Time goes by

It's hard to believe, but tomorrow marks 10 weeks of waiting for our referral.  Time is flying by and we know that we probably have already waited longer than we have left to wait.  Of course, we realize that anything can happen in the world of international adoption, but we're hopeful that our referral will come during the "normal" window of time, which is 3-5 months.  

The kids are having one massive playdate today.  They each invited a friend over and so I'm currently preparing bagel bites for 8 children.  I had to honor playdate promises I'd been putting off all summer and since we start back to school next week- it was time!  It's so funny to see how the different ages and genders play together.

One of the fun purchases we made this summer was one of those water slides with the blowers. The kids have had lots of fun keeping cool while playing outside- and I love mopping up the puddles from the door to the potty.  It makes for fun days.

Last weekend we decided to finally try the free Science and History museums in downtown Raleigh.  They were so fun- especially the Science one.  I can't believe that we hadn't been there before- they were so nice, and so free!  The biggest hit for our family was definitely the butterfly room- Lizzy had a massive butterfly land on her dress, and we all enjoyed watching her facial expressions.  Lily announced that she wants a seahorse for her birthday after I drug her away from the seahorse tank crying.






 

We continue to covet your prayers as we wait and pray.  

Good News!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise him all creatures here below,

Praise him above ye heavenly hosts,

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Amen

When I was young, I attended a very old school baptist church.  Every single Sunday, just before the preaching began, I remember we would sing the words of the song above.  According to the bulletin the man at the door of the church handed me each week, it was called the "Doxology." It meant very little to me then except that the "boring" part of the church service was about to begin.  

That's not true anymore.  It has been the song that has resonated in my heart through many steps of this adoption journey.  The words of the doxology have become very precious to me as I've watched His hand weave our story.  Yesterday, when I opened my e-mail and saw the good news that Gladney was beginning to issue referrals again, the words once again played through my mind as the tears sprang to my eyes.  

We are delighted because even though this doesn't mean anything specifically for our family- today- it means things are happening.  Praise God, children are once again being matched and very soon, people will begin traveling to complete this "forever family" process.

We have continued faithfully praying through these 40+ days of delays, but we have also found ourselves very guarded about the future.  I have discussed it less and invested less time into daydreaming and planning- simply as a means of protecting myself from the what-ifs of a permanent delay.  Now I am once again awakening to the reality that it is going to happen.  And now, we are at the two month mark.  That means it could happen soon!  Like in the next couple of months soon!  What a joy!  What a responsibility!  How exciting!