HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!!!! We sing His PRAISE!!!

After a very low two days and feeling lost at sea, blind and lonely. Prayer was all Shawn and I had to cling to. Prayer that His will be done over our wants. Prayer for His GLORY to shine, no matter the cost to our own hearts.

Two days ago, I learned the agency we were 'contracted' with had decided we would not be approved and that there were "concerns" with the initial interviews. I was devastated. DEVASTATED. My faith was so small that this would work out for our benefit. I am ashamed to admit it, but it is true.

Well, 3:30 was our appointment time. We arrived at 3:00 and we were done by 3:30. As it turns out, this agency failed to do their own homework and understand what I had told the social worker from the beginning. I had repeatedly told them Reece's Rainbow is not, was not, nor have they ever been an adoption agency. Apparently, they just assumed I was wrong or crazy and did not fully back up their own research (which was obviously very, VERY little research) because, AND THIS IS A BIG BECAUSE, their agency does NOT EVER work a homestudy unless it is in conjunction with a Hague adoption agency. PERIOD.

You know what that means? All of this mess was for nothing on their end but for HIS glory today. Our initial deposit of $200 was refunded to us because of their oversight after I had mentioned all this information was shared with a social worker from their office that signed off on a prescreening form needed by Reece's Rainbow in our initial paper work.

We learned all of this after we listened to the social worker go over her "concerns" which served no purpose but for her to have the last word since their agency cannot write a study for us PERIOD.

Her concerns were as follows:

lack of preparation on our behalf (hmmm, funny how that is since God just laid this on us last month)

lack of communication in place for when he comes home--I had told her I planned on using a PECS board for him and I would be learning simple Russia and that I did not know if he was even verbal. BUT that I did believe basic needs would be learned by us through him and the rest we would work through.

our previous marriages and that we could not tell her what was different this time around for us: well, we had told her we have mutual respect for one another, we are committed to one another, our family is our priority, and that we are Christians. Apparently, having a Christ centered marriage don't mean jack to her.

lack of proof of ability to fund his adoption because if we get over there and they say you give us $10,000 more or you cannot leave this country then we are screwed. Nice, huh? She knew of Alexander's fund, of our fundraising attempts, and our savings. We are very, very close to being fully funded. But, then she said, you have no savings in place for when you get home. I told her how do you know that? Our ability to save is apparent.

Shawn and I were never comfortable with her or the way she conducted herself from the beginning. We were repeatedly encouraged to cut our costs and move on. I was stubborn and too worried about time. Well, I have learned after wasting their time and ours; I will not worry about time anymore. God has a plan with perfect timing. I will leave it to Him from now on.

Sadly, this agency's Regional Director has said we cannot have our documents back and we have had to contact legal services. If our contract was never legal, they have no privy to our confidential information (and they have LOTS of it). I don't care if they put their stamp all OVER the papers, we just want our documents back.

So, we will move on from here with another agency that came highly recommended from another mom on the RR yahoo group. This is a Christian organization with a guarantee to get our study done within 60 days of the home visit. I have spoken with their adoption director about our personal background and requested an application. We will move forward with them this next week.

Right now, I am just so pleased God showed up, revealed himself and protected us from any more harm with this agency. He found a loophole in their policy that the agency overlooked and used it to bless us and protect us. We both could not be happier.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!! Thank you to each of you who lifted me up, especially. I was down, beaten, tattered and bruised. I needed your prayers and I need His will. I got both today.