to check on our case. Long story short - she calls me back and gives me the "great" news with a twist!

She said, "You were approved on January 11th." I replied with, "You have got to be kidding me!!" Apparently, the postal service "misplaced" the ENTIRE stack of approvals that were sent out by the CIS that day!! This created a whole new meaning of "Going Postal" for me!!

So, where are we now? My agency said that since they spoke directly with CIS and that CIS will issue us another approval letter immediately that they have already contacted the attorney in Guatemala and we should have.......our REFERRAL by next week. HOLY MOLY!!! I was ecstatic when she told me this!! I was running around the office singing, I kid you not, "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it..." See, you all are singing along now!!!

We are so VERY excited!! I will keep you posted if we hear any news!!!

THIS JUST IN...

We have APPROVAL through USCIS!!!!! YES!!!! More later...I am at work and we are in the middle of a disaster drill.

Still no prints....

Well, the time is flying by and we still have no fingerprints. Yesterday was harder than I thought. I really believed we would have had fingerprints by then. You know, the day of love, my mind wondered several times where and what our little girl was doing and she was with, has she been born. It made it harder to look at other blogs and share their joy when I am sadly waiting for finderprints...


I know, I know, it's time to cowboy up and know that God is still in control. I just wish He would control those fingerprints here a little more quickly. Today makes 8 weeks....