Well, I'm trying not to be too hopeful, but it's really hard!! According to other's timelines, this week could very well be the week that our Travel Approval comes in. Everyone has been waiting about two months from LOA, and we hit two months yesterday. Our agency doesn't notify you right away, they like to get the Consulate Appointments set up first and then call you with exact dates. So, since a few other TAs for people with September LOAs trickled in last week, it is possible that they have ours and are waiting to get that CA set up before calling us. Or it might come in this week. I've seen mostly first week of Sep. LOAs get their TAs, but I did see one 9/14 (only a day before us). The suspense will probably kill me, and I don't know how I will get anything at all done this week!!! Our agency has a group leaving on Dec. 2, and we are still hoping we will be able to get in on that group. It just so happens to be a certain little boy's 11th birthday that day, but he's OK with the possibility of mom and big brother leaving to China on that day. I have the earth's coolest kids! He must know that I will, of course, feel guilty, and make up for it by buying him twice as many presents : )
And adding to the excitement is the fact that we are only 11 days from Black Friday!!! YAYYYY!!
I know how scary this time was for me. No matter how much faith we have, the unknown can be frightening.
ReplyDeleteI've only shared this story with family, but I want to share it with you. A few weeks before we traveled to Cheeky, I was filled with so much fear and dread, I was ready to back out and say, "forget it." I didn't want to leave my kids while I traveled half way around the world. I was scared that Cheeky would be a monster child or that she'd be so developmentally delayed, I would spend the rest of my life caring for her needs. I was afraid that bringing home another child would ruin the family we already had.
I lay in bed one night, wide awake while my husband slept peacefully, and I was so anxious, I felt physically ill (which is not like me). Finally, I did what I should have before, and I prayed. "Lord, I am so scared. I don't know what is coming, and I'm not sure I can handle it, and what if I can't mother this little blond-haired, visually impaired kid? What if I make things worse for her and make things miserable for my other kids?"
And this is the weird part and is why I don't share this often. In the midst of pouring out my fears, I had a sudden sense of peace. My eyes were closed, and I saw the most vivid image of the world floating in black space, and I had a sense of God holding it all up, His hands surrounding the globe. Something in my soul responded to that image, and it was as God were audibly saying, "I hold the entire world in My hands. Do you think I can't hold your life in them, too?"
To this day, thinking about that moment gives me chills. I'm a pragmatic kind of gal, not given to looking at dreams and visions as signs from God, but I can't deny what happened that night or the peace it gave me.
When you get nervous, I hope you'll think about our tiny earth floating in space, God's hands wrapped firmly around it. He created it all. Even the path you are on. May you find peace in that.