15 Months

I haven’t really written many adoption update posts lately. Mostly because it’s impossible to put how I’m feeling into words. And sometimes, I just can’t make myself go there and to try to put it into words.  But, I’ve been getting lots of questions lately, and thought it was time for an update and to try to put at least a few thoughts about how we’re doing into writing.

Today marks 15 months on our adoption agency’s wait list. As of the end of October, the average wait time for families to wait for a referral was estimated to be 16.5 months.

If this holds true for us, we are finally really getting close now—just 6 weeks away from that! As the average wait time has changed through the months, we’ve never been less than 2 months away from the average, so there is definitely a sense of renewed hope. We are still praying and believing every day that it will be even sooner than that though! :)

We are excited and anxious as we wait for that phone call.

If you will remember, when we first announced our plans to adopt, the details included that fact that the entire adoption, from start of paperwork to having our child home, was supposed to be anywhere from about 15-18 months.

Here we are, 15 months on waitlist and almost 19 months since we started the paperwork…. and we haven’t even seen her little face yet. Much less court…and Embassy… Sigh… this is shaping up to be nearly twice the time that we had expected.

I’m not going to lie, the waiting has been really, really hard. But, it’s also been really good and beautiful too. We (all 5 of us!) have seen our faith grow so much.

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

The Word of God is TRUTH. All of it. And this has been so true for us. We’ve felt Him close in these times of uncertainty. I am so thankful for that. I can look back and see how He had His hand on us and in different situations. I didn’t always see it at the time, but looking back I can.

Among other things, I’ve been given ministry opportunities that I wouldn’t have had if she was here and I was in “full time mom mode”. I’m so thankful for each opportunity that God gives me to encourage and love on others. I feel like I’m most “me” when I’m serving.

I know that God is preparing our hearts for our little girl each day, so we’ve had extra preparing! I trust that his timing is perfect and am convinced that there is a specific child that he has for us to parent and it’s not just by random coincidence.

I know that the other side of the waiting isn’t going to be easier and I know that once the adoption process is complete and she is home—it won’t be easy then either. (Have I ever mentioned that I REALLY need my sleep…???) BUT- I know that God is already equipping me to be her mother and that he will continue to do so as we go through the ups and downs of life.

The kids are handling all of it really well. They still pray for her every night and talk about her every day. They are still really excited about having a little sister. There have been times that they’ve really questioned the process and why it’s taking so much longer than we thought it would. We have been totally truthful with them about each step and they know exactly what’s going on and the reasons. Mostly, we have had so many teachable moments with them. Through every step and every bump and every milestone, we’ve talked with them about God’s perfect plan, His faithfulness, trusting in Him alone, what it means to have faith, how to find our hope and joy in the Lord. Of course, they don’t grasp or understand everything, but any chance we get to talk about these things with them, we are. It’s a daily thing, really.

Also, we are really busy most of the time. With all 3 kids in school and with homework and extra-curricular activities. Mixed in with their Mamma and Daddy running a business—we stay BUSY. I’m not gonna lie—being busy sure does help the days to pass by just a little quicker.

I don’t want time to pass by too quickly because we have so much to enjoy about life NOW, but looking at it in the context of waiting for our girl… it helps :)

We have SO many family members and friends who are so anxiously awaiting her arrival into our family. Literally hundreds of people. She is going to be SO loved. I just can’t wait to be able to introduce her to everyone who has been praying for her and loves her.

My heart swells to think of what it will be like to finally be able to share some news other than, “we’re still waiting”…..

So, there it is. A few thoughts on how we’re doing. Not sure if any of this made sense as it rambled out of my head, but it is what it is I guess. I’m planning to head to bed early tonight and spend some extra time in the Word and prayer.

Thanks so much to everyone for your continued prayers for our family. We are so blessed and so loved.  I promise that we are so thankful for that and do not take any of it for granted.