Still no paperwork from INS

Well... it is almost the end of February and we still do not have our 171 from INS in Memphis. What is the hold up? Your guess is as good as mine. For whatever reason it seems to take them approximately 8-12 weeks to process a file. What's in the file? Our homestudy, both parents birth certificates, our marriage certificate and our fingerprints (which we both had to have done by the TBI) The homestudy is a document of about 8 pages, maybe it takes a while to read it. All the other documents are TN gov't documents. So, why does it take so long? I guess the real reason is that our state INS office is understaffed, or something like that. I am obviously getting frustrated with the long wait. Most people in the adoption community say the problem with adoptions is China, I beg to differ. The US gov't plays their role in the exceedingly long wait times as well.

I can wait; I have to wait. BUT it is hard having met the little one that God is calling you to adopt, having walked the halls of the orphanage where she lives, knowing that she is going to need many surgeries, and not want to do everything and anything that you can to get her to the US as quickly as possibly. I feel like time is running out to be able to travel this summer. But what do I know? God has a plan, a plan far greater than mine. I will wait; I will not give up!

Please pray with me for speedy paperwork; that wherever possible the people who touch her file will see favor on her and process the paperwork quickly. Also, please continue to pray for Ellie as she is in the orphanage: for her as she learns of who her new family is (we were able to send her a package), for the caregivers as they continue to care for all her needs, for the friends that she will leave behind, and for God to continue to ready her for what will be so different than anything she has ever known.

If you have read this post, thank you.
Thank you for caring for our family and praying with us as we embark on this amazing journey.
We know this is only the beginning of many frustrating times. Who said parenting would be easy? I firmly believe that God uses are taxing moments as parents to continue to shape us into the men and women that He is calling us to be. Do we dare say, "Bring on the taxing parental moments?" I shriek at the thought of asking for any trying circumstances, but I also know that it is in those moments that God seems to be, in our minds, the most present. It is in those moments that if we choose to see Him, we connect with our Heavenly Father in very tender ways seeing perhaps a new glimpse of things eternal.