Hot Dates, Updates, Due Dates and More

So James and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last week (Aug 21st). My mother in law tagged teamed with Brooke Robinson to give us a "hot date" night (kid free) in Columbus. Abounding thanks to both of you . . . it was amazing to get away for a bit. It's so hard to believe it's been 10 years. Some days, it seems every bit of that. Others? Well . . . weren't we just 19 like a couple of years ago???But the journey has been wonderful. I am still married to the man of my dreams. And now we have two wonderful short people (and one on the way) who share in this crazy ride with us every day. Ours is a blessed life.

As for adoption updates, our Orientation Meeting with our social worker went great. Less than a week later she travelled to our apartment for our home visit. She browsed our apt and we chatted about our family backgrounds, childhoods, etc. Again, another enjoyable appointment. This morning we went to the Knox County Sherriff's Office for our BCI/FBI Fingerprinting. Those results should take about a week to get back to our social worker. We're also waiting on our child abuse clearances to come back and a couple more misc forms. Some of you have called me to say you received your reference letter form, so that is one more item to check off! We have two more face to face meetings with our social worker and then, as long as everything aforementioned comes back all right, we should be ready to finalize our home study! I am hoping to get it all done by early Sep. Then, it's time to start applying for grants/scholarships and we move on to gathering the final docs for our dossier (the collection of documents that gets sent to Ethiopia)!

The last couple of weeks I've been a little discouraged. As we traverse through the endless mound of paperwork, physical exams, and fingerprinting appointments, it's hard to remember that, eventually, we will actually get a child at the end of this road. Why does everything take so long? Why does everything cost so much? Then, last night, Tracy Waal pulled up the documents they received when they got their referral for their girls. "Wanna see what an actual referral looks like?" he said. Wow. That was enough to get my eyes back on the prize. An actual referral. That could be us soon. Looking at an email from our family coordinator with pictures and the background/medical information of the son we haven't even met yet. Amazing. And so very encouraging. Thank you Tracy. You timing was impeccable.

Perhaps, in no small way, some of my discouragement emanates from the brutal reality I am facing this week. This week will mark the coming, and passing, of my due date. August 31st. I am supposed to be 9 months pregnant right now. I am supposed to overflowing with life, abounding in the joy and anticipation of a new baby. Instead I am empty. I have fingerprinting appointments and background checks. I shut my mind off and try not to remember all that this week is supposed to mean. I have a feeling of being "run through"; I am doubled over and gasping as I look up to try and make sense of what's happened.

And yet, our God is faithful. I know he is here with us this week. I see him in the smiles and hugs from my children. And in my heart, I know that we have a son somewhere in Ethiopia who is waiting to come home. Thank you for sharing in our journey and for helping us to turn a dream into reality.

Blessings to you this week.

I wanted to update you on our progress thus far. We, with your help, have managed to gather the initial $1800 payment for our homestudy!!! Isn't God good??!! So, we officially scheduled our Orientation Meeting with our social Worker for Thursday, August 14th. We are so excited to finally sit down, face to face, to talk about our adoption. It's really starting to feel REAL.

As far as the process goes, we are still "paperchasing" for our homestudy. The whole fam had the required physicals last week. We need to go back in this coming Wednesday to get our TB tests and blood draws. (It's seriously like we're trying to get on the Supreme Court). After that, it's on to the local police station for fingerprinting and background checks. I also need to apply for a passport sometime this week. (Sidenote: I will officially feel REALLY cool, once I have a passport. It's so "Jason Bourne".)

Once we finish all of the paperchasing and do our required visits with the social worker, our final $1000 pymt will be due and our homestudy will be complete. Then it's on to the fun part: applying for grants and scholarships! I don't know why I am so excited about that, but I am! I think it's a paperwork thing. What is it with girls and filling in forms???

Thanks again to all of you for your love, support and prayers. We love you!