Choosing joy

It was almost comical how within 12 hours of posting yesterday that a myriad of things "went wrong" (some not-so-serious, but some pretty serious ~ I'll let you decide which are which) and it was time for me to put my thoughts about joy into action.

That glorious weather I boasted about? Woke up to grey skies this morning and when I checked weather.com, I discovered that it is supposed to rain for the next three days. Boo hoo ~ I love late summer/early fall in NC. But then I thought about how excited the kids are going to be when we have puddles to test out their new rain boots with! And then I couldn't help but giggle with glee!















Thanks again to their Uncle Alexander and his mom who sent them! The kids are so ready to wear them outside.

After getting myself out of bed, I shuffled down the hall to make a pot of coffee. And with any movement in the house, I of course heard familiar doggy footsteps behind me. As I bent down to give morning greetings to my "furry child" I gasped as I noticed the small "what we thought was a small cut" on Maya's face had grown into a huge, oozing, weeping wound covering most of the left side of her head overnight. Ian called the vet and got her an emergency appointment. An hour later he came home with our sweet girl who went from looking like this

Shot taken on her "good side." Oh, and yes, we've switched collars ~ it IS football season after all...

to this during her vet visit.

Poor girl ~ she even seems humiliated about the shave!

But I am choosing joy because I'll admit that a small part of me was afraid that she had caught some crazy flesh eating bacteria or something. And when Ian called me from the vet (only 10 minutes down the road) I didn't want to pick up the phone when I saw his number on the caller ID. I was afraid he had called to say the worst. (Actually he called just so I could prep the kids for her "new look.") Turns out she has what the vet calls a "hot spot" from severe allergies and she's back on antibiotics (or steroids ~ I can't remember) to help knock them down. Yep, it was this time last year when our vet back in Charlotte put her on medication to fight her seasonal allergies. But this time Ian is home to wrestle her for her two pills twice a day. AND as it turns out this new vet is now thinking that he was wrong about the eyelashes and that her weepy eyes may just be allergies after all...

So while I was still quite worried about Maya, I had a date with my camera and the scale.
Sigh... I'm digging deep on this one, but with the amount of processed food (unfortunately I "heart" processed food as much as I love healthy food) I consumed this week, it could have been worse!

But the one that hurts the most is a call I got from our dear, sweet social worker at our adoption agency. She must have picked up the phone to call me as soon as she got in this morning. I heard her voice and initially assumed that she was calling to tell me that our paperwork was back from the Houston consulate. I was so excited and bubbly. And then I noticed that she didn't sound so happy, and I heard words that for a second scared me silly. "Kristi, I'm so sorry that I have to make this call..."
In two seconds my mind had gone so many places, stopping with the conclusion that the CCAA had for some reason changed their mind and rescinded our pre-approval. And the news was bad, but not THAT bad.
As it turns out, our documents had come back from the consulate, but there had been an issue with the way one notary completed her part of the paperwork, and it had all been returned, UN-authenticated. So while our home study and immigration approval are still scheduled to reach our agency on Friday, the rest of our dossier is hung up in Houston and ~ unless the consulate has mercy on us and expedites (which Karla said pretty much never happens) ~ won't be ready until NEXT Friday at the earliest. Another week?
Double sigh... I want her to be here with us more than I can express!
And yet I'm in a strange place of peace about it. Sweet Karla was almost in tears as she was telling me, and I found myself telling her it was okay. Because somehow it just is. Despite all the pushing from me in this paper chase, despite my driven ambition to collect it all in record time, there have been setbacks in nearly every stage. I don't know now, and probably won't until I reach Heaven, why we're having to wait, but this time, THIS setback, I finally KNOW to the core of my soul that there is a reason God is having us wait.
And when finally we get to our sweet, sassy little girl, all that will matter is that we, all five of us, are a forever family...