Max is Officially Ours

Yes, you read that right...we have Sentencia!!!!

I want to first take a moment and thank the great God that we serve. He is the one who moved the judge and the attorney to sign so quickly. And He is the one who made all of this happen. I am moved to tears by His goodness and His kindness to us in this entire process. I can't even put into words how grateful I am to Him...All praise and All glory be to Him!

Now I will start at the beginning. I woke up early this morning, anticipating a long week ahead without knowing if I would be traveling home for Christmas or not. As I lay in bed praying, I decided to put my total trust in God. He gave me a peace that all would be ok and I cherished that throughout the early morning hours. The kids woke up and I checked my email as I usually do. In my email was a message from my sister in law, Kris. She told me that she was also experiencing a special peace and I started to wonder what the day would bring. She told me to, "be still and know that God is God"...so I had that song going through my head all through breakfast.

After breakfast, we were back in the room, and Hermann came and knocked on the door with a telephone call from our rep, Isabel. She was calling to tell me that she didn't respond to my emails this past weekend because her internet was down. We chit chatted and she said she had no news on my case. As we hung up, I thought, "That's ok. Plenty of time to get sentencia, and I have God on my side." After taking a shower, I was drying my hair and heard another knock on the door. I thought it was Ally, so I ignored it...thinking that she would just come in. But the knock came again, so I answered it. It was Hermann again with the phone. My heart skipped a beat a little, and when I answered, it was Isabel, saying, "Are you sitting down?" She then informed me that the judge has signed the final decree. I honestly couldn't believe it...so fast! (neither could she...she was very surprised) She told me she would pick me up at 1:15 and we would go to the court together to sign the papers saying that Max was officially ours. Could this really be happening? I walked back into the room and fell to my knees...thank you, God!

The rest of the day was a whirlwind. Without boring you with the details, things could not have gone any smoother. We got in and out of the court within an hour and we were able to get to the notary to have Max's birth certificate changed to have our names on it! (A big thanks to Johnny our driver, whose wife knew someone at the notary and called ahead. It was mass chaos when we got there, but we got to go to the head of the line because of Johnny! Another miracle today!) I almost feel guilty with how well this is going. I don't know why we deserve this. Please pray for our friends, John and Sonia. They have been here a week longer than us, and don't have sentencia yet. We know that it should be soon, but still would love prayers on their behalf...they want to go home too!

So tomorrow, we are off to get Max's Colombian passport as well as a letter from Los Pisingos and a trip to the Embassy doctor. Please pray that things continue to move smoothly as there are still a lot of things that could go wrong. If all goes well, there is a chance that we could travel home by Sunday, but that is yet to be seen. We will continue to put our hope in the ONE who is leading us.

I want to close this post by saying thank you. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us. God heard your prayers and we will be home for Christmas. And Will's birthday! :) And a BIG thank you again to my heavenly father. I can't say it enough. Thank you.

With Love,
Becky, Ally (and now officially :)) Max