Another referral - El Salvador?

Yes - I now firmly believe that God is just trying to keep me entertained! What will he think up for next week? I'd be happy if it had something to do with winning alot of money! :) hee, hee. Or maybe a tropical vacation?! As for this week's adventures . . . . .

On monday, I got an interesting email from my agency director asking if we would be interested in looking at and considering a little 2 year old girl from El Salvador. Her name is (get this) Ana Julia. :) It would require a new dossier, a longer stay in country (Hey - I'm ready for a vacation!), and some added time, but cheaper costs. It would take 9 -15 months from the time our dossier got down there till we could bring her home. Hmmmm . . . . this definitely wasn't on my radar! Nor did it seem to go along with the picture God had given me of floating down a river. When you float - there's no work involved there (unless you are going down rapids and you're trying not to hit the rocks!!). My first reaction was "I don't think so". We had to pray about it. My director said she would send the info and pics that day - but I never got any. I didn't know if she just forgot or what. I didn't want to ask, as I really wanted to hear the Lord on this little girl before seeing her pic and getting attached (that seems to be easy for me to do!).
J and I prayed and talked about it, and I just wasn't sure. I was open to whatever God might have for us - even if it meant switching countries (esp. with all the craziness in Guatemala last week and the FALSE rumor of a possible shut down on Oct 1st). I decided that I would lean on J for the confirmation on this one. My heart is too empathetic to the plight of so many orphans.
J didn't get a peace about it. Not that he really got a check against it - but just had more peace about staying with Guatemala. I kind of felt the same (I think?). Anyways -
I knew a friend of mine had talked about El Salvador and possibly looking into adopting from there - so maybe I could tell her about it all. Maybe that was why we got this info. Instead, I was talking to another friend, and the minute I mentioned E.S. she just lit up with ohh's and ahh's (before I even told her about the little girl). They are in the process of waiting for a referral for a little girl from China, but lately God has been tugging on their heart towards El Salvador (for a sister for thier Chinese daughter-to-be). I gave her the little info I knew and told her I didn't think we were going to pursue it.
The next day she called me back and said she couldn't get this little girl off her mind - and her hubby was really interested too! :) I gave them our agency info and she was able to get ahold of them today. :) Maybe God was using us to bring this girl to her family (I'm starting to feel like an adoption agency myself - finding lost mom's - referring children to others . . . . . when will I find MY daughter? hmmmm .. . . ).
Well - I finally got to see pics of little Ana Julia tonight. She is a cutie - sad and timid looking, but definitely cute. I am praying that God will show my friends if this is to be their daughter. How cool would that be! :)

On top of that adventure - we are starting to see some progress with Tyler this week. On tuesday he had an "A" day (according to him)! PTL!! Wed was a rough day at home with me. He did well on thursday till 1pm. That seems to be his hard time - after 1pm, till 4pm. If you think of it - please pray for him during that time. God is doing some good things in him and I am so proud of how he has taken on the challenge of changing some things in his life! I actually saw quite a bit of a responsible 11 year old today! :) He was very fun to be around. :) We are seeing the nurse practitioner on monday to talk about a possible med for the anxiety and attnetion problems. We'll see.

Well - it's late, and I need some sleep. We had to cancel our garage sale for tomorrow due to a lovely Nor'Easter that came through town. I'm kind of relieved as this week has been exhausting in many other ways. Always an adventure here at the West household! :)

So - what kind of adventures did you have this week? Keep us up to date on what God has you doing! Thanks so much for your prayers and support! Keep it coming! Continue on with my previous requests. They are still needed! Also - we have been applying for grants and will be trying to sign up next week for a program to accept tax-deductible donations. It's alot of forms to fill out! But on the praise side - we've had a few people just hand J a check (or cash) at work to support our adoption! God bless you guys for doing that!!

Blessings this week!
Lori :)