Marching toward March!

We talked to our agency Tuesday evening, the 14th, and our projections were confirmed. We were told that we will likely receive our referral in March. (Insert squealing and dancing around). Late December the CCCWA referred children to families logged in from Nov. 18th through the 21st.  So our date of 11-27 is creeping closer. 
We have started working on the nursery some, scrapbooking over 7 years of memorabilia,  and  trying to re-organize our house and complete little projects.  All this while day dreaming of our Little One in China and balancing things so we can maintain focus on our daily work and responsibilities.  Shew, that's a lot!

We bought a baby bed!!!!!

So excited, need I say more.  We weren't looking but just saw one and decided, that's the one!  We got an awesome deal and it was just the type of bed we'd been looking for and were hoping to find.  Pics to follow! 

So much on my mind . . .

there is a very slim chance we could get a phone call, well, "The Call" tomorrow from our agency.  For those not in the adoption world, this is the phone call that all prospective adoptive parents wait for.  For us, that would be 85 months, or just over 7 years!  Imagine awaiting a phone call for that long!  To tell you the magnitude of this, Larry just asked me what time it is in Spain.  Why Spain? Well because we have friends in our face book group from Spain and they are ahead of us in the time zone and if someone from there is getting a call about now then that means tomorrow we could get a call, get it, complicated I know.  Why in the world would we be worried about what time it is in Spain when we're adopting from China!  Hmm, there you have it. 
Back to "the call" . . . when we get this long awaited call it will include info about our baby, like the sex, birthdate, the location, ie., foster care or orphanage.  You see it would be the equivalent of delivering your baby and the doctor announcing, "congratulations, you have a fill in the blank". So that's why the call is so important and it's the first step in the referral process in which we get to announce our child's info to our family and close friends. 
For months, (well every month since we've been waiting), when it gets close to referral time I watch my e-mail like crazy and every on-line group we're part of as well as scour the internet for hints of information regarding referrals and how many days worth of LID's have been processed. Ironically this time, as we've gotten so close, Larry has been the one tracking face book and e-mail.  He's been texting me at work any updates.  He's suddenly obsessed and I've been too sick to realize,and busy too, that I wasn't expecting referrals yet.   In the past, I always knew we were never close enough to be included I still watched (like a hawk)!  It was an exciting time and it was always good to see families being connected to their children for the first time.  The number of babies referred and families matched always gave reassurance that we were one step closer.  Seeing others' dreams come true always encouraged us. 
Now we are so close. It's unlikely to be tomorrow but in the next couple months we will get to see the first glimpse of our little one via an e-mail photo. 
So what do we do to prepare our hearts for this?  I ask myself, what can I do? It's always seemed so far away and now our Little One is within reach and we may see her picture in the coming months. I awoke early thinking about how we'd share the news and with whom first.  We have circles of friends that have walked this path with us and some that are closer than family and some that understand on a much deeper level than others.  But to make it fair and uncomplicated, everybody will hear it from us eventually and we cant guarantee they wont hear it from someone else first.  We live in a small area and news travels fast! 
So will it be a boy or girl? Light or dark skin? Fine or coarse hair? How old? What province? Foster care or orphanage?  Oh so many questions.   Stay tuned!

Seven years of waiting . . .

Today we reached our seven year mark.  We have officially been logged in and waiting for our Little One for 7 years, yep 84 months.  Who would've thought?  Not us, that's for sure.  We could never have foreseen this long wait for our first and likely only child.  We imagined a typical 12-15 month wait for this international adoption.  God saw otherwise.  His ways are not our ways.  Looking back we see God's hand in all of this, even the long wait.  He has protected us from earthquakes, bird flu, mudslides, government shutdowns, torrential rains and snow storms.  When we say we've been spared in these situations, let me make it clear that we weren't even close to being effected by any of these.  But God's provision of safety is amazing and timing impeccable.  During the long wait we often made projections as to when we may travel and each time God has proven time and again that it wasn't "our time".  He showed us often after the fact that He provided protection and safety for us by  preventing us from traveling at a certain time.  Who could ask for more? 

I am thanking God tonight for His sovereignty and His Love.  I am thanking Him for our ability to be patient during this wait  and I'm thanking Him for our contentment.  I am thankful He's making us wait as I know we've grown in Him during this time.  And I'm so thankful we are His children.  I now have a better understanding of what it means to be "adopted" into the family of Christ and loved unconditionally. 

Lots of reasons to be thankful!!

Not just this Thanksgiving season, but everyday we have so many reasons to be thankful.  I am grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for His mercy and grace that are new everyday.  I am thankful He called me to be a part of His family and take me in as His child, that I am forgiven and He loves me in spite of my many faults and failures. I'm thankful for my husband who is a God-fearing and God loving man who also has been saved by the grace of God.  I'm thankful for our families and their relationship with Christ.  I'm thankful for our Church and its leadership and our dear Pastor and his family.  I'm thankful for our determination to be good servants and stewards of Christ and that by His grace we are living closer to Him today and grow closer with each changing season of our lives.  I'm thankful for our health.  I'm thankful for jobs and thankful for His protection over us. 
I'm even thankful for Him leading us on this long road called adoption.  Although we've waited nearly seven years  (tomorrow), we know God has a plan for us.  Who are we to question His timing and sovereignty.  
Along the adoption front, it looks like referrals may be on their way.  Rumors are flying, the next LID's referred could be anywhere between November 16th to November 20th.  Guess, we wait to see.

Happy Halloween . . .

I remember in 2006 I was driving to the local Fed-ex hub to deliver our dossier on this day, except it was a Tuesday.  The lady at the counter was asking me about insurance for the 3 pounds of paper I was mailing.  When she asked me what it was worth, I told her it was "priceless".  I then proceeded to tell her "if Jesus Himself could deliver the papers then that's what I'd want".  She laughed and explained she'd mailed many dossiers for families and considered herself the "fairy godmother of adoption paperwork".  Well, that somehow made it better.  So I reluctantly left my package with her and said a little prayer.  At this point I went to Bob Evans to get potato soup for lunch and some pumpkin bread.  I ate the soup on my hour trip back to work, who would've thought I could've eaten soup while driving!  We were notified the next day by Great Wall that our paperwork looked good and would be China bound on Friday.  The long wait began and the huge slowdown occurred.  So here we are nearly 7 years later . . . Happy Fall and Happy Halloween, enjoy my pictures . .

4 more beans outta the jar!

Yep, I guess we get to take out a few more jelly beans from our "countdown jar".  We received an e-mail today from our agency that the "Stork" landed with referrals for families logged in on the 13th of November.  So we are getting even closer. 
It was wonderful to see all those beautiful little faces being matched with their "Forever Families" and so nice to congratulate all the people we've met on-line. 
On a very special note, we have friends about an hour away that received their referral for a beautiful baby girl only 10 months old!!!! Congratulations to Erin and Brian!!!  The Lord has truly blessed you!