Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
As we settled in for the night, we shared of the Lord’s goodness with Papa Charlie and Grandma Karen. They too told us of how God told them to stay home that week; they’d made plans to go out of town…
There’s too many instances to share, but you’ll just have to believe me when I say, the Lord directed every step of this journey, while in Florida and now. I hope to be able to share each little detail at some point in the future!
Our hope on Wednesday night was that we’d be back in NC by Friday or Saturday at the latest. When the attorney sent our paperwork to Florida ICPC she asked how quick NC was sending things back for approval. “Very quickly,” they said.
On Thursday morning we woke up, got ourselves ready, and came downstairs to a wonderful breakfast (Papa Charlie and Grandma Karen took great care of us. We are forever indebted to them and they are our forever family!) We decided we would go to Target that morning for a few more things we realized we needed during our first night!
After leaving Target we headed to eat lunch. As we gazed upon our daughter, we thanked God again for where He’d brought us in 4 short (long!) days. As we finished lunch my phone rang…it was the attorney.
“Christie, Florida ICPC called. Everything looks great but your FBI fingerprints have expired.”
You’ve got to be kidding me!
“It normally takes weeks to get results back but I know a guy who can get them back in 24-48 hours. You’ll have to pay him though.”
Long story short; we headed to the bank and then off to meet “the guy”. He handed us paperwork and sent us to Children and Family Services to have a LiveScan done of our fingerprints. With cash in hand, we arrived (in the pouring rain), only to be told they no longer accepted cash…money orders only.
You’ve got to be kidding me!
As I stood with a hungry baby, Q ran to the nearest gas station for a money order. We were quickly realizing that we’d do whatever it took for this precious little girl.
While Q was away the girl started my fingerprints. It wasn’t long before I realized something was wrong. Unlike traditional ink prints, LiveScan consists of scanning your prints into a computer system. Each time she would scan my fingers it would give her an “unacceptable”. Unacceptable was not acceptable by the FBI. She scanned my prints twice; the maximum allowed and said, “I know these won’t be accepted. It will take 24-48 hours for the first set to be rejected, another 24-48 hours for the second set to be rejected, and then they will have to do a name search. That usually takes a month!”
“A month!??”
As I shrunk into my seat, there was nothing I could do but cry. “Please, I can’t stay here a month.” I pleaded. Q returned with the money order; I told him what was happening.
You’ve got to be kidding me!
He stepped up for his prints. She said, “See this is what they should look like.”
I begged and pleaded a little more and used my little bundle of joy as bribery. I guess it worked as she called LiveScan directly. Turns out they expedite adoption situations but it could still be a week or two for a name search to be completed.
We thanked her for her help and headed home. As disappointed as we were, we were thankful that the Lord had blessed us with a home for however long we needed.
Obviously, He had us in Florida a little while longer…
Latest posts by Christie (see all)
- Remembering Mandy Kelly from Worshipful Living - March 29, 2017
- Homosexuality Should Not Polarize the Church - November 17, 2016
- Grace & Truth {Week 69} - May 6, 2016
We're eager to hear your thoughts! --Let's chat--