What a week!

First of all, we're safe and on high ground, which is good, when the entire state around you is flooded! Well most of it - I think they said 9 major rivers were at or above flood stage this week.

My sister's kids' babysitter's house flooded Monday. Today they said they "only" had 3 feet remaining in their basement. ONLY?! Yuck - and probably when the water's down they'll probably have lots of muck left over. They had little warning, but were thankfully able to move some of their stuff out. After 3 days, they were able to go back and start cleaning up. Apparently she won't be babysitting again - at least in her own house - for a while.

My dad & step-mom sent us some pictures of the flood near them. They said the water was in the second story of people's houses just a couple blocks from the river. Their church's yard was nearly 6-feet deep in water. Also little to no time warning - same river as my sister's kids' babysitter, just a little further down-stream. Roads and bridges were washed out all along that river - travel is hazardous!

My other sister had just moved into a house that they were in the process of buying. Their first house! We were just there last weekend to visit. Well, being less than 10 blocks from the river wasn't such a good thing. They weren't evacuated at first, but then they evacuated the 500-year flood plain - they are within that. They moved what they could up to their second floor, but the piano and couch couldn't be moved up. Please pray their main floor is spared - they just did a lot of work in their kitchen too. I can't imagine. I'm glad they're safely on high ground though. They had some warning, but it still came up fairly quickly.

Around here, there's no flooding in our suburb, but the rest of the area is quite another story. Every day going to work is a hazard in itself, because the water's high and people slow down to look at it. It took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to get home from work tonight - normally it's 35 minutes. I just barely got Kaylen picked up in time. Nope - no accidents, just people slowing down to look at the flooded ball parks and farm fields. And, that's probably one of only two routes that are even possible for me to take home as of right now. I heard that the interstate was going to be closing in one section near Iowa City. However, the detour for travelers going all the way across the state goes all the way between Davenport and Des Moines, and the detour is clear up to Hwy 20 - something like a 110-mile detour! Can you believe that?!

Yesterday the traffic was slow as well, although that day there was an accident - drove right past a fatal motorcycle accident soon after it happened - body was mostly covered but still lying on the pavement. Shook me up a bit to say the least. The news today said when traffic slowed, he hit the back of another car and flew off his bike - no helmet - WHY hasn't Iowa passed a helmet law?! Even without the law - people your head is precious!

Another news headline today, in Western Iowa a tornado struck a boy scout camp, killing 4 teen scouts there for a leadership camp, and injuring 45-50 people. Wow! Apparently there was little warning and noplace to go. Sad.

This month at work is a crazy mix-up. An enormous re-org. Management changes, transfers, etc. We work on government contracts, so when those contracts are up (and the main one I've worked on for several years now is a three-year contract), we have massive changes. Well, it's happening again. I'm actually happy about the change that affects me. I'm going to be reporting to my functional area, rather than to a manager on the same contract. Which, for me, means that I'll be on a team with other people doing the same or similar job function as me - more support and collaboration for my position, etc. It'll be good, but there's quite a bit of tension going around - people afraid of losing their jobs, people ambivalent over management structure changes, etc... So still a bit stressful around the office.

Then, to top it all off, I read a comment on someone's blog last night, saying that they'd "heard" that IBESR wasn't processing adoptions for adoptive parents under the age of 35. WHAT?! Now, I know that many times things like this are just rumors or people assuming things, etc. But, that really freaked me out. I can't bear the thought of losing our babies. Maybe it was me being frustrated at the nearly 9 months in IBESR, maybe my other stress from the above news, maybe a combination of the two, but that really hit me hard. I emailed our adoption coordinator, to see what was going on. They'd heard nothing of the sort. They've assured me that they will let me know as soon as they hear any news on our IBESR approval. I can't wait - it's got to be soon - it just has to be!

I thought I was good last week and earlier this week, but it seems to go in spurts. I KNOW that God is in this process, and that HIS timing is PERFECT. Our children will come home at EXACTLY the right time for us and for them. I even told Jock last week and again a few days ago, "You know, I'm OK with this waiting. God's got it all under control. It's long, but I'll wait. That's all I can do. It's not like I'm going to give up on these children God's given us. They'll come home. I pray and hope that it's this year yet, but if it's not, God knows why and know's it's best for us..."

Sometimes I'm blind to that though. This waiting is really hard some days. It's a big nasty cycle that the enemy is trying to weave himself into. I'm resisting the evil though. I'm trying to keep my eye on God. He's trying to teach me something here. The other day at a friend's house, I mentioned the trip. I'd love to go in late June with a group, but said something like now I didn't think it was possible, since it's getting so close. She said maybe that's what God's trying to teach me. Hmmmm... Am I limiting Him with what He can do through me? Probably. It's not like I couldn't just pick up and go. I like to organized and plan, but I could do it. The last time we got ready in 2 weeks, and we'd never been there before - things fell into place fairly easily. Why do I do this? I know in my heart and mind and soul that, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" (Phillipians 4:13). I just need to live that out.

Please pray that we're out of IBESR this week. If God wants me to be in Haiti in June - or even July, it'll happen. Praise God for our friends that got out of Parquet (our next step) in just under 2 months! He can still bring our kids home this year. I'm believing it for me, for our children, for our family.

Please pray also for the other things going on with our family, friends, communities. This is hard to watch day in and day out on the news, much more-so for those that are experiencing it first hand.

And thanks so much, Jen, Linda, Cate, Jodie, Erin, Jock, Marlene, Karen... for listening to me today in all my stress. Hope I wasn't too hard on you Karen! Some days are just insane, and I really appreciate you all! May God truly bless you!