Mixed Emotions

This has been a very eventful week for our family. We moved dramatically closer to two major, life-changing events which we have been anticipating for a while. One of these events is happy and the news we received on Monday was joyful and exciting. The joy of this news was dampened greatly, however by the other event which happened around the same time.

The first event I mention--the exciting one--is that we received our Article 5 document, which is the last piece in the adoption paper chase puzzle. It is the document in which the U.S. Consulate in China gives official approval for our little girl to receive an immigrant visa so we can bring her home to the U.S. There is just one more step in the process before going to get our new daughter--the Travel Approval or TA. Travel Approval is issued by CCCWA, and is the adoptive families official invitation to travel to China to receive their adopted child. Our agency rep has told us we should expect our TA sometime near the end of October. We may be traveling sometime in November. We're getting so close...

The other major event of this week is that my own dear father, who had spent almost two weeks in the hospital with congestive heart failure, was sent home yesterday with a plan to set up in-home hospice care. My mother and I have spent the past two days getting him settled and comfortable, figuring out his new medications, and trying to keep our heads above water emotionally speaking. To say that this has caused our family sadness is certainly an understatement. My dad has been sick for quite a while now, so it is not a surprise to any of us that we have reached this stage, but experiencing the reality of it actually taking place is difficult. We're unsure how much longer he has before the Lord takes him to heaven, but it seems as though it will not be very long...

Joy, sadness, sorrow, expectation--mingled together in a sea of emotions and sprinkled heavily with a myriad of responsibilities has made for an interesting mix, and has driven me to my knees before my God, which is right where He wants me to be right now.