Trusting and waiting.......

Funny how you can get so obsessed over a little piece of paper! We got our provisional approval for our I-800 today in the mail. I actually already knew it was approved because I called them on the 25th and they told me of the approval! I just couldn't stand it until the actual paper came in the mail and I could see it for myself though. Now.....you guessed it....more waiting!!! I know...I feel like that's all I say. I was warned by people who have adopted before the wait is hard and they were not kidding. I was thinking, well...I've been pregnant before and remember how the waiting was tough, but this is a different kind of waiting, in a way it seems almost harder, for me anyway. Maybe it's all the "steps" or the anxiety of  "approval" that makes it harder, I'm not sure. And also someone told me the wait gets harder the closer you get and they were right. It sure does. I cannot wait to bring our sweet Joy home!! In the meantime, I'm praying that God continues to work in wonderful ways preparing us for our daughter and preparing our daughter for her family and her "new world". I've tried so many times to TRY to put myself in Joy's shoes. It's not possible. There's no way I can feel what she's feeling right now, but I continue to try to feel it......the excitement she is feeling of knowing she now has a family after so many years, the sadness of leaving her school and the friendships she's developed there, the sadness of leaving her caregivers and the only family she's known for the past several years, the excitement of coming to a new country, the anxiety and sadness of leaving a country and culture for one quite different from hers.....the list could go on and on. I know God will place His hand upon Joy and give her the strength and the peace she will need. I don't expect it to be easy, but I know it's God's plan, no matter what the course may be and just knowing this gives me a peace. I've seen God's hand at work throughout this whole process and I'm sure He will continue to guide each and every step.