A gift from the mailman.....

November 29, 2008, Saturday

Matt, Ethan, and I got home from our day of shopping, browsing, and playing late tonight. Matt was searching through today's mail as I was getting Ethan settled. He lifted up a large envelope to show me. I stopped what I was doing and said something to the effect of "no way!" Matt opened the envelope to reveal the GOLDEN TICKET! We received our I800A approval! Hallejulah!!!! It finally arrived! Homeland Security has a target of 90 days and we submitted our paperwork on 6-26. Our approval date is 11-25 which is a tad bit beyond 90 days but it is all in God's time. He has a time for everything and now is the time for Evan's I800A approval! I wanted to share the good news with everyone. The next step is Evan's official referral. Our adoption agency has his referral but could not offically give it to us until our I800A approval. Once we accept his referral then officially Evan will be matched with us between our agency and the Philippines. PTL! God is good! We have to complete more paperwork (I800 and some more referral paperwork... gee I love paperwork) and pay another 5k not including travel. Money is difficult during this time of year, or any time of year, but God will provide. With God all things are possible!

Karrie received her I800A approval too! Yeah, Gates is coming home too! During the time of tirelessly waiting for our I800A's Karrie wrote me a line of inspiration that said, "one day we will be able to say I800A been there... done that!" I kept saying that to myself over and over. The other day while I was working Karrie sent me a text that read, "I800A btdt" when she received her approval. Now I can officially say I800A Been There Done That! Now I must make matching shirts because we deserve it! It's been a long process!

We have our approval! One step closer to having Evan come home! Praise God!