2:36 p.m.

At 2:36 p.m. today our sweet Lilliana Grace turns three years old. Where does the time go?

How did this little bitty girl.....

turn into this big girl?

(And for our first hilarious moment with a three-year-old, this morning we went in her room to wake her up by singing Happy Birthday. About halfway through the song, she rolled over and said, "Not now!" I am pretty sure she is just turning three and not sixteen!)

Adoption = Rollercoaster, part 2

Well today was a much, much better day than yesterday. And it ended on a high note!

A new employment letter is in the mail and should be here by Monday.

Fingers crossed that it is correct this time!

"May the Lord be praised, for He has heard the sound of my pleading ... Therefore my heart rejoices, and I praise Him with my song." Psalm 28:6-7

Adoption = Rollercoaster

Today's Rollercoaster

High: We finally got Chris's new employment letter.

Low: Saw that a couple of things were missing.

High: Prayed they would accept it anyway, scanned it and e-mailed it to Gladney.

Low: Caseworker calls. The letter is a no-go. Also learn we may have to update medicals before we can update homestudy. Medicals don't expire until late January and we can't have physicals before then or our insurance won't cover it. That would mean another 2ish months before we would be back on the waitlist.

High: After discussion with caseworker, we do not have to wait for medicals to update homestudy as long as we can get it updated before our medicals expire.

Low: Realize it took Chris's employer almost two weeks to get us a letter last time. So, I typed up the entire letter for them so all they would have to do is print it on company letterhead, sign it, and make sure the notary signs it the same day. Praying that will happen tomorrow and they will overnight it to us.

Right now I am stuck in a low. My prayer is that tomorrow brings good news. Leaning on this: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11, ESV

Even though I've never seen your face, I miss you sweet child of mine. I know someday, many years from now, we will look back at this time of waiting and know it's purpose.

A New Venture

Since things have been slow with the adoption, my good friend Vanessa and I have decided to try something new. So we opened an etsy shop.

See the new etsy link in my sidebar to the right -------------------->

Come check us out! We will be adding more stuff soon!

7

7 months in the books as of Friday. This month has been difficult. Even though we are actively working on getting back on the list, my heart has been aching for our child. So ready to meet him or her. Hoping this month goes by quickly and we are an "official" waiting family again very soon!

Gratitude

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone! You have all been so supportive of us, and we are so blessed to be a party of the adoption community!

Just a quick note of clarification, we are not officially back on the waitlist yet. We have to redo all our financial paperwork and do a homestudy update first.

But the good news is, Chris officially has a full-time job and I have already completed the financial paperwork. We are just waiting on a new employment letter to update our homestudy. Please pray that all the paperwork gathering will go smoothly and we will be back on that list ASAP!!!

Thanks again for everything, I appreciate each and every one of you!

Sharing our story

Today I shared our story on the blog of the magazine I work for. Here's what I wrote:

For several years my husband and I have talked about adoption. Our plan was always to have biological children and then once they were in school we would start the adoption process. Last summer, our first child was about 18 months old and we were starting to talk about bringing another biological child into the family. But God had other plans.

All of the sudden, adoption was constantly on my mind. It was all I could think about at home, at work, at church. So, without my husband's knowledge, I began to really look into it. I researched agencies, I watched webinars, I talked to friends who were adopting. And then I got up the nerve to tell my husband.

Thank goodness he didn't think I was crazy. In fact, he was feeling the same way I was. So I presented him with my list of agencies and we looked at them together. We finally chose one and a year ago this month we officially began our adoption paperwork.

No one ever told us adoption was easy. And I'm glad they didn't, because it's not. Our families were happy when we told them the news, but they didn't jump up and down and cry happy tears like they did when we told them we were pregnant with our daughter. Our paperwork took several months longer than we thought it would to complete. Then our agencies timeline for a referral (when you are matched with a child) was increased by several months. And just recently, my husband was laid off. We put our case on hold while he searched for a new job, praying that he would find something soon. My heart ached for that child we haven't even seen a picture of yet because I knew the longer we were on hold the longer it would be before we got to meet them.

Just last week my husband started a new job. We called our agency and told them we were ready to go back on the waitlist. Now I am, again, filling out paperwork, hoping that everything will fall into place quickly. Our hopes are that we will have a referral sometime in December or January.

Though this journey has at times been disappointing and frustrating, I know that God has a plan for our family and we are following in His will. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans I have for you' — this is the LORD’s declaration — 'plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'" And it is on those words that I rest my fears and stress.