Time is Nothing to God

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before June 30, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 21, 2005.

From our agency:
America World received 9 healthy referrals from the Hunan Province on Friday, July 6th. The babies ranged in age from 7- 8 months old. The families receiving referrals were logged in on 11/9/05. The current wait time still remains at around 22 months from LID to referral. Unfortunately, the trend over the past year and a half has been for the wait to increase, and it is very likely that this trend could continue. Families are encouraged to continue checking the Weekly Update for the most recent information on the wait time as it fluctuates. As always, America World staff continues to lift families up in prayer through the difficult wait.

Well, at least the Sesame Street numbers keep going and going right along with us...I kind of feel like eating 17 cookies right now!! No, I am doing fine with the wait, most of the time...I came across this the other day and thought I would post it:

How many times can my heart break? How many times can our dreams die? We feel the excitement of a small child and what that child will do to change our lives, but the change it brought was not what we hoped. I once again pack up the baby blankets, decorations and clothes I have waited so long to use, and put my faith and my hope where my little baby is...in God's hands. My devotional for October 11 says,

"God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them; but his silence is the sign that he is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, praise Him, He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes. The manifestation of the answer in time is a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For while you said, 'I asked God to give me bread and He gave me a stone,' He did not, and today you will find that He gave you the bread of life. His stillness gets into you and you become perfectly confident, 'I know God has heard me.'

While presently I feel as though we asked for bread and received a stone, since time is nothing to God we will find one day that we have the bread that we have waited for."

I wrote that in October 1996, right after a miscarriage, (following a molar pregnancy in 1994). So here we are, in 2007, still waiting for that bread. Never imagined that! But we know that time IS nothing to God and we thank Him for the grace that He has given us! We realize that God has a different path for us, or different bread...and He will give it to us in HIS time. This adoption is not in the hands of China's Adoption Center and it's officials. It is safely in the hands of our God.

Our Friends Have Their Son!

Check out jinglebritches.blogspot.com.

Bridge Collapse Update

As of today, the count stands at 5 dead, 8 missing, and about 100 injured, of whom 5 are in critical condition. Let's remember to pray for those whose lives have been affected by this tragedy.

Update on Bridge Collapse

The latest report this morning is 4, 6, or 7 people confirmed dead (depending on which channel you're watching), around 60 injured, and about 20 missing. Also, video from a security camera showing the bridge as it collapsed has been released:

Continuous updates can be found here.

Bridge Collapses in Minneapolis During Rush Hour

Local and national news outlets are reporting the collapse of a section of the I-35W bridge near downtown Minneapolis, about 10 minutes from our house. From WCCO News:

Both the northbound and southbound lanes of 35W are lying in the Mississippi River.

There are multiple cars in the river and a couple cars on fire. According to one witness, there was a school bus full of children on the bridge.

Cars are still on the bridge.

There was no immediate word on injuries, but dozens of rescue vehicles were there. Divers were also in the water.

Tons of concrete have collapsed and people are injured. Survivors are being carried up the riverbank.

Some people are stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water.

A tractor-trailer is on fire at the collapse scene.

Some cars are still precariously perched on the bridge. Sections of the bridge are mangled, some are pointing up in the air and some are in the river.

"My truck got completely torn in half," said Gary Bavanaugh, who was on the bridge when it collapsed. "The bridge started shaking and it went down fast."

Bavanaugh said he was headed northbound on I-35W when he heard a huge rumbling and he saw a huge cloud of white dust as the bridge collapsed. He had his seatbelt on and said if he hadn't, his head would have gone through the windshield.

Bavanaugh said a school bus full of children was ahead of him. He got on the bus and helped children, who he estimated to be 8-12 years old, off the bus and off the bridge.

"It is just horrific," said witness Marilyn Franzen, who saw the bridge collapse. Franzen said she saw a school bus that managed to stop before the going over the edge of the bridge that she said was carrying 20-30 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years old.

According to witnesses, cars are crushed and mangled under the bridge where it collapsed onto the shore of the river. Street signs also crushed cars.

The road has been under construction since the beginning of the summer.

Here's what the scene looked like shortly before this post:

We live in St. Paul, but drive on this section of highway all the time. It's one of the most heavily traveled in the Twin Cities.

So far, no fatalities have been reported. Our prayers are with those involved.