The Truth Sinks In

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

What is true of men is also true of hopes. Just three days ago, we were hoping that we were within weeks of bringing Cupcake home. In order to gear-up for the drastic changes that were imminent, we've been daydreaming about how it will be when she is home...and not all sunshine and roses - we have three kids. We know better. When TE picked on Sugar, I thought, "How will I handle this if TE picks on Cupcake." When everybody had meltdown, I thought, "Oh yeah, it's only going to get worse." But I also dreamed of walking through the grocery store with a little girl who's never seen so much food. And I bought an Easter sweater that will match the Easter dress that I bought 2 years ago. (It will still fit. I bought it big.) We dared to dream...and now we're licking our wounds. We were so close, we could almost reach out and touch it.

...and now that's all changed...

I've had my head in the sand with this whole Central Authority thing.

I thought God had parted the waters for us, like Moses at the Red Sea. I have felt through this whole process that we would be like Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea. Stuck between a rock and a hard place (actually it was a mountain and the sea), they look back to see Pharoah and his whole army. There appears to be NO WAY out. Then, at the moment of greatest despair, God comes to their rescue and delivers them. They walk through on dry ground! What an awesome testimony to the power of God and His loving care for His people.

Now, God has brought us through the Red Sea on numerous occasions during this process already. If we had known all the dangers we would face, we would have chickened out before we ever got started.

"Bak-bak-bak-BAGOK!"

If we had been sure of His incredible deliverance and when it would happen, we might have been up for this frightening roller-coaster ride.

"WOO-HOO! Bring it on!"

Instead, we stepped out in faith, knowing that God's hands were all over this, but not knowing what it is He is teaching us or what the outcome will be.

"Yes, Lord."

We are certain that Cupcake was meant to be ours. We are pretty sure God plans to bring her home. We don't know how many more times He will need to part the waters for us, but He is obviously not done letting us sweat and showing us His glory.

So, what's our Red Sea? Well, it goes like this...Rumors are flying and truth is hard to come by, but these are the confusing facts as I know them.

• The old President appointed the three "Board Members" for the Central Authority(CA) a few days before he left office.
  
• The new President replaced two of those with his own picks. The two that are "out" are suing the administration.
  
• There are two sets of people claiming to be the legitimate "Central Authority".
  
• One of those CAs is telling PGN (the Attorney General's office) what to do. PGN does not like to be told what to do. They claim the CA is overstepping their bounds.
  
• The CA claims that they deserve half of the attorney's fees so they can finish the processes themselves. The attorneys have sued the CA.
  
• The law that went into effect January 1st, states that all grandfathered cases must register within 30 days. The lawyers claim that means 30 business days (Feb 12). The CA claims it means 30 days (Jan 30). So the CA is not accepting new registrations. We were kicked out on Feb 1.
• The last time Guatemala had adoption issues, it shut down for 6 months while it hashed out the details.

So, as you can see, even if you don't understand a thing I'm saying, things are a mess...and we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Now, it's possible that the CA will get it's act together and accept registrations in the next two weeks, before the law runs out, and we'll just pick up where we left off...or it's possible that we're in for another long haul.

I wonder how God is going to orchestrate this one?

Blessings to you,
Mamita J