Mountains

Deep within the earth tectonic plates shift and collide in a constant struggle of might and braun. Powerful opposing forces war against themselves,shoving,grinding,lurching toward the sky in chaotic upheaval. Mountains are born and mountains climb ever closer to the heavens above.

Mountains divide countries, peoples, cultures for millennia. Only the foolhardy dream of what may lay on the other side. They know not the true cost of crossing those mountains. Reaching the summit of one mountain reveals an entire range, as far as the eye can see. The moment all at once exhilarating and discouraging. 'Look how far we've come!'.....'Oh. Look how far to go.' And quiet whispers of 'I don't see the end, do you?' There are earthquakes and rumblings of new mountains in this adoption journey. 'Look how far we've come!' We are so close to having that golden ticket, the letter from China saying YES to our request to adopt Elsie. We have battled the horror story of the home study agency, US immigration, State Dept, Chinese consulate. We have come so far! 'Oh. Look how far we have to go.' Our timeline has sadly shifted to instead of traveling to pick up Elsie in June, then July, then Aug...to now Sept AT BEST, but realistically October. October. This will be over a year. And leaves much time for those in power to change rules again. Whispers 'I don't see an end, do you?' The full explanation follows for those who are interested in the mechanics of this marathon. Feel free to skip to the prayer request at the bottom. LOA (the golden ticket letter) has been taking about 50-53 days from the date a dossier is logged in. They have done LOA in 18 days, so it doesn't NEED to take that long, but that is how they have been trending for the past few months. We are currently on day 63, but....We need to be moved into the *matching* phase first. Matching has always taken 1-8 days. Until this last batch, the batch ahead of us. They languished in *matching* for 14 days. Big deal, you may say. But as you will see, these extra weeks here and there add up to months of delay. Typically China waits 2-3 weeks in between batches, so we likely won't move to *matching* for at least 7-14 days. Then we may spend a couple weeks waiting for LOA after matching. At that point we are told 10-12 weeks until travel. But....now there are several serious mountains in that 10-12 week paperchase that have arisen. First is our immigration here in US. There are two immigration officers that, rather than approve the paperwork in the expected 2 weeks, these officers take 3-4 weeks, inexplicably. Once we get past this, we move to some weird steps that include an *Article 5 drop off and pickup*. That is where the new mountain has arisen this last week. Out of nowhere, our US Consulate in China is flagging about 1/2 of dossiers to provide more information. This includes requests for orphanages to provide newer medical reports (this adds 2 weeks) to requests for home study updates....this adds 2 months. The article 5 has ALWAYS taken exactly 10 days, they even schedule the pickup date(!), but now if you are flagged, it can take 2 weeks to 2 months longer. These are all brand new mountains. Most of them are United States bureaucracy-sponsored mountains. We are the privileged explorers of this new terrain. I am not adventurous. I prefer to follow in a well worn path. Neil said "Its a miracle it works at all." Yes. If Elsie ever comes home, it will be a miracle . If my sanity remains intact...that will be a miracle. Neil also said these words, a balm to my weary heart, " She is worth it. Darkness wants to keep us in the dark and discourage us, but we must continually move towards the Light. " Our hearts are aching to hold our daughter. Here's where I sing my theme song when we were in process with Zinny...Marvin Gaye's "Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from you (Elsie June)" Prayer request. Please please pray for our endurance. Pray for Elsie. Pray for a miraculously fast end to the LOA wait. " Truly I say to you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself in the sea,' and does not doubt their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. ". Mark 11:23 " I lift my eyes to the mountains --where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. ". Psalm 121:1-2