Soli Deo Gloria: Sealed

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his SEAL OF APPROVAL." -John 6:27

December 27, 2011 - Today while I was at work I received a POD (positive of the day) text from Jason: "Our authenticated I-800A is here!!!"
My first reaction: WOOHOO!!! This was the last piece of paper we needed to complete our dossier. Immediately I left work on a mission! I had to print off pictures of our family and some of just me and Jason, make photocopies of our entire dossier, and review everything before going to the post office (before it closed) to send it off to our agency. Oh, did I mention we were leaving for Indiana the next morning to celebrate Christmas with my family, so I still had to pack for that trip. : )

Whoa! Maybe I should backtrack and explain what some of this adoption language is. Believe me, I have never heard of such words until going through this process. I will try my best to explain my limited understanding of it all.

Dossier: a collection of papers containing detailed information about a particular person or subject (usually a person's record)
In other words, a dossier is our lives spelled out on paper.

completed dossier plus copies

Every one of these documents had to go through a "sealing" process. What does a sealed paper look like? First the paper is notarized by a notary public. That was simple enough. Next, the paper has to be certified by the Secretary of State of the state the document originated from. Well, two of our papers (marriage certificate and my birth certificate) came from Indiana. I am happy to report that Indiana does not charge a cent for these certifications and they were quick in getting our papers back to us. Way to go Hoosier land! : ) Finally, the papers need to be authenticated (to establish as genuine or valid) at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, for us. The Consulate that authenticates your papers depends on what state you live. Some papers go to Washington, D.C. in which case another step needs to be taken in the sealing process. Whew! So glad we sent ours to Chicago!

Here is what an authenticated seal looks like:

I cannot read Chinese, but when we recieved that last piece of authenticated paperwork, it was a beautiful sight!

I cannot help but think of the verses in which we as believers bear God's seal:

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his SEAL OF APPROVAL." -John 6:27.

"Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory." -Ephesians 1:13b - 14.

God our Father has placed His seal on us and calls us His own. Instead of stickers and some writing being on us, the Holy Spirit and Jesus' blood is our seal. In Revelation 7 there is a lot of documentation of God placing his seal on his followers. In my bible commentary for Revelation 7:2 it says:

"A seal on a scroll or document identified and protected its contents. God places his own seal on his followers, indentifying them as his own and guaranteeing his protection over their souls. This shows how valuable we are to him. Our physical bodies may be beaten, maimed, or even destroyed, but nothing can harm our souls when we have been sealed by God. " (NIV Life Application Bible)

Remember the definition of authenticate - to establish as genuine or valid. This is the type of seal God places on us as a follower of Him. When we have that seal on us it proves that we are genuine and valid followers of Him and we are protected by Him.

I am constantly blown away at how this entire adoption process teaches me more and more about who I am in Christ and what He has done for me. I am a sealed daughter of the King and He has given me an inheritance that is beyond understanding.

**Our papers arrived at our agency headquarters on Thursday, December 29th. It is going through a critical review process. What they have told us is that no news is good news. After a thorough review our dossier will go through a summary translation and then the entire paperwork is bound like a book. After this is completed it is sent to China and then the 4 - 7 month wait begins. I wanted to share some of the pictures we sent in with all our dossier. I have to laugh because I procrastinated in getting these pictures taken so I asked a few people to just hurry and take some pictures with us. We had to provide 8 pictures of me and Jason with other people in the picture and then some more of just me and Jason. Thank you to those that we asked to take a picture with us. : )