The Roller Coaster of Adoption

Well, yesterday was not a good day. Instead of good news, we got bad news (I definitely would have preferred NO news!). Our dossier was not able to be submitted because they had an issue with one document. In my defense, this document was done as specified, but the requirements changed. Not sure if they were changed just for the day, just for us, or just for the official who made the decision, but this is at times the nature of international adoption. It was such a disappointment. The further frustrating fact is that holidays prevent us from submitting for the next 2 weeks, and the day that we now can submit, several of our documents will be considered "expired". This means not only are we delayed, but we now need to redo 9 documents, have them notarized, state sealed, and once again Fed Ex'd to EE. I was pretty much undone by this.

My wonderful husband decided that getting on our bikes would make me feel better, and so we headed out for a ride. He neglected to mention that this ride would be 24 miles long on a record-breaking hot day. He was right though, 10 miles in the tears stopped flowing, although I am still unsure if I felt better or if I just became too dehydrated to cry anymore. Seriously, we did feel better and I spent my ride praying, crying, and recognizing that God knows the big picture that I do not. I need to trust Him. He has brought us on this journey, and He will see us through.

It isn't really the paperwork, or the time, or the expense, but really feeling so close to the day we would meet our children and having it pushed further away. Our hearts just ache to hold them and love them, and it feels as though we have waited long enough already. So, please pray in earnest for us as we do press on! We started the paper chase AGAIN and one document is already on its way for a state seal. Now for the other 9......

Monday is the day!

Tomorrow is Monday, and we pray it is our "big" day! We are scheduled to have our dossier officially submitted to Luke and Irina's country adoption officials. Please pray! I have butterflies in my stomach with anticipation. I want to hear that we are approved and find out our travel date, but I am also nervous with worry that somewhere we forgot to cross a "t" or dot an "i". Please pray for favor and for us to hear quickly the good news. I hope we have great news to share with everyone SOON!

Hopefully a week from today...

We will get news that we are officially submitted! Then we hope to hear quickly about a travel date. It's so hard to look at the calendar and try to plan life in the coming weeks not knowing when we will be traveling. I am trying to trust the Lord with the details and not worry about the exact timing, but this is challenging as I am the type of person who likes to plan and anticipate (or at least try!).

Happy Belated Birthday, Baby Boy!

Yesterday was Luke's birthday! I thank God for this precious son, but I was a little sad that we didn't get to celebrate this b-day together. I rejoice in knowing that this is the last one we will ever spend apart! We found out today that our dossier will be officially submitted on April 27th! It seems so far away, but really it is only a couple of weeks. We are just so weary of waiting, but I am trying so hard to trust the Lord in the timing. HE knows the big picture and I do not. So, please pray it is approved with no issues and that we are given a quick travel date. We are hopefully just weeks away from holding our little ones in our arms!

Waiting....

We are stuck in waiting mode at the moment. No news is good news, right? I hope so! Meanwhile, we are busy nesting at home. I got Luke and Irina's new bedding and pillows and their beds are all set up. We had our Chick-fil-A fundraiser Thursday night and it was a blast! No idea the financial outcome, but we had a huge turnout and it was such a great encouragement to see so many of our church family come out to support us and help bring our little ones home. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed it, and were asking when we can do it again?