Everything is still on track, but we really need your prayers. We found out today that everything is waiting on the I-171H approval form that will come from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Atlanta. According to the lawyer in Bogota, we need this piece of paper before we can travel to Colombia. The good news is, we are almost finished with the administrative portion of the process! They just need that final piece before they can offer the official invitation to travel.
We need a miracle. We need to get our approval soon. I have had personal contact with an officer of the USCIS and he has been very responsive to my requests for expedition. We are praying that this is a good sign and that everything will go quickly once they get our FBI clearance (which should arrive this week if all goes well). Please pray that everything goes smoothly and quickly with this process. If there are delays, it could delay our travel dates.
There is no question that this adoption process has been the most emotionally, spiritually, and even physically difficult process that we have every experienced. Both Mary Ann and I have lost family members to disease and death, experienced broken families as children, gone through the spiritual struggles of trying to know God’s will, and dealt with the pain and uncertainty of infertility, but I do not think there is anything like the peaks and valleys of the adoption process. It is like going through all of these things at once. Some days the news is good and you want to celebrate and some days think that maybe it is never going to happen. It is like having this promise from God, but it just never seems to come to pass. We have experienced at least two possible adoption situations that didn’t work out and years of failed infertility treatments. Sometimes the ups and downs of this roller coaster ride just seem like too much to handle.
Abraham had a promise from God, “I will make you a great nation.” But he went for years without seeing how God would fulfill that promise. Then when He did, God commanded him to kill the son that He had given him. I can’t imagine the full extent of the peaks and valleys Abraham experienced, but I am beginning to get the idea. We have prayed for a child for 14 years (as long as we have been married). God is giving us the desire of our hearts, but it is definitely coming in His time and according to His plan. We trust Him. We know He knows what is best for us.
The important thing is, whether Cameron is in our arms on April 13th or a week or two later, he is still going to be there. God provided a sacrifice for Abraham, He will provide our heart’s desire…in His time.
Thank you for your prayers and continued support. Please continue to pray for God to keep Cameron safe until he is in our arms.
Awaiting His Coming,
Patrick & Mary Ann Mulvehill
