Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Totally Awesome and Amazing Answer to Prayer Today!

We just have to share and record something really awesome our great God did today!!!  It's a long story, but so worth reading!  You will be blessed!  

This morning, I woke up feeling compelled to share with our church family a burden we had concerning Brielle's lengthy adoption process, and ask for prayer that God would help us "move a mountain" in getting her adoption finalized. 

So this was the request that was put out on our church's email prayer chain around 10am.

"Our family has a little prayer request that will make a big difference in one little life. 
It’s concerning our little Brielle’s adoption finalization through the State of WA.
All we need for the adoption process to be finalized is the return of one of our 3 background checks.  We submitted this Child Abuse and Neglect form on July 1st, so we have been waiting for it to come back for 10 weeks and counting.  We have asked a few times about its whereabouts, and hear back that the department is backlogged.   But we think that all it requires is a few minutes to enter our names into a database to see that we are clear.  We have received the other 2 clearances (even the fingerprints that go all the way to the FBI in West Virginia) a long time ago.  And we have finished all the updates to our home study a while ago.  So, this little clearance is the only thing that is keeping us from having Brielle’s adoption finalized.  Until then, she technically still belongs to the State (with all that entails) with her given birth name. 

We are happy to wait if it be the Lord’s will and perfect timing.  But we are feeling at this point, that we just need some prayer from our SVCC mighty prayer warriors for God’s mountain-moving-power to get this accomplished!    And we’ll keep you updated as soon as the mountain has been moved!  Thank you so much!"
 
Just now, I was able to send out God's awesome answer to their prayers!   Below is the update I sent, which describes the amazing thing God did today when His people prayed and asked for such a seemingly tiny thing like adoption paperwork to be finalized!


"Dear Wonderful Prayer Warriors,
We are sooooo excited to update you all on the prayer request we sent to you this morning!!!!!  I know we shouldn’t be a bit surprised when our awesome God does super, duper amazing things when we pray and ask . . .even in the little things like paperwork for an adoption process!!!!  Because our awesome God loves hearing our requests and answering them, and sometimes loves to bless us with an obvious, extraordinarily supernatural answer!!!  So we just can’t wait to share this very special and super speedy answer to your prayers!!!    

It’s a bit of a long story, but hang in there, as we just have to write it out so you all can see how God moved a mountain today for you all!!!  
 
After sharing our prayer request with you all this morning, I felt compelled to see if I could find a phone number to call the Child Abuse and Neglect clearance department.  (This was actually prompted by an email I received from Judy P.  I wasn’t sure how to find this, so I just “googled” Child Abuse and Neglect clearance in the state of WA, and found the form we originally filled out with a phone number on it.  Thanks so much, Judy, for your part in God’s answer!)  

So, I called the number (probably around 2:10pm) and a very sweet lady named Eileen picked up the phone and was genuinely interested in helping me!   At first, she couldn’t find us in the system at all.  So she said she would call me back after Lucy, the social worker who could help her, was back from lunch.  A little while later, she called me back to say she found us in the system after all, (Lucy was still away at lunch), and that we had been “logged in” on August 8th  (We completed the form on July 1st!).  As I was asking Eileen what this meant, and if she had any idea of how much longer it would take, she all of sudden saw that our clearances had actually been COMPLETED!!!   So, then she said that when Lucy came back from lunch, she would ask her if they would be able to get them faxed over to Antioch Adoptions for us.   

At 3:14pm, Eileen called back to say that she was able to get them faxed already over to Antioch Adoptions!!!  After 10+ weeks of waiting on these clearances, it was DONE!!!  Just like that!!!!  ; -)  

Now, for the rest of the story.  (We think Eileen might be an angel. ;-)   

I copied these two emails below that Stephanie, our case worker at Antioch Adoptions, sent to me after I emailed her about what I had learned about the clearances being in.  

“Wow!  That is great news!  I have no idea as to who Eileen is, but I’m sure glad that she was the one you talked with!  (The person that I had communicated wasn’t anywhere near as interested in speeding things up.  I had gotten the impression that being persistent would only upset her, and I didn’t want to delay things any further). I’ll check in with Suzanne to confirm that Antioch has received the faxes, and will let you know as soon as I hear more.  Yay God!!!”       

A few minutes later:   

“I just received them!  You want to know something else that is totally like God?  The checks were completed today, and faxed at 2:17 pm. So, either your call helped to prompt things along, or it was all transpiring as you were in contact with Eileen.  Additionally, they were completed by the person that I was in contact with .  There is no mention of an Eileen in the paperwork . . . hmmm"

Praise the Lord!!!  Thank you sooooo much for joining us at the throne of grace this morning, and for being a very special part of God’s work in our family.  To God be the glory, great things He has done!!!"

 So Valerie's now in the kitchen baking a cake!!!  It's time to celebrate!!!!!  : -) 
And now be praying for a near-future court date to make it finally final!

10 comments:

Heather V said...

Praise the Lord!!!!! Rejoicing with your family, as you're one step closer to adopting Brielle!

Kyle Bowes said...

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good!

Praise the Lord!

Elanee said...

That's such a great answer to prayer:) I echo Kyle's comment:) to God be the glory:)

Anonymous said...

I did some investigating regarding this person Eileen. Her full name is:
Eileen Notonmyownunderstanding
Her address is:
3:5&6 Proverbs Way
Straight Path, Wa.

Blessings, Grammie & Papa

The Bowes Family said...

Dear Heather, Elanee and Grammie and Papa,
Thanks so much for rejoicing with us and leaving us sweet words of encouragement! It means so much to us! We are very grateful for your love and prayers!









Meemom said...

So happy for you all to receive an wonderful answer to prayer so quickly.
So nice that the missing part of the adoption process has been put in place.
Hopefully the wait won't be long now.
We will continue to pray to that end, Love, Meemom

Deb said...

Praise the Lord! We serve a great God! Loved Grammie and Papa's comment! :)

Eden said...

Praise the Lord! :) So happy for you guys!

Anonymous said...

Praise God!!! Hooray!

AZDonna said...

That's such great news! What an ordeal the looooong wait has been for you. I hope the rest of the adoption process moves speedily along to its legal completion in no time at all. That sweet little girl is especially blessed indeed to have such a wonderful loving family longing to make her their own.

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