Stumbling blocks and Stepping Stones

I have a good friend Sue who at the beginning of this journey would write to me about how she saw each thing that was happening as a stepping stone. We know that there is an enemy who will attempt stumbling blocks along this path, but of course we pray for as few of those as possible. Well, we've had a few this week. Paperwork has been sent to the father for signature, voluntarily releasing his rights. No one thinks he will sign it just like that, but God could know better. If he doesn't we are not sure what the next step is-though likely it would be some sort of court hearing and unless the courts have changed dramatically I don't know how quickly that could happen, or how much more $ it will cost. We are hoping our attorney may be able to try and reach the father by phone and work at convincing him to sign without a court hearing etc. Please pray that she will, and that he will.

As I said in the last post we were misinformed as to how long and how detailed the home study portion would be. The woman we've hired seems to know her stuff and says if we hurry we should be able to get the homestudy done by baby's birth. Toward that end we go today to have our fingerprints taken for the Homeland Security clearance or the new law I spoke of. Pray that the red tape of our government never rears its head and we see the fastest turnaround on our clearance that they've ever seen!

We've doctors forms that need completion(and potentially doctors appointments), proof of rabies certs for our dogs, employment verification letters, copies of marriage certificates, Cori's death certificate...you name it, its wanted and due for this homestudy. Steve and I will both need to be interviewed separately and together, plus a home visit.

Perhaps someone could arrange for an extra hour or two to be added to each day from here til August 23, because with both of us working and the house issues to get done as well as now all this paperwork we are going to need at least a week more of hours to get it all done!

But we cannot forget that each stumbling block is just another opportunity for God to turn it into a stepping stone. He is the one we need to put our trust in and rely on-for this is a blessing from Him-and He will never leave us or forsake us!