South Africa: Day 1, Pretoria

Today we landed in T’s birth country of South Africa at 7:00 a.m. after a long (10.5 hours) and very bumpy flight from London. The flight was a little emotional because I hate long flights. Couple that with the turbulence we experienced and I was in tears at one point. Brian did not sleep at all and I slept maybe 30-60 minutes. But we made it safely! 

When we landed, I started crying because it hit me so hard we were here to meet T and become a family of three. Brian asked if I was ok and all I could reply was, “I’m so happy.” It’s been such a journey of processing the fact that after two years of paperwork and waiting, we are meeting the boy who will be stuck with us as parents forever.

We were greeted with a blinding sun (blinding after 8 mostly rainy days in London) and temperatures that reached 99 degrees. Good-bye, winter! After making it through the non-airconditioned waiting area for the border patrol, through customs, collected all three duffle bags, got our mobile phone SIM cards, and checked out our rental car, we were ready to head to our hotel, 30 minutes north in Pretoria.

Navigating this journey safely was difficult as we were so exhausted. Thankfully, drivers weren't nearly as crazy as they are in London. After making it in one piece and checking in to the hotel, we headed up to our suite (thank you, Hotwire). It is hard to describe the room, but I can tell for this area, it is a nice place. Being greeted by a super hot room (AC had been turned off) and a tub that doesn’t drain properly was a little bit of a reminder that we’re not in London anymore. Thankfully, they have a delicious restaurant with an all-you-can-eat buffet of South African staples.

View from our hotel room

View from our hotel room

View from our hotel room

After assessing our living quarters for the next week, we got a call from one of our social workers here (Rose). She said that T’s primary caregiver and social worker wanted to meet with us before we meet him tomorrow morning. We were thrilled to have them come to our hotel to meet, so we accepted. Then we slept. Hard. Then we woke up still tired.

At 4:00, we met with the caregiver and social worker. We talked with them for three hours. Most of it was about T (more info about his likes, dislikes, personality, history, etc). We also talked about South Africa and fun things to do in the area. I feel like the three hours we spent with them, readied my heart to meet T once and for all. Brian and I have both been so nervous about meeting him—what if he doesn’t like us? We don’t know him but for the limited things we have read on paper. Talking with these women who work day in and day out with T and clearly love him brought us such a peace. 

We’re now back in our room and getting ready for bed. All in all, a good day. Tomorrow, Lord-willing, will be better. We will meet our son!

Keeping Up with the Malcolms

With 26-27 days left before we meet T, I wanted to give a heads up that I'm going to aim to post frequently while we are over in South Africa. This may not be possible if we are somewhere without power or internet access (these times will be few), but I'd like to keep everyone updated about our adventures. If you are interested in receiving notifications whenever I post, please subscribe to this blog (in the right column for PC users and at the bottom of the page for mobile users). I'm not going to be posting on Facebook every time I write because I don't want to clutter your feeds.

If you think about it, we could really use your prayers. We're both exhausted (schedules are bonkers) and we are praying we don't get sick. With all of the sickness around us, it will be a miracle to avoid catching something. We have a lot to do and little time to do it in.

Thanks for caring for, praying about, and encouraging our family. You are a huge part of why we have made it this far!

Adoption Celebration

On October 3, our family and friends got together and threw us an adoption celebration. It was everything I had hoped for. We had everyone together celebrating our adoption of T moving forward. We had delicious food catered by Pie Boss, which is owned and operated by a guy from Durban, South Africa (found here). It was relaxed with little agenda, really just a giant party. My friend, Dinah, was so gracious and planned and organized the beast of a celebration (we had around 90 people there) with an army of awesome friends to help! The whole thing flew by and I was so glad that our friend Laura (Laura Lee Photography) was taking pictures because I didn't take a single one! (All pictures below were taken by Laura.)

Thank you to all of our friends and family who made our adoption celebration perfect!

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Sweet hand lettered banners

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These Africa ornaments were made by Kirsten and Jenna. They were the take home gift to remember to pray for us when we travel.

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Michelle, Dinah, and Rachel (Coral making a small appearance). These ladies are such an encouragement to me! Dinah also wore all six of the colors of the South Africa flag...and it worked, too! I wish I had thought of it!

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A group shot (still missing about half of the group)

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Delicious meat pies

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It was so good to catch up with friends, many drove hours to come! (The record was 9 and 5 hours driven by my parents and sister - they came for the shower, then had to leave early the next morning!)

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There were two t-shirts for people to sign and draw on. T is going to love these!

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I had to include this one because, come on! Wyatt is so super cute! He had a blast at the shower, too.

Our Adoption Packing List

Calling all parents and people with opinions (that means everyone):

I've started packing T's bag, but need help. His clothes and shoes are covered, but I need help deciding what is necessary/helpful in the "keep this child entertained in a hotel room for 6 to 7 weeks" department. Below is a picture and list of things I'm considering. Am I missing anything? Is there something you feel is unnecessary? Did you have a favorite toy on vacations when you were a kid that we should consider? Please comment below. I want to make sure we've got all of our bases covered for maximum entertainment, but not maximum weight (we do have to ship this to South Africa)!

Our adoption packing list for the South Africa stay. We're looking to keep this kid entertained!

1. Over the door toy organizer (kinda like this one)
2. Educational books and puzzle
3. Animal puzzles
4. Fidget toy (found here)
5. Magformers (found here)
6. Pool float toy (we don't know if he can swim, so this seems helpful)
7. Toiletries and First Aid items: first aid kit, thermometer, lotion, body wash, toothbrush and toothpaste)
8. Coloring books and crayon holder
9. A couple of Lego creator sets
10. Water bottle
11. Osmo set (super awesome, educational games for the iPad)
12. A Lacing Lion (found here)
13. A few books (I'm thinking about adding a few more as I don't want to read these four books for 6-7 weeks).
14. Travel Games (Memory and Trouble)
15. Headphones
16. Lots of stickers (they're light!) and a blank bound book for creation and a fun memento of our time in South Africa
17. Bag of Matchbox Cars and safari animals

Community Group

Last Thursday felt like the end of an era. We held the last community group at our house. Brian has been hosting community groups for nine years and I joined in 5.5 years ago when we got married. Through our community group, I've had the opportunity to grow in hospitality (an area I desperately need to grow in), bake many desserts I wouldn't have baked for just the two of us, and to form many friendships. I've met so many wonderful people and had the chance to be a part of their lives.

This Thursday will be a little weird. I won't be frantically cleaning our house (let's be honest here--that's how it was every week) or baking a snack. This is one of many changes to come. I know this new season of life will bring so many good things but, I can't lie, I'm going to miss having community group at our house.

When I Grow Up...

I've always wanted to write. When I was in elementary school, I remember meeting an author at our school library. She wrote children's books covering various times in history, which was one of my favorite subjects. Pouring over her books inspired me. When I grew up, I wanted to be an author.

Artwork by Kirsten Ovitt and Design by Brian Malcolm

Beginning in May, I started writing a Bible study. I've wanted to write something for a while and had several ideas floating around in my head. What prompted my sitting down in front of a computer was our women's ministry at Redeemer Fellowship needing a change. We decided to mix up the format of our monthly Bible studies and needed materials.

Artwork by Kirsten Ovitt and Design by Brian Malcolm

It has been such a blessing getting to write for the ladies in our church. The fruit of the Spirit is a topic the Lord knew I needed to be writing about and meditating on these past few months. The chapter on patience was especially a blessing to write. Pouring over Scriptures about patience while we were in the midst of waiting for T's file was such a comfort to my soul. It was also a huge challenge.

Artwork by Kirsten Ovitt and Design by Brian Malcolm

I am almost done with the study (7.5 chapters out of nine are done). I don't know how quickly I'll be able to finish as the next couple of weeks are going to be very busy, but I am excited to present the full work to the ladies in our church. It has been such a blessing to feel like I'm using the degree I got and my passion to see women studying theology and loving God more because of what they are learning. I'm already plotting what I'll write next. But for now, I'm going to focus on finishing chapters 7.5 through 9 and getting life in order.

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.

Adoption PSA

(Note: This post is meant to be humorous and informative. If you're guilty of saying any of these, please be assured that I don't remember you specifically asking these questions and I'm not thinking of any one person while writing these.)

In our 21 months of being in the adoption process, many things have been said to me about our choice and calling to adopt. Most have been encouraging. Below are a few things that have been asked/said more than once:

1. "You're adopting? That's so great! I/My friend adopted a dog last year"

Don't get me wrong, I love dogs (a lot). I think they're super and they need to be loved. But please, please, for the love of all that is good in the world, don't compare anyone's adopting a animal to a child. It will not win you any points with your friend toiling through the adoption process. And it'll make them feel sad. Just don't.

2. "You're adopting? Can't you have children of your own?"

Ugh. First of all, this is none of your business. Second, if this were the case and reason for adopting, is this really something you want to bring up? It could be really painful for someone to talk about. Get excited for your friend. It doesn't matter why they're adopting, they need your support.

3. "What medical problems does your kid have?"

This is not your business. Do not ask this question. Just no.

4. "Is your kid going to be black?"

Does it matter to you what color my kid is going to be? They could be purple and I will still love them. I hope my friends feel the same way. All of your friends who are adopting or who have adopted feel this way.

5. "You're adopting? My friends adopted a few years ago and the kid had so many problems...(insert adoption terror story here)."

I've heard this response the most. The adoption process and adoption itself is hard for so many reasons. Hearing horror stories does not help anything. If I'm honest, I've already thought through horrible scenarios we could face. Trust me, your friend walking through adoption or the adoption process does not need horror stories. They need to hear encouragement.

All in all, if you are considering adopting, you are going to face many stupid comments. (You have been warned!) If you're not adopting, aim to be the friend saying encouraging things.

I posted the video below way back when, but this guy does a great job making you laugh while learning things. Thank you for listening to the ramblings of a crazy lady. Please go back to whatever it was you were doing before reading this post and have a great day.

31 Years

I turn 31 today. More than anything I am feeling thankful for the years I have been given. God has given me many good times, a few difficult times, and many, many mundane days. Don't get me wrong—I am thankful for the mundane days, too. I don't think I could handle the excitement of every day being special or exciting and I'm glad the number of difficult days have been kept to a minimum, considering 31 years.

The hymn "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" has been going through my mind all morning. Every line applies to the goodness of God I've seen in my life. My soul has been stirred to praise God for His many, many blessings, first of which is the great love that He has lavished on me. 

I would encourage you to read, sing, and meditate on these words. Your time will not be wasted.

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration!

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires all have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee!
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee,
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love doth befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.”

— "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" Lyrics by Joachim Neander

Clothes and a Lion Named Roy

Because we have a little less than 3-4 months before heading over to South Africa (if the courts approve our referral), we've started getting ready to welcome T* home. One of the main things we've been able to get for T have been clothes. We've been buying a ton of the summer items that are on clearance now because, when we head over, it will be summer in South Africa. Talk about feeling sorry for this kid...he's leaving summer and being dropped right into the middle of our winter when we return.

I surprised Brian with a sweet t-shirt I found for T. Target had a series of band t-shirts. I was going to wait to give it to Brian until the day we signed the paperwork for T, but I couldn't wait. I'm pretty sure this kid is going to be STYLIN'!

Along with clothing this kid, we've started making our registries for our adoption shower. We even found an awesome stuffed animal we will give T when we meet him for the first time. A lot of attachment resources recommend giving the child a stuffed animal for them to have during the crazy time in their life when they are leaving one life behind and starting a new one. T's favorite animals are lions and horses, so that's where we started. We found this sweet guy on Amazon and are excited to give it to T (we also bought a back up). We're calling him Roy until T has a chance to name him.

Definitely subscribe to the blog if you don't want to miss anything. We are so blessed to have so many people who are asking about T and what's next, so we don't want to miss anyone. We're excited to keep you updated as we have more info.

*Legal name withheld until he is legally our son.

Moving Forward

Last Wednesday, Brian and I sent an email to our agency telling them we would like to move forward in adopting T*! We are so excited because he seems to be a perfect fit for our family. Since we've accepted the informal referral, the agency and lawyers in South Africa will bring a referral request and our dossier before a court to request an official referral. This process will take about four weeks. That puts us about 3-4 months out before heading to South Africa if all goes well!

Please be praying with us as we are hoping that we will be approved and that it will take less time and we can get to South Africa sooner rather than later. Our desire is to be with our son for Christmas this year and home before the end of the year. 

More info to come soon!

*Real name will be withheld until he is legally our son.

IT'S HERE!

On Monday afternoon, we got the file! It's been a crazy week since. Brian and I are praying over this little fella and feeling really confident about him.

A lot of people have been asking what happens next, so here's a general timeline that we just got from the agency:

1. We will take his file to a doctor to be reviewed. It will help us understand the medical portion of the file.
2. We will notify the agency that we would like to officially make him ours!
3. The paperwork will be sent over to South Africa and we will receive his full file (we currently have a file with redacted information).
4. We will have two weeks to go over the full file and accept it.
5. If we accept the file, we will have to receive approval from our government and from the South African government.
6. When we've received the approvals, we will have the all clear to head over to pick up our kid!

Our prayer is for clarity and timing. We are praying that if this little guy is ours, we would be bringing him home by the end of the year. Please pray with us! Thank you for walking with us this far! We will write an update when we have one. Stay tuned!

Hope in the Lord

This season of waiting has been hard. If you've talked to me in the last three weeks, it seems the waiting has intensified as we are waiting for some paperwork and for a file to come through from South Africa. Each day I wake up with hope for the day. And each day, for the last three weeks, I've given up hope somewhere around 10:30 am because the work day is officially over in South Africa. 

When you are waiting for an adoption to move forward, you have such hope. You hope for the timeline to be quick (you don't want to wait for 10 years), you hope for the child to be loved where they're at right now, you hope they will be protected from evil people who prey on helpless children, you hope that when you meet them for the first time they don't hate you. You hope and you hope and you hope. These past few weeks have been filled with such hope; it's almost overwhelming at times. As we've been waiting and hoping, I've found such encouragement and joy in Scripture.

Over and over again in the Psalms, we are called to hope in the Lord.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.”

— Psalm 130:5-8, ESV

“O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.”

— Psalm 131:3, ESV

“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.”

— Psalm 146:5-7, ESV

As I looked at my watch this afternoon and saw that it is bedtime for our child in South Africa and realized we will be waiting until Monday (at least), I realized that God is not wasting this time. This huge idea of waiting on the Lord and having hope in the Lord is finally settling into my soul. I am starting to understand more fully what it means (in my own small way) to hope in the Lord. God has allowed me to translate this season of waiting into a deeper understanding of hoping in Him and I am so thankful.

I am realizing more as I write this out that my hope in the adoption, for a child, is not a bad thing, but it could and probably will disappoint. My hope in God will never disappoint. God will never disappoint. 

Peace in Waiting

I've sat down and started several blog posts over the last couple of months, but was unable to publish them. For fear of sounding like a broken record, I just didn't have anything new to say. It was tough. Knowing something and seeing it on a screen in front of you made it more real for me.

In the midst of this season of waiting, one thing has emerged—peace. The last file we looked at was in December. Over the past six months, the Lord has done such a great work. When I am tempted to freak out over the many things on my mind God was so quick to remind me about the sweetness of His sovereignty. 

Back in April, we got some disappointing news about the adoption. Providentially, that week, I was preparing to talk about the sovereignty of God at our women's seminar. When tempted to freak out, I already had Scripture floating through my mind to calm my heart. God has been so good to remind me of these truths over and over. (I often need to be reminded, as I quickly forget.)

As we are praying for the right child for our family, please pray with us. We don't know how our family will look at the end of this process, but we are trusting that the Lord knows and will work powerfully to take orphans on the other side of the world and bring them into our family.

Thank you for praying with us and asking if there's any new news. It is so encouraging us that people care. We look forward to the day when we have big news to share.

Little Things

We've been asked by many if there are any updates. Simply put - nope. Nothing. All is quiet on the adoption front. In this quiet, I find small glimpses of things to come in the little things. I wanted to share a few of them with you.

I found these sweet, kid-sized kicks at a garage sale for $1! For those of you who have never set eyes on my husband, he's practically a walking advertisement for Puma. I joke with him that I think his endorsement checks are getting lost in the mail. I saw these and instantly was able to envision our child wearing shoes just like their dad.

Last week in Knoxville, my mom did a treasure hunt with my nieces and nephew. They were sent to hunt for chocolate coins imprinted to look like actual currency. The only coin they didn't find was a coin from South Africa. My mom saved it for me. It was a sweet reminder to pray for our kid(s).

The last little thing was a set of Transformers letters I found at a thrift store. I sent Brian a text while I was at the store to see if he wanted me to get them. He replied enthusiastically that he did want them and that he used to have the 'M'. When I brought them back to the house, Brian proceeded to transform all 26 letters of the alphabet (he had a little help from the Oneal kids).

I've noticed and have been thankful for these little things throughout our days. I've currently got the kid Pumas sitting under the glass in our coffee table. It reminds me that, Lord-willing, those shoes will be filled some day. We are very much looking forward to that day!

Vacation

It's been a while since Brian and I were able to get away from our every day usual. We had been down in Naples, Florida for the past week and, I'm sure this won't surprise you, I didn't want to leave. While we were gone, we received this photo of our house from Joey (a guy in our community group):

No, thank you! Especially because this (below) is what we were experiencing the same time all of our friends were experiencing the 5th worst blizzard recorded in Chicago's history:

This is a rental and I am not responsible for the dust!

That's right! 81 degrees while driving around in a convertible. If it weren't for all of the horrible things about Flordia (hurricanes, sink holes, alligators, horrible humidity to name a few), I'd be on the band wagon to move down here. 

It was a great time! I finished a book, started a new cross stitch pattern (and made some good progress), and got a tan that will quickly fade back to my Scandinavian pale-as-a-sheet white. 

I love marine life and got to save 14 sea stars while walking the beaches. It was like a free trip to the aquarium (without having to wait in line to pet the star fish).

And we got to enjoy some insanely beautiful sunsets. This one (below) was one night during our (almost) daily bike rides.

I'm so thankful we've had the time to get away. I told Brian one of the nights we were there that it was the longest I had gone without worrying about our adoption since we started the process. It was a very welcome break.

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is my favorite time of year for so many reasons. My family had a lot of traditions. My least favorite was my sister and I shoveling the driveway while my parents watched from inside sipping hot chocolate. Here are a few of my favorite traditions/staples of Christmas:

The Christmas Pickle

My grandparents would hide a pickle ornament in their Christmas tree. If you found it, you'd get a prize. Now we have a pickle for our tree and the first person to find it gets a dollar. (As an aside: I hid it really, really well this year.)

The Christkindlmarket + The Berghoff Restaurant

When we lived in Germany, one of our favorite things to do was go to the markets at Christmastime. After we moved to St. Charles, we discovered there was an authentic German Christmas market. We made it a tradition to go downtown (rain, snow, or shine) and visit the market. After that, we'd hit up Berghoff for an authentic German dinner.

The Nativity Set

We had this awesome old nativity that my mom used to play with under our tree. My sister and I would play with it during the Christmas season. Once we got older (and my mom had bought another nativity [pictured]), we would make the biblically correct nativity, hence the wise men removed from the birth of Christ. My mom loved that.

Nutcrackers

While we were in Germany, my mom bought me a nutcracker each Christmas. The four tallest in the center are the ones I got. The tallest (a Russian tzar) was the last one I received. I picked it out because the dude had such a fluffy hat and awesome "jewels" (polished rocks). I've added a few to my collection since then, but the core are old, like me!

I cannot wait for when our family grows. It is going to be so much fun to add new traditions to our family; to make new memories; to watch our kids shovel the driveway while enjoying the warmth of a hot chocolate.

Mandela

I remember where I was when I heard the news exactly one year ago. I was taking a break from crazy cleaning our house when I turned on my phone and opened the CNN app. Above all of the other news stories, there was the headline: Nelson Mandela had passed away. 

We had known for quite some time that we were planning on adopting from South Africa. We had started research into the history and culture. The history in the past 50 years culminated around one man, Nelson Mandela. 

When I sat down to think about the ramifications his death would have on a country we had grown to love, I was struck with the thought that our children, unless they were babies, could possibly remember this day in great detail. Those caring for them could be in mourning. The orphanage could take on an atmosphere of loss. 

We all have moments we remember very clearly. My grandparents remember where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot. I remember with great detail where I was when I heard about the Twin Towers falling (third period German class). I wonder if our kids will remember where they were when they heard the news about Mandela.

I am thankful that God put such a man in South Africa at the right time. Oppression had gone unchecked for far too long. So many people were able to rally around Mandela who spent 27 years of his life in prison. When he was released, he was an integral part in overthrowing the apartheid. He was a man who loved his countrymen and fought for their freedom and liberties. Lord willing, the influence he had on the country he loved will continue on and bless many generations to come.

One year later

One year ago, I clipped the envelope holding our adoption application onto our mailbox. I remember waiting with eager anticipation to watch the mail man grab it and walk away. Thus began our adoption process. It was a quiet beginning and has had ups and downs since. One whole year...

It is a bittersweet anniversary. When we started this process last December, we thought we would be in South Africa by now, meeting our kids, and being parents. We've since learned that was a misunderstanding on our part, but it doesn't diminish the hope we felt in this being a quick process.

It is a sweet moment, too, because more than anything I'm learning the Lord's timing is best in this process. In the year we've been walking this path, we've prayed over seven children and felt they were not our kids. I cannot wait for the day when the Lord answers our prayers to show us who are kids are supposed to be. God's timing is perfect, so the fact that we are not in South Africa right now means that this moment, being lived right here in Aurora, Illinois, is best.

For those of you still praying with us and encouraging us as we wait on the Lord, thank you. Your kind words, prayers, and listening ears are invaluable. You mean more to us than you know and your part in our adoption story is essential.

What's Next?

Now that our dossier has been completed and shipped, we've gotten the question "What's next?" quite a bit in the last few weeks. Well, the next step was for our dossier to be received in country, but we were notified Tuesday afternoon that it was received by the agency in South Africa. That's a huge relief!

So the answer is that the next step of the process is waiting. Nothing to do. No paperwork to collect, sign, notarize, or apostille. It's all done for now. Now we wait. Now life continues as normally as possible knowing that life could change at the drop of a hat (as any life can). It's just different because we've removed all barriers to getting these kids home. All paperwork is turned in. All it takes is a phone call and a file of a child (or children) in our inbox. 

It's been mentioned by several people that waiting must be the hardest part. For both Brian and I, it is one of the easier times. We know that the timing is completely in God's hands. Our kids will come home at the exact moment He has ordained. There is a huge peace we've found in trusting the Lord. A quote by Paul Tripp has been brought to mind several times since we started waiting.

“You live your life in the utterly mundane. If God doesn’t rule your mundane, He doesn’t rule you because that’s where you live.”

— Paul Tripp, War of Words (sermon)

Our life, while different than some, is mundane. We go to work, we eat dinner, laundry is done, cleaning, repeat. There has been a sweetness to handing this season over to the Lord. It's no longer up to us to finish anything. It's all done. Now we wait, trusting the Lord to rule in this season, as well as the next.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray with us that the Lord would protect our kid(s) during this season of waiting. Pray He would provide loving caregivers, food, clothing, and shelter - things we cannot provide for them at this time.
• Pray for us as we wait and prepare to welcome the child(ren) into our lives.