Still riding the coaster

We showed up about nine this morning and she was wide awake.  She wasn’t as smiley today as previous times we’ve seen her—she has a cold!  She was really congested all day and her breathing was a bit labored.  Please pray for a quick recovery.  We held her almost all morning and helped with some other babies too.  We copied down her typical schedule for a day.  Overall it was a great morning.  My favorite part was when she had fallen asleep in my arms and Mark said, “Oh she looks like an angel.”  

However, at about 5:30 this evening, the director of foster care called us and said that we shouldn’t come back for a few days.  Before we can continue they need to take our paperwork to the government and get permission from them.  Our hearts are having a hard time with these ups and downs.  Do we get excited?  Do we remain cautious?  What will happen next?

I’m not sure if we explained clearly that we are the first foreigners to get involved in foster care in our city.  It’s not been done here before.  We are the guinea pigs.  We are the ones paving the road.  So, we are doing this, not only for our little one…although that would absolutely be worth it.  We are also doing this so that more babies can have one mother and one father caring for them in a home instead of seven babies being cared for by one worker. 

Please pray.  Pray that tomorrow the right permission would come from the right people and that we can continue our training on Friday.  Pray that the director of foster care and the director of the orphanage will advocate for us with the government officials.  Pray that this is one small blip in the road to bringing her home and making her a Fertig.  Thank you for continuing on this journey with us.