WE GOT PA!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy to announce that today we got Pre-Approval to adopt Patrick. Our agency said that PA could take a matter of weeks. Ours took 3 days. Thank you, Jesus.

I believe this adoption journey has stretched me the most. I have truly hit a wall on the independent path I've been walking most of my life. With Maisy's adoption, I spent 2 1/2 years planning and saving money and studying going about my business. Of course, I prayed for her, and I fasted and I knew that, in His time, God would bring her home. He is not only faithful. He IS Faith. We brought Maisy home. She had surgery. It was a long, difficult, but successful process.

The journey was a little more difficult with Moxie, but not much. Moxie's adoption was so much quicker than Maisy's. My main concern was her grieving the only life she'd ever known. I remember holding her in the hotel room while singing "There's Just Something About That Name" by the Gaithers and wondering what I thought I was doing making this poor screaming baby pull away from me. I was praying out loud, "Help me Jesus. Please hold my hand." At that moment---I promise you---Moxie looked up and said, "Mama, Allo, Mama". Praise his Holy Name!!!!

While we were in China with Moxie, Satan was working overtime. We did not take a plane ride without hitting serious turbulence. I am really afraid of flying. I cried out to Jesus. While we were in Nanjing, my insulin pump quit working. Quit working as in, might as well throw it away quit working. For the rest of the trip I fought intense tiredness and Ben and I woke up every 2 hours to check my blood sugar. It took me 2 weeks to feel better once we got home. When we arrived in Guangzhou, we found that the agency representative responsible for our travel arrangements had not purchased our tickets to Shanghai for our departure from China. We used a local travel agent to get that ironed out, but not without some headache. God was there. Loving us. Allowing us to be tested. Allowing us to Stand. Stretching. Stretching. Stretching. Showing me that HIS GRACE IS ALWAYS SUFFICIENT.

So, now, my prayer is simple. God, please save my son's life. Please provide the resources to get us to China. I am powerless. I have surrendered. Jesus, please hold my hand. God has had me reach out to people that I have admired for over a year, seeking advice and prayer. I am accustom to people coming to me for prayer. I like being an intercessor. But, through Patrick's adoption process I have learned, in my heart, a lesson I have long known in my head---It is more difficult to have your feet washed than to wash the feet of others because surrender is necessary for the blessing to be complete.

I am so thankful for those women who, for me, are true Heroes of the faith, Sonia, Lorraine, Connie, Mary and others to whom I have not spoken but who have blessed me daily. I know that these sisters in Christ are lifting Patrick up every day.

For days now, the words to one of my favorite hymns has been running though my mind, even as I sleep. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of Glory divine!!! He is holding my hand. He is holding Patrick's heart. To Him be the Glory.

Please join me in praying for the orphans in Russia. Love never fails.
If you would like to post a prayer for Patrick in the comments, I would love to read them!!

Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory,
Amy