Good News!

There are many ways an adoption is like a pregnancy. You announce you're adopting, at some point you can announce the gender, and at the end of it all, you bring a kid home. One glaring way adoption is different than pregnancy is the millions of steps you take to get to the end. I am so thankful for the army of people on the other end of this blog who pray for us and encourage us. You are so valuable to us!

I'm sure you're wondering what the good news is at this point. We've received our approval from the US Dept. of Homeland Security/Immigration. What that means is that the agency in South Africa can now begin pursuing a court date. Once they have a court date, we will get notice to travel. We are getting close!! It was a miracle we got it so soon. It's only been two weeks and we were told it would be at least a month.

We are hoping and praying to bring T home before Christmas. It would be so sweet to have that season together as a family of three. In the meantime, we're preparing and working hard to get ready to bring T home. I hope this kid likes Legos! Good thing they're light! We can take some to South Africa with us.

(Not so patiently) Waiting

Our home study paperwork was sent in three weeks ago today. We were supposed to receive a call at some point last week. This did not happen. Apparently the woman confused us with another couple and was waiting for my birthday to pass before calling—we would have been waiting quite some time!

Brian was able to wrangle a time out of them for our first home study interview, to take place next Tuesday in Palos Heights. Our final interview will be March 12th and take place in our home. This, in my humble opinion, is not happening quickly enough. If ever there was a time that my lack of patience was exposed, it is happening in this process.

Prayer Requests

• Our home study interviews would go well and be scheduled quickly (we still have 1-2 left to schedule between next week and March 12th).
• For patience. The stop and go of this process is driving me bonkers.
• That our kids would be waiting for us and we would be matched with them quickly.

Lazy Saturday

This is the first Saturday in a long while that we haven't had anything to do. We decided to start the day off by going to the gym—our kids aren't going to chase themselves, and I certainly don't feel up to the task right now. 

For the rest of the day? We're going to be setting aside a large chunk of the afternoon to work on the crazy pile of home study paperwork and this evening I'll be making pasta. That's right. I'm making pasta. 

My mom used to make pasta for her amazing chicken noodle soup. I have wanted to try making my own for a while, but was really intimidated. I found an easy recipe and decided to take the plunge. I'm trying the bolognese sauce recipe, also found on that page. I'll let you know how it goes. Happy lazy Saturday, to you all!

Adoption 101

Last night we had our first class through our agency, Bethany Christian Services. It was a good time of review, as most of what was discussed, we already had considered and talked about between the two of us. I especially appreciated seeing and hearing from other couples that are now walking down the same path we are. 

While we were there, we received a monstrous envelope filled with paperwork we will need to fill out (basically writing a novel) and legal documents we will need to hunt down in order to begin the home study process. 

We are excited to start this next step in our journey. This is a big one as it will result in our dossier (informative essay/documents sent to South Africa) being completed. It is my understanding that once we've finished this step, we will be eligible to be placed with a child!

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Prayer Requests

• That we would be able to set aside large chunks of our time to complete this paperwork and send it in.
• That the Lord would protect us as we are seeking to do something we know He has called us to.
• As we were driving home last night, our car died and had to be towed to a shop. Please pray that repairs would be quick and cheap, and that we would not be discouraged by disruptions in day-to-day life during this exceptionally stressful and hectic time.