The Faithful One

Scholars think this may have been an early Church hymn; its quoted by Paul in 2 Tim 2:11-13. I think an appropriate title might be The Faithful One

"If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him
If we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains
Faithful."

I find myself in that last line far to often; faithless. Why am I so much like Peter, stepping out in the water walking and then sinking? Praise Christ that he is the Faithful One and that his mighty hand is there to pull me up.

This whole adoption process has shown me how weak I am and how faithless I can be....I am so sorry God. We talked to Maria's Panamanian counselor/psychologist and out of the blue she said that it was obviously the Holy Spirit that had led us to Maria (our oldest daughter has learning disabilities and requires much therapy just like Maria will....we were already set up to help Maria with many of her troubles....I can't think of many who would be a better fit for Maria than ourselves) And this counselor is right when I was with Maria and the idea of trying to adopt her came to me it was the most powerful internal feeling I had ever felt....I was treating other patients and I had to get up and leave the room and go into a room where I could be alone. I cried my eyes tearless; I will never forget that. Some may say God doesn't speak to you....I say His Spirit speaks to our Spirit helping to reveal his will; anyways God put the question in me....why shouldn't you take my child into your family? He is pretty convincing like that.

I will say I am ashamed at my faithlessness over these past 2+ years.....He hasn't heard much praise for taking care of Maria while we wait, He hasn't heard How thankful I am that He put all this together in perfect order; no what He has heard is "God when", "God why bring it together if it isn't going to happen" "God I can't take the unknown much longer". All I can really say is Praise Christ that HE IS FAITHFUL WHEN WE ARE FAITHLESS..... Your are ALMIGHTY LORD! Praise your NAME!

Is it true?

Finally, after 2 1/2 years, after thousands of prayers and riding this wave to the crest of insanity we have a confirmation of a court date. May 20th is what we are looking at. Oh but nothing can be simple in Panama. If you have heard about or have any experience with China adoptions, once you get the referral, generally things may take a long while but they are straightforward. Not so in Panama, our attorney in Panama says that there are many ways this could play out: 1. we stay 3 weeks leave Maria and come back to get her? whats that about we can't do this route. 2. we could get temporary custody and come to the US for the Adoption IR4 status supposedly we wouldn't have to return but thats not what I have heard from Panama. 3. we get the case completed in Panama and Maria comes back. 4. The process takes 3 weeks I have to return to the states to work leave my wife there and then return when the process is complete. yea right. You can see the craziness. So its come to this and it still boils down to the fact that we just have to cast it down at Christ's feet. Why does adoption have to be like paying a ransom? I guess Christ paid a pretty high one for all of us though.

lastest news

Here is a perfect example of how the process in Panama works. 4 months ago, back in Nov. we were told "we will get a court date tommorow" 2 weeks pass....no word....we get in touch with our Panamanian attorney who told us this and he says the govt has been on vacation, there have been strikes in the country yada yada by now its near Thanksgiving and between Thanksgving and Christmas in Panama you can hang it up on getting any of this legal work done.
In January we hear the same story "we will get a court date at the end of the week"....guess what? oh your good.... its now April 1 and still no court date.

Lord, Please hear us. In our finite world this is so hard to accept we are sorry for our weakness in being frustrated, we know that You know what is best and we trust in that.