The first and last word...

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You..."
Isaiah 26:3

A good theme for a day with more twists and turns in our journey to bring home Joshua. It seems that every time we think we have overcome the last obstacle, we get a bit of rest before encountering yet another one. With only 6 days until we are supposed to be meeting our son, this morning it was easy to wake up thinking it would be smooth sailing from here on out. However, this drama is not over yet. I guess if we ever decide to turn our childrens' stories into a book, we will have the necessary conflict and tension to make the ending more exciting. Although my daughter thinks the number of obstacles along the way would seem unrealistic to a book editor.

This morning, instead of finding our itinerary in our email, we received a phone call from our agency. Apparently, our province has now decided they are closed for adoption appointments in an effort to prevent the spread of swine flu. However, we were told our agency reps in China were able to arrange a compromise. We can come get him, but we have to agree to spend a week in Beijing before coming to the province. Instead of receiving him on the 22nd, we would meet him on the 29th. They would then expedite his passport application so that we could leave the province on the 2nd to rejoin our group in Guangzhou and make it to our consulate appointment. Not an ideal plan. We already have plane tickets to Hong Kong. Our agency is looking into whether we fly to Beijing upon our arrival or try to change our plane tickets. Just for fun, you might want to get a China map and find our arrival city (Hong Kong), then trace your way to Beijing, over to Urumqi and back to Guangzhou. We aren't sure what the time in Beijing would look like (might look a lot like the inside of a hotel room...)

We are trusting God has a plan and purpose and are praying that perhaps while we are sleeping tonight, someone at the civil affairs office of our province will have mercy. If this must be the plan, we are willing to do what is necessary to bring our son home and believing perhaps God has more going on than we can see or predict. The province could have decided not to allow us to come at all. Others have been told they cannot come. There are many opportunities for fear and doubt. There was a song sung at church on Sunday that I loved. I couldn't remember how it went, but remembered one line "The first and last word will always be His." Today, my daughter started playing it at the piano and my other daughter started singing (apparently someone had given them the music). I found the title on their music and then looked up this you tube video that includes the lyrics. It is a great song.