Nothing wasted in the waiting

 So.......I know it's hard to believe, but we have now broken our record for the longest gap between blog updates!  If I really believed you were all sitting on the edge of your seats, impatiently tapping your fingers and demanding new info, I might be more stressed about this.  The truth is though, you have supported us beautifully and respected our space as these last two and a half years of love's adventure have played out.  Thank you for that!  
It's still a waiting season for our family.  In fact, we just signed a new statement for our agency this morning acknowledging that there are "no established time frames for nearly any portion of the in-country process".  We signed our names under the final paragraph stating "By signing and returning this Haiti Adoption Acknowledgment Statement, we, the Adoptive Family, understand and acknowledge the risks and unknowns of the Haiti adoption process, and elect to continue".   I almost shuddered when I read that last line.  People like us don't love risks and unknowns!!!  We are pretty regular folks, not thrill seekers.  The only exceptional thing about us is the Spirit of Jesus living in us.  And yet, as perfect love was casting out all fear (1 John 4:18) I scribbled my name with confidence.  Of course we elect to continue!!!  
We may not have a timeline, but we have hope.  We may not have regular updates, but we have unending patience and joy available to us because of our good God.  He is constant.  "You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us; none can compare with you!  I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told."  Psalm 40:5
That's the really difficult thing about writing this update, I don't have the words to express the peace and joy and reassurance we have during this waiting season.  It is more than I can tell.  None compare with Him!
We recently saw July 1st come and go as our precious girl turned 3 years old.  How we longed to be with her and celebrate her life.  What a celebration we will have when she is home. She already has some sweet gifts that hang in her closet and fill her shelf just waiting for her to enjoy them!  (And I may or may not be caught peeking into her closet every now and then, just taking in the reality of her eventual presence in our home ;)   Langston and Banning, now almost 9 and 6 1/2 years old, continue to daydream out loud about the things they will teach their sister. They still call her room "sister's room" and love to take their guys in there and play.  They both pray for her every day, constantly growing and maturing during their own waiting season.  
We hope to hear in the next few months that the final papers are in and be invited to travel for our 15 day visit to the orphanage.  Our most recent e-mail update stated that contacts were made and the creche (orphanage) director was attempting to meet with IBESR to pin down what's keeping things from moving forward.  It can be very difficult to have a successful meeting with IBESR, so please pray that they will make time to visit with the director so she can provide whatever they need to move things along.  Thank you for your faithful prayers!
In the mean time, may our little girl experience the love of Jesus during her own waiting season.  May she be protected and nourished while we work to bring her home.  And may she learn to trust the good heart of her Perfect Father (who never wastes the waiting) while her daddy and I grow to be more like Him as we wait.  

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,  "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"?  Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not grow faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:27-31