Hi Friend and Family!
Our summer has been crazy as usual, but filled with many non-usual things along with the same-old… things like getting finger printed, meeting with social workers, filling out numerous applications, and writing autobiographies. Not to mention reading some fabulous adoption books! Yes, it has been the summer of the “paper pregnancy” as the adoption books so aptly call it! And like many biological pregnancies, it’s an interesting mix of exciting, tiring, quick, long, hopeful and bewildering. In fact, I (Jen) have been through so many emotions during this time, that I cannot begin to explain them all in one (short enough to read in one sitting) post. So, let me break it down and get ya’ll up to speed!
Exciting: We are just bursting at the seams to be parents! Literally, everywhere we look we notice families. When we are out to eat, at the store, at concerts, on vacation… everywhere we are noticing the fullness of life with children. We just can hardly wait! And even more exciting is the amount of adoptive families that we have noticed. It’s like we have “adoption radar” now. At Creation there were so many families that were obviously brought together through adoption, and even a few adoption groups who were attending the festival together! This was really awesome! Then at Yosemite we saw a number of adoptive families too. It felt as though we were linked through a kinship deeper than blood… and automatic union of having the heart of adoption (truly, the very heart of GOD!) beating in our chest. So cool! We are STOKED to become parents, and this consumes our thoughts! Also, one of our fundraisers this summer was a kid day at our house, and it was a BLAST! Talk about excitement… try hosting 29 kids at your home all day! Now THAT’S excitement!
Tiring: There is a LOT of paperwork. A LOT. Can I say that again? A LOT!!! Homestudy, Education worksheets, books to read, more paperwork for the dossier. Not to mention the fundraising, which weighs heavy on our minds. We still have $25,000 to go, and it is a whole lot of work to come up with such an amount! The kid day was awesome, but it does take a lot of time to prepare and recoup. Ahhhh, fundraising. We often wish we had more help in this area… it is hard to come up with enough different (cost effectively, yet unique and fun) ideas and carry them out! So, at the end of each day, when we have done everything we need just for normal life plus whatever we can do of our adoption related planning and paperwork, we are TIRED. But I guess that is a good preparation for parenting, huh??? LOL!
Quick: So much happens so fast in adoptions! We are constantly getting updates from our agency. Children are being adopted off of the waiting children list (it is so exciting to see one disappear, because that means that they have gotten a family!) and new children are added. We just got a message this week from our agency that said this: “I am not sure if our Congo families are aware, but we have been getting a good number of referrals of toddler boys and girls. Many families have received and accepted referrals and our first complete sets of dossiers are going to Congo on Monday… so let the adoptions begin!” WOW!!! How exciting! As many of you know, we are one of the initial group of families at our agency that are going through the country of Congo. It is a new program for our agency. So far, things had been moving pretty slow as we were all feeling our way through the Congolese process. But now the pace is picking up, and we need to get with it and get moving! The next set of fees are due, and we have the money to pay them, but then we are without funds for the next step… accepting a referral. In one way (emotionally) a referral can’t come soon enough, but in another way (financially) it is coming too quickly! Hmmm… God WILL provide IN TIME. We need to trust this!
Long: We miss our kids! Although we have never met them, we think about them constantly. Whenever I see black children, I wonder if mine will look like them, and I can’t help but smile! J A couple of times I have actually cried, because I just long to look into the eyes of my children and hold them in my arms. Pretty sure that looks weird, crying for no reason in public places! Ha! But mostof the time I just take note of cute hairstyles and clothing styles that I see, and I am SO tempted to buy kid clothes at Goodwill. Arrrggghhhh! It is so hard to wait sometimes! On our family vacation, as we adventured on hikes and saw magnificently beautiful vistsas of mountains, valleys, and waterfalls, our minds were on our children, who we wished we had with us to share in the experience. And when I look at my beautiful dark-skinned Cambodian sister Emma, I think about how awesome it will be to have two more chocolate beauties in our family photos. Yup, the waiting can definitely seem LONG.
Hopeful: We are FULL of HOPE!!! How could we not be? When God is doing something so extrodinary as building a family out from two separate continents, how can you not be filled with awe and wonder!? We are hopeful that by next year at this time we will have our children with us. We know that God will find a way to build us a bridge to them, and that hope drives us forward! It is especially encouraging to see so many others getting their child referrals who are going through this process beside us… we will be joining them soon too! That is almost unreal to think about… A God of wonder who knits hearts and souls together to form a beautiful masterpieces of color, culture, and love!
Bewildering: SO MUCH YET TO DO. So much yet to pay for. So many more fundraisers to plan and hold. It just seems like everyone is so busy these days, and we are certainly right there with them. Truthfully, some days I feel like I am just treading water trying to keep my head above the waves of responsibilities and tasks that need to be accomplished. The financial mountains that have yet to be moved seem daunting and fundraising can be disheartening, especially when it is all up to us and we still have so far to go. So, there is the bewinderment. But we know that this will all help us to GROW and be better prepared for the work of parenting, which is a whole lot more challenging then paperwork and fundraising, that’s for sure! J
So, that’s where we are. In the midst of a paradoxical mixture of happy and crazy! We are following God and trusting HIS timing. Most of all, we just can’t wait to have this Homestudy finished very soon! This will be a major step for us. Plus, we have a Fall Fest fundraiser in the works, so stay tuned for more on that! And if you think you could help us with the planning for that in any way, we would be GRATEFUL!
Thank you so much for your awesome support and love and for reading my ramblings! Peace and Love from Jesus to YOU and your families!!!!
Jen
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