When it comes to measurements, what units you use makes all the difference in the world. 35 degrees means two radically different things to someone living in the United States than to someone living in Europe. A distance of 25 is not very long if we are thinking in centimeters. But if the is miles, that is quite a stretch.
Like so many things in life, we can easily be tempted to use the wrong units in our measurements. We expect grand success and so we want to measure ministry by the number of people converting (even though this is not something in our control or dependent upon us in any way), how large our ministry groups are, how many people are being impacted, etc. Interestingly enough, however, the metric Scripture seems to use is faithfulness, not numerical increase. The prophet with the best numerical ratings is Jonah and yet the ones who are most faithful and highlighted as those receiving the favor and blessing of the Lord are the same ones who often seen little to no numerical impact (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, etc.).
When it comes to adoption, it is far to easy for us to expect growth to occur in unrealistically large chunks. We all know it doesn’t happen overnight, but sometimes we need to adjust our scales better in order to celebrate the millimeters instead of being frustrated that we haven’t even made it an inch yet. We are so thankful for the millimeters we have seen so far. Incredibly, and by God’s grace, we were able to attend a church planting collective in Edinburgh with all 5 kids in tow and avoided any catastrophic breakdowns (not that we avoided all breakdowns because we did have those…remember, millimeters…). It is actually quite the feat when you consider that they spend multiple hours working on school work and remaining relatively, reasonably well behaved (no, don’t imagine centimeters…millimeters…).
By God’s grace our children have been reasonably well behaved from the start. But even then, being in a strange environment and asked to concentrate on school, while your parents attend a conference for many hours is a stretch. The fact that we survived was already an accomplishment. That we not only survived, but maintained most of our sanity (most) is a minor miracle. No doubt there is much work still to be done. There were plenty of stressors over the week and our armor did end up quite dented. But sometimes we need to stop to celebrate the millimeters. Every millimeter adds up to something greater over much time.
Thankfully the Lord graciously reminds us of His kind hand of guidance. We are blessed with a workplace that values families and kids, with colleagues who are not bothered by a bit of noise, and flexible schedules that allow for us to undertake some of these things. God reminds us of where we have come from and that gives us hope for the difficult days. And we are reminded that our spiritual journeys so often reflect this. Too often we are only making a millimeter of spiritual progress even though it seems like we ought to be miles down the road. But God is faithful and He is gracious. He encourages us and patiently inches us along. We pray we can reflect His heart to those in our charge.
In light of today, a question most Americans still remember hearing or asking is, where were you on September 11th, 2001? Many of us still have the image of television screens showing the horrifying live images of a plane flying into the World Trade Center and the buildings collapsing. There are certain events which have such a strong impact that they are seared into our brains. We can remember aspects of them vividly as if it were yesterday and yet other aspects are strangly fuzzy and missing.
One of the things we have been learning and discovering is that trauma can also work that way. Medical experts have demonstrated this and the book The Body Keeps the Score is an excellent recounting of the way that trauma can impact us physically even though we might not be aware of it (and no, we aren’t getting promotional paybacks yet…but perhaps if you buy enough copies we might get enough to pay our street parking fees…over 9 dollars an hour…not to mention the “fast food” “cheap” dinner for our family of seven…done with that rant except to say maybe we need to do one of those puppy eye hungry kids pictures as a means of motivating financial support…). It is fascinating how God has designed our bodies with such capacities.
However, we have been learning about this from the instruction manual of life. And despite knowing, reading, and even talking about it, we are still caught of guard when we experience it. Not too long along some of the kids approached me with the question – do you remember when we said in Brazil that one day you would get tired of us and stop liking us? Now, my brain is not nearly as quick as it ought to be (perhaps having 5 kids has burned brain cells in addition to whiting hair…). This means that often I have to ask kids to repeat themselves…not for the reason they think (that I don’t understand the language). It is because I am usually deep in thought in one language and then being spoken to very rapidly in a second language about a topic completely unrelated and with no context whatsoever (although you would think marriage would have prepared me better for this…). This was no exception. I had to change the language of my brain first and then try to recall which conversation this was referring to and then think about where this was coming from while also making sure I didn’t misunderstand any of the words.
Once the kids repeated the same thing and I was sure that what I thought I heard the first time was indeed correct, I said yes, not sure where this was going. The follow up was – well has that happened yet? Do you still like us?
Likely this was brought on in part by us reaching the one year anniversary and celebrating our family day. And just like for 9/11, these moments can remind us of something seared into our brains. Still, it was unexpected. Yes, we know this can be a haunting, persistent issue for adoptive children. We have even written about it many times. But, we don’t think about it ever because it has never been a consideration (perhaps we have been tempted to put them in handcuffs until they are adults to make sure no more mischievousness takes place when we are at our wits end…). And yet, comments like this remind us that there is still a monster which adoptive kids battle and quite often more frequently than we realize. Because for every time they are brave enough to actually ask the question, you have to wonder how often have they never said anything?
Time, they say, heals and wounds. And yet, sometimes time is actually the culprit. A time of trauma can sear a brain and a life…it can be repaired by the grace of God for nothing is beyond His healing touch. Yet, it is not necessarily easy, quick, or even guaranteed. But we pray that as His grace allows, seared trauma can gently be reassured, lovingly bandaged, and carefully replaced with truths that stem from His Truth.
And how often is it that we have the same lurking fear which we take to our heavenly Father? Has enough time passed yet for you to stop liking me? Now that you see me and all my flaws? Have you grown tired of me? The amazing thing is that He knows ever detail from the start and He loves His children despite that with a love that is not based in us, but grounded in Him.
And on that note – this past Sunday we were thankful to be reminded of that truth from Scripture. The pastor of the combined Tain and Fearn church preached a fantastic sermon on the cost of our salvation. We would love to encourage you to listen to it to also get to know Alistair! One of the amazing things was how well he weaved it together with the morning sermon Luke preached…you would have thought Alistair had written both sermons because they were so seamlessly combined. Thus, you can find the link to both and may this be an encouragement for fearful hearts who have a sinking fear that our adopted Father might perhaps tire of us one day.
This past week has been a big one. We began the school year and don’t worry, there are all kinds of stories that have already come out of that which you will eventually get to read. Homeschooling has all kinds of highlights, but it is not without its own share of struggles. And getting back into the swing of things is difficult for students and teachers. We were thankful to get full curriculum this go around and have some good plans in place…now for the whole part about execution…
But beyond that, we also received the news that our citizenship application has be fully reviewed and that an interview could be scheduled. We now have a date of November 18th to be in California. We have received official confirmation from USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) itself and with that were able to begin work to book plane tickets from Munich, make plans to transition from Scotland to Munich right before this time, and then start getting things set up for the time stateside. It is a blessing to finally see some level of light at the end of this tunnel we have been traveling in. Our plans have been upended, rerouted, completely mangled along the way, but God’s plan has never changed.
We have been amazed to see how the Lord has provided as well. Our adoption fundraising efforts via Lifesong were much more than we expected. In fact, we thought we would have a large surplus of unused (and unusable by us) funds earmarked solely for adoption expenses. However, the lawyer fees we have needed to pay have almost exactly matched the huge surplus we thought we would have – it seems that someone else knew exactly what we would need well before we did! We are thankful for a sovereign God who provided the exact amount to cover these fairly massive unexpected fees!
So what are our next steps? Well, now that we have the citizenship appointment, we are about to launch the visa application process which our lawyer has already done. We have an appointment in London in mid October. We will continue to minister, serve, and engage in Hilton, Scotland until around the second week of November. Then, a few days before our flight out of Munich, we will begin the travel from Hilton to Munich. This will allow us to store things we have brought with us for Scotland, but won’t need in the states. Pick up any things which we might need and had stored, and also leave our car with friends. We will then travel to the states, drop off the bulk of our luggage before take just what we need for the onward journey to California. Once the hearing is completed and citizenship is official, we will be able to apply for passports. We will also have 6 months (maximum) in the states in order to spend time with family and ministry partners and to see the Lord bring in the additional monthly support (around $2,000 per month) we need to meet our growing needs and to replace support lost over time.
We are thankful for how the Lord continues to guide each step! He has been and continues to be our light even in the midst of the tunnel. But we are also thankful He is leading us to the other side of this crazy citizenship journey…one that will be 13 months in the making…
God is truly an incredible Designer. All you have to do is look around in nature to see beauty of the most spectacular sort. We are surrounded by it in rolling hills, the sound of seagulls, the lush green of pastures, the bleating of lambs, the view of the seashore. But it isn’t just creation, it is how He has designed us as creatures. Our bodies are a wonderous mystery…something that has been the subject of study and curiosity for several thousands of years and we still have failed to uncover all the mysteries of the human body.
All you have to do to get a small taste of this is to consider how much our body does at a subconscious level. You have a whole military defense unit which is operating apart from your awareness. You have alarm systems and emergency mechanisms which automatically kick into place when they are triggered. None of this occurs with deliberate engagement on your part, these are all systems which are put into place to protect us from imminent danger.
These responses of ours are so well tuned and honed, that studying them can yield a wealth of ideas for how to design other such response systems which can be practically employed. We are most grateful for these things especially when emergencies are upon us. The ability to react in a split second without thought can be the difference between life and death.
However, as marvelous as these things are, trouble can arise when our responses get tested in ways they never should or when they get stuck in the on position for too long or too often. They weren’t designed for such action and, as studying God’s creation has shown, every action has an opposite and equal reaction. Leaving an emergency defense system designed to rapidly burn energy in order to produce hyperawareness, hyperresponse, and hyperaction on or flipping the switch too frequently is akin to revving a car engine without respite. A few times won’t cause much harm, but overuse will lead to burn out or engine failure.
This is where trauma can enter in and make a horrible mess out of a glorious design. This is especially true when it comes to children as it interrupts the programing years, the years of development, the years in which it is easiest to impact the systems in place. Imagine a child who has faced a serious threat or a devastating loss. You have likely had this happen to you – how long did it take you to recover? What did your body do to defend itself or rejuvenate itself? That is after years of having established solid foundations. But what might that look like if you never were able to establish any secure foundations? And what would it look like if this wasn’t a one time occurrence, but repetitive?
As you might imagine, this might lead to your body developing certain defense mechanisms, survival tactics, and lifestyle routines which you aren’t cognizantly aware of or fully understanding. This might simply seem normal to you or the way you have always been and you don’t know any differently. This means you wouldn’t be able to explain it, address it, reprogram it, or heal from it.
This is where things can get really tricky, really fast. Now these are not things unique to adoption and not all adoptive kids have this or have it to the same extent. But they are more likely to be a part of an adoption story especially since all adoptions begin with some level of loss…how high that level is can very greatly, but all of them begin with loss of biological family minimally. For adoptive parents, this is where life can feel like a massive jigsaw puzzle with no box top to help guide the way.
Are outbursts simply a “normal” response or are they due to hidden traumas that have developed mechanisms which are getting triggered by something? Is compulsive behavior mischievousness or masking a survival technique? Is sleeping without waking rested due to growth, hormones, stage of life, or is it a sign of a body which is unable to fully rest because it has been stuck in hyperalert mode due to ever present dangers?
As you might imagine, the way one answers these questions can drastically impact the approach one takes to resolving them. If I know my child is simply going through a stage of life or something particularly stressful, I might respond by trying to resolve the immediate issue at hand – fatigue, emotional imbalance, etc. However, if this is an unconscious response programmed in, it means that simply treating the symptoms won’t actually fix the issue and might leave it either unresolved or reinforce the danger of dealing with the root issues.
The body has a hidden memory system that stores, files, analyzes, and on that basis adjusts, defends, programs, builds. And this points to God’s marvelous design…even our best efforts haven’t been able to match this yet! But it also means that our bodies might remember and react to that which we aren’t aware of any more or have actually subconsciously blocked out of memory (another amazing ability to attempt to self heal).
With the passage of time, patterns start to slowly emerge and behavioral norms are getting more established. This helps us to start to see what might be biological, what might be temporal, and what might be traumatic. But, that being said, we often feel like we are fumbling about in the dark trying to locate any small glimmer of light without tripping over anything or accidentally destroying any fragile elements. Prayers are much needed and very, very much appreciated.
And we are thankful for the amazing support of so many! The ongoing prayers are sustaining us in ways you will likely never know and ways we don’t even fully see (although what we do see leaves us in humble gratitude). People taking time to check in on us and see how we are doing…who want to listen and empathize. An adoption agency who has been phenomenally supportive, overflowing with resources, and a social worker who has been incredibly encouraging, praying for us, and caring for us all. Friends and mentors who are willing to drop everything and spend hours with us, letting us verbally (and emotionally) vomit. And the Lord directing us through other to very helpful resources: The Bible…which not only upholds us, guides us, but also keeps proving to be the greatest wisdom applicable to every situation; learning through exposure…there is so much we are finding our kids teaching us (even though they have no clue), curiosity and patient examination yields some remarkable observations, outcomes, and insights…and other resources from those who have also studied or walked a similar road (The Connected Child or our most recent acquisition The Body Keeps the Score). Thank you for caring for us as we seek to do our best, despite our own weaknesses and failings, to care for God’s fearfully and wonderfully made image bearers.
Finally, as a tagline bonus (especially if you made it this far) – this past Sunday we were blessed to join the Dornoch Free Church of Scotland. If you are curious to see how worship styles and liturgies can differ even amongst churches in the same denomination only half an hour apart, feel free to check this out:
Being in Scotland for just short of 2 weeks has given us time to contemplate and gain some new perspectives. There are many things we can and will share…oh if we were just back in the days of getting paid by the word like Charles Dickens (which makes sense why he was so elaborate in descriptions!), we would be millionaires! But instead we get to share our random thoughts that you so kindly read 🙂
As we have been settling in we have really loved getting to know the church community here. We have only just begun to scratch the surface of getting to know people and histories, but already we have been very blessed. One of the interesting things this has caused us to think about is the small church dynamic and the often unforeseen challenges.
The Christian world is often more influenced by secular values than we care to admit. Like the frog in the pot, the temperature rises without us realizing we are boiling alive in our cultures. Living overseas already has offered us many new perspectives on this aspect. But now moving to a small church community is giving us more perspectives to think upon.
You see, the small church dynamic illustrates a typical problem to which answers are very few. The church at Hilton has been looking for an assistant minister for several years with no luck. The hope is to find someone who would eventually be able to take over as the senior pastor of Hilton once the church has reached a self sustaining size (and it isn’t far off now). But, as several of the elders shared with us, the challenge is to find anyone at all. Seminary graduates are often prime candidates for such positions. However, many of them are not really interested in moving far off the beaten path and strongly pursue opportunities in larger cities. Indeed, even getting someone out for an internship is hard and although the internship model is a great way to train and to field future ministers, it primarily benefits churches large enough to be able to host interns.
Furthermore, many seminary graduates are now looking for younger churches with university students. One reason is because these are the types of churches they have been attending lately and are comfortable with. And a location like Hilton, in the Scottish Highlands, has a reputation for being more traditional and conservative (and in many ways it is…but there is actually someone refreshing about that for us and much to admire and learn from).
Getting help beyond national candidates is just as hard for small churches. Missions groups are typically focusing on larger cities. The argument used to justify this is that we need to send people the most strategic locations. The way we define this is places where there is a maximal opportunity for impact. This means larger cities and certainly moves small, country churches to the bottom of the priority list.
Please don’t misunderstand this – this is not a diatribe against being strategic or against targeting larger cities. We certainly need to do that. But interestingly enough, Scripture doesn’t ever give any such mandates or even guidelines for this. In fact, much of our strategic convictions arise from secular models and approaches. You can certainly find examples of people planting churches in Scripture in large and flourishing places with a big impact. But you can also find examples of God sending messengers to places where they have little to no impact. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah are all illustrations of prophets who, by worldly measures had very little impact and were not strategic. No one listened to them, they didn’t have followings, their “fruit” was nonexistent. Yet, they are faithful to a call. Because of this, they are having an impact on generations to come and their inspired writings are being used by the Holy Spirit to transform lives.
Perhaps we simply need to consider rethinking things a bit. Maybe we should target the big cities, see large, flourishing churches established, while also equally emphasizing the small gatherings. The Lord has some amazing people at Hilton, who are very passionate for the Lord and His Word. They too need an undershepherd who will care for them and lead them to the Shepherd. Prayerfully the Lord will raise up the right person in a short time. But maybe we can also seek to encourage up and coming pastors to have a heart for the small flocks, not just eyes on numbers. Maybe we can compel missions boards to seek to also prioritize the smaller villages and not just be concerned about statistical advances. Maybe this is the Lord preparing us, in His kindness and mercy, for church planting in Innsbruck….or maybe He closes doors and opens others. But in the meantime, we are so thankful to have the privilege and the honor of getting to serve and being served by the glorious fold of the Great Shepherd gathered twice on Sundays and throughout the week at the Seaboard Village of Hilton in the Scottish Highlands. Won’t you join us in praying for them? In praying for their needs and for the Lord to bring along a pastor?
And, if you are curious to experience a service, you can find the link to the full evening service Luke was blessed to preach at here…and we hope you will be as blessed as we have been to experience singing the Psalms!
After several days of travel, we were thankful to arrive at our next stop. We were able to break the trip up over several days, going from Munich to a small city close to Dusseldorf and Cologne on Tuesday. On Wednesday we drove the remaining distance to the wharfs just outside of Amsterdam. We were able to have lunch in view of Schiphol International Airport before spending some time at a ruin castle and then continuing onto our ferry. Wednesday late afternoon we boarded the ferry, enjoyed dinner aboard, didn’t realize that the sea sickness medication would hit us just afterward like a sledgehammer (or perhaps it was a week of hectic packing and cleaning?), and then slept well before breakfast and disembarking. Then on Thursday we drove the remaining distance, arriving early evening at our new home.
We were so thankful to be greeted by a warm meal delivered and another meal in the fridge. Both of these we unexpected blessings along with the fruit, dry goods, toys, and other things that were graciously brought to the Manse we are staying in. After all the travel, it was amazing to be blessed in this way by a church community we haven’t had a chance to meet in person yet. The Body of Christ in action is such an enormous blessing and a tremendous encouragement…especially to weary travelers (from the physical roads and the spiritual roads).
The tiny village we are staying in is a sea coastal town which can be walked end to end in a few minutes. The views are gorgeous, the Manse is spacious (larger than our now former home), the yard is very large (much to the delight of World Cup frenzied kids), and the wind is quite stiff. We are thankful for and very excited to see what new adventures the Lord has in store for us.
Today we travelled to a nearby larger town to celebrate our 11th anniversary by getting lunch as a family and wandering around to explore. There is nothing more romantic than fish and chips while keeping kids under control, but we are so thankful for the life the Lord has blessed us with. It is incredible to think about what has happened in the last 11 years.
We have made two international house moves
We have lived for more than a month in 5 different countries on 3 different continents
We have been blessed to adopt 5 kids
We have changed missions boards to focus on a different aspect of ministry and seen the Lord open the doors for ministry in 3 countries, with a 4th on the horizon
We have seen the Lord open the doors for teaching in Europe and beyond, getting connected to India and what God is doing there
We have watched as God threw us into pastoral ministry and then gave us a heart to see this have a permanent place in our future ministry role
We could list and name so many more things! Learning languages, learning cultures, learning trauma, learning how what we think is stressful can seem like a piece of cake by comparison with what God brings later. But above all, we have learned how faithful, gracious, and sovereign the Lord is. If you had told us even half of this 11 years ago, we would have laughed it off as ridiculous or maybe been more hesitant about starting down the journey. Yet, reflecting back, we can see how the Lord has prepared us for the next step and slowly, kindly led us through every storm. The seas have certainly not been calm and stiff breezes have been a constant. But the Lord has anchored us all the way through.
Even our current tempest is being used by Him for His glory and our good. It leaves us excited to think what He will do in us even as we pray He is pleased to do things through us.
We are currently surrounded by boxes and incredible chaos. It seems that the more you try to pack the more things get cluttered. It makes it hard to see the progress, although we are hoping we are getting near to the end.
In the midst of the chaos of moving, we are also trying to help those impacted by the chaos of the move. We have shared different aspects of trying to help children regulate. It is not a one time thing either. It is more like a daily, moment by moment type of thing. There is a ton which we have learned through this and many things that can be shared.
One of the many things that has come out of this has been the chance to talk with our kids about their past. Transitions often bring about regression especially amongst adoptive children. While all children will get stressed and perhaps revert back to some former habits, adoptive children can almost seem to move years backwards rather than just steps. Part of this has to do with transitions bringing the past back to the forefront. This can resurface dramas and hardships. It can make it hard to work through and resolve without first travelling backward in time to understand, as best as possible.
Fortunately, some of our kids habe been willing to travel back in time with us and give us some small glimpses of the past. Their story is theirs to tell and ours to guard until they do. However, suffice to say that it is not a pleasant journey either for the story teller or the audience. Multiple of them have had trouble thinking about anything positive, even the smallest positive thing about their life before the orphanage. In their words, there was nothing positive about this part of their past.
Recently, one of them was talking and the question came up about what is something they would change about their past, if possible. The most negative aspects and individuals were the quick, easy, and anticipated answer. But what was not so anticipated was what came next. The child paused for a second and then said, “But then again, if those things hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have met you all and you wouldn’t have adopted me.” Given their story and the darkness surrounding it, this was a remarkable thought to have come out unprompted.
The amazing thought can be summarized with the word redemption. Redemption means to buy back something which was lost. It is the image of a possession sold to settle a debt or provide needed funds that is then repurchased by the original owner. A child experienced a life no one should ever have to endure, lost a family that should have been and sadly never was, and yet, through all the tragedy, is able to see how the Lord works through sin to bring about His purposes and His purposes for His own are good. It provided a great chance to share about how God is able to take pain and sin, and redeem what was lost in a glorious finale that none other could produce or even imagine.
This is the story of all of God’s adoptive children – we were lost in our sins and trespasses. Our darkness was our own making. Yet, God in His kindness did not leave us in our darkness. Rather, He stepped in, invaded with His light, and redeemed His own…bought them back, and brought them into a family.
This isn’t to say the darkness is excusable or that it is easy to say, share, hear, or feel. It is wrong and always will be. Yet, it is to say that even as evil as sin can be, God can bring about something good – not because of, but in spite of the best attempts of the darkness. Because God is a God who redeems. And that is a glorious truth worth celebrating even as the darkness is mourned over. Praise God for His redemptive work!
Now…about those boxes…perhaps something else needs some redemption…
Although it has been coming down to the wire and it seems like a million things have been changing at the last possible second, the pieces are slowly beginning to fall into place. We were very thankful to discover the Brazilian passports in our mailbox today. This is one piece that allows us to breathe a bit easier and to start the application process for the electronic travel authorization required to visit the UK. We were so thankful for all the help we received from friends who walked us through this process, helped us fix the tax number complications, and helped us email the consulate to request the passports due to our approaching deadline to leave.
Another piece that has fallen into place recently is a location in Scotland opening up. We have learned that the area of Fearn, Scotland has a Free Church that could use some help and that also has a manse that we can stay in for the duration of our time there. There are still plenty of details to be discussed – exactly in what way we can best minister to and serve the congregation there, the address of the manse, etc. But we are thankful to have a general vicinity at this stage. Fearn is about 45 minutes by car north of Inverness, one of the northernmost large cities in Scotland. We have been incredibly thankful for all the help and support that we have received from MTW in coordinating this and getting things set up.
We are also thankful to have been able to finish out our time at MICC well – more to come on that in a later post. We were incredibly thankful for the send off, the warm and emotional goodbyes, the very kind words and thoughts, and the chance to rejoice together in all that the Lord has done. Today we were grateful to take part in a wedding as our final event with MICC. The Lord has put all the pieces in place for them to continue moving forward well and for that we rejoice greatly. We are thankful for the leadership He has blessed the church with and we are excited to see how He works through the new senior pastor to bless this special congregation.
Pieces are also falling into place with moving. We have been so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with storage options generously donated to us – so much so that we don’t have to pay for a storage facility as we thought we would need to. We have been overwhelmed with the number of offers to help move, pack, clean, lift, etc. It has been a tremendous blessing for which we are immensely grateful. In the midst of all the challenges and stresses that we have been facing, it is a blessing to see these bright rays breaking through the storm clouds.
And we are thankful for you! So many of you have shared how you have been reading and enjoying the blog! It is an encouragement to know someone is reading what we right…and hopefully even getting some comic relief from our chaos! Thank you for your prayers and very kind words! We are thankful for you!
Our jigsaw puzzle of life right now is incredibly complex. But thankfully the Lord knows exactly where each piece belongs and one at a time, in His good timing, He is place each piece into place. And one day we will be able to look back and see the masterpiece from what felt like absolute turmoil.
This past week we managed to get a hopeful glimmer of light at what we pray is the end of the citizenship tunnel. Our lawyer was able to transfer our N600-K applications to California. She indicated the USCIS office there was already beginning to review the application. This certainly was hopeful, especially when she indicated that our requested appointment date of October should be very doable.
We are very thankful to have some ballpark dates to be aiming for as it will allow us to also begin making plans for the 6 month window we will have to be stateside. Of course, there are all kinds of ways that things can go wrong and we are somewhat scarred from our experience thus far. However, even if things don’t go as quickly as the lawyer suggested, the official case adjudication time frame for 80% of applications is 6 months. That is significantly faster than the 65 months St. Louis is now quoting and will fall within the 6 month tourist visa timeframe for Scotland.
All of this is the first glimmer of light we have seen in a long time. We are still praying for the hand of the Lord to continue to guide everything and would be most grateful if you would be praying for this too. We still have many things to figure out and, as we have learned very well over the last few months, nothing is official until we get an official notice. The next step is seeing where in Scotland we can be of most help, travelling there in mid July, awaiting the official citizenship hearing date, applying for B2 (non-immigration) visas, and then travelling to the states. Although it is just a glimmer, having some light at the end of the tunnel is a great blessing especially when the tunnel has seemed to be unending. We are thankful for the Lord’s work and kindness and pray He will continue to allow the N600-K applications to move forward.
Navigation requires having a plan, charting a course, and then preparing for chaos on the open seas. After much prayer, careful consideration, and discussion, we have a course heading in the midst of the tempest we seem stuck in. Of the two options, neither of which was great, we have decided to set sail for the UK where we can enter on a 6 month tourist visa (both nationalities) and prayerfully see the N600-K citizenship process come to completion in that time frame.
Now that we have a heading, the work of getting underway begins in earnest. We can start to fix dates and work backwards. Several friends of offered to help with storage, many more offered to help in any way needed. MTW is working to help us get set up and for Luke to pulpit supply in a church with a pastoral vacancy. We can begin looking into concrete travel plans, make arrangements for handing over the house, canceling various services, and brining this time in Germany to a close.
There are still significant hurdles in our path. The N600-K average wait time in St. Louis was recently updated to 65 months. It is absolutely inconceivable to us how 8.5 months can suddenly jump to 65 months…or why a process only designed for adoptive children of US citizens who live overseas would take 65 months to complete even in the worst of settings. We are hoping our lawyer can help us refile in a different city with a shorter wait time (which we have to believe is pretty much every other city) and to push for a fast completion. However, even with that we will be resetting the time clock as a transfer will lose any progress thus far. The bright side is that with a 65 month wait time, we are relatively certain nothing has been done with our case in St. Louis and so we likely aren’t actually losing any time.
We are also still in process for the Brazilian passport renewal. We need these passports to come back so that we can apply for the electronic travel permission to enter the UK. Thankfully that is a relatively straightforward and quick process, but we would like to be able to wrap that up as soon as possible and have one less thing hanging over our heads. Based on estimated timelines of 6 weeks, this would put us pretty close to the beginning of July, cutting things a bit tighter than ideal.
As you can see, we still have plenty of prayer topics and things we are trusting the Lord with. The waters do not look smooth at all and we anticipate storms ahead. However, we are thankful to have a course heading, it means we can raise the anchor and start setting off. Though we don’t know how the journey will play out, we do know the One who controls it all – and we are thankful to be in His hands.
Adoption is not for the faint of heart…and though we know that, we do feel like this journey has been even more tumultuous than “standard”. But then again, none of our adoption journeys have gone even close to plan or “standard”. Thankfully God is sovereign even when things are not “standard”.
