PAPERS and Spiritual Warfare!!

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."

We are doing "praise dances" over in the Neely house because, after MUCH craziness, the original adoption papers FINALLY arrived at our house yesterday evening at about 5:45pm! Hallelujah! We are overwhelmed by the goodness of God.  I wanted to give the DHL lady a huge hug when I saw her. Haha! As soon as the truck pulled up, I yelled, "DHL is here!!!!" and ran to get my camera.  We all three met her at the door with camera in hand. I think she was very surprised, needless to say.

We were a *little* excited! :)

Getting the papers here was some kind of crazy. I finally just called it what I truly believe it was- spiritual warfare!  It would take much time to go through every detail, but to sum it up, first the package was delayed an entire day because of "clearance" (we are guessing it was because of the current political situation between the US and Guinea Bissau), then it was sent to the wrong facility, then they "lost" it (and let me tell you, at this point I had talked to about 7 different people at DHL and I finally "lost it!!"), we later found out it had gotten a new tracking number and it was never entered into the system, THEN after it was finally on the truck the driver couldn't find our address. UN-REAL. It took 8 days in all when it should have taken 3 or 4. I cleared my schedule day after day since this paperwork was irreplaceable and had to be signed for upon arrival. 8 days doesn't seem that long of a wait, but when we'd been waiting 6 months, we were so close, and were tracking the package every hour+, along with talking to a total of 12 DHL employees, I just about went crazy!!!!

I have to admit that I actually cried on the phone with a DHL supervisor (!) when they told me they could not locate my package. I asked to talk to the CEO, told them children's lives were at stake (a little dramatic, eh?), and said I was not getting off the phone until someone told me exactly where my package was. From now on, I know that fighting for your child (against the schemes of the Devil and more) will sometimes make you see a side of yourself that you didn't know existed!! Haha. Praise God He is a redeeming and gracious God!  DHL probably has my number tagged and draws straws for whoever has to answer my call!!

We have sent the papers off to be translated and once we get them back (5ish days), we will overnight a package to USCIS and email DHR. As soon as we're approved, we make an Embassy appointment and TRAVEL to get our babies!!!

A few prayer requests:

1) Please pray that the translator translates the papers correctly and in a timely manner.
2) Please pray that USCIS and DHR approve us without needing any further information.
3) Please pray that the plane ticket prices miraculously go down (as it will cost more than we expected due to summer time) or God provides in a different way.
4) It would be AMAZING if we could travel before June 12, as this is when our english speaking missionary contact is leaving the country.  We will definitely be cutting it close!
5) The current political situation between Guinea Bissau and the U.S. resolves (or at least calms down). This will, of course, help the safety of the people in Guinea Bissau, as well as possibly help our trip to be a bit less of a dangerous one. (We know God is always with us!!)
6) Please continue to pray for the hearts of Judah, Jewel, and us as we will meet soon. Pray He will prepare all of our hearts for such a huge change. Pray we will love each other with a selfless love.

Thank you so much for your support! We love you all.

By His Grace,

Kimberly