A journey in 2017

THIS was the year...THE year that I KNEW we would bring home our baby girl. The year is over, and she is not with us yet...but GOD led us along the way.

Let me start at the beginning...

Our paperwork entered Colombia in January 2017. (YES, the MOUNTAINS of paperwork!) My strategy to bring this sweetie home was to BUST-IT. I mean, if I got a set of papers to complete, I attempted to complete it within 48 hours. With VERY few exceptions, ALL the papers, tests, studies, research, books, questions, applications, photos, and various what-nots were completed on our end in JUST. TWO. DAYS. 

SOOOOOO....2017 was a CRAZY year of me prioritizing adoption stuff and interrupting my regular routines. In hindsight, this didn't HAVE to happen, but I FELT like it would speed up our process. Through this year of waiting.....hurrying around.....and waiting more, God has give me SO. MUCH. GRACE (along with my kids and husband!)

Many days in 2017, I was annoyed, angry and impatient with my kids, husband, students and co-workers. Besides the regular stress of life, I put on myself this 2 day limit thing. Many days, I snapped or yelled because I was frustrated with an obstacle in our adoption's way.

If you saw me in 2017 in person, you PROBABLY heard about a hiccup, delay or snag in the process. Please forgive me if I was calloused. Our journey this year was heartbreaking at times.

Well, some people have reflected on the year TODAY or this weekend, but I've been reflecting SINCE SEPTEMBER 26. Yes, that was the day we got a call about our Colombian daughter (name to be shared when we can!).  In the early days of our match and in October, I reflected on our life as a family of four and dreamed of her joining us. I reflected on the possible medical and emotional obstacles we might have to overcome as she joins our family. I dreamed of the homecoming and enjoyed the task of travel details, packing lists, and planning for Christmas super early.

Our days crawled as additional details and paperwork stalled in the process. We waited, and waited and waited. Shoot, we are STILL waiting! The great news is that THROUGH the waiting God gave us glimpses of hope, joy and peace.

In November, I was DONE Christmas shopping for teachers, family and friends. I relaxed into Thanksgiving, knowing that we hoped to travel "soon." We stayed at home and had a small Thanksgiving with the boys. It was amazing. We slept in (until 8am! woop) and watched the parade, bought a turkey from our fav meat place, and made a couple sides. 

In December, I was SO ready that we said "NO" to nearly everything. Can we travel ____? No. Are we available to do ___? No.  Can we attend ____? No, we really don't know our schedule, and we hope to be out of the country.

Our adoption journey has been isolating and lonely at times, and so I tensed up at saying "No" to everything. It wasn't that I didn't want to plan things three weeks in advance, but I REALLY didn't know where in the world we would be located. God really blessed us, though.

Our December was OH. SO. PEACEFUL. Of course, you might have read how I cried when I wrapped all these excellent (and a few extra) gifts for the boys. BEING here for Christmas was great. The boys loved shopping for each other, wrapping gifts, making cookies for neighbors and, of course, UNWRAPPING presents on Christmas Day. I LEANED in to knowing that God HAS this. My two day hustle rule was thrown out the window, and I saw the adoption through my kids' eyes. It was beautiful. 

God constantly showed us that we were on the right path, that HE is leading as we discern His will in our lives and he BLESSED us...immensely. We leaned MORE on God, we grew closer as a family who is led by God, and we build others up in their waiting.  I love this part of the "Oceans" song by Hillsong.
     Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
     Let me walk upon the waters
     Wherever You would call me
     Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
     And my faith will be made stronger
    In the presence of my Savior

We are walking upon the waters and wandering with God by our side. We are waiting and patiently listening for whispers of His will in our life journey. Many times throughout 2017, I had a false idea of when the adoption would be "over." I really thought my worries, fretting and hiccups would be done when: our paperwork was reviewed and approved, when we received HER sweet name, or when we received our immigration approval. 

In reality, our journey is EVER ongoing! When she arrives, we have love and bonding, medical appointments, and--you know it--MORE paperwork. We have language obstacles, learning opportunities and medical issues to explore. Our adoption of our sweet Colombian girl has and will ALWAYS impact our life and journey as parents and I am SO. VERY. THANKFUL!

Oh goodness, thank you for reading, praying, journeying, caring, loving and listening to our family as we walk in God's will to adopt this babe. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!

We are APPROVED! Our home study was just approved by our agency, All God's Children and our local certified provider, Lutheran Children and Family Services. We certainly have been TALKING about this for a while, but wasn't sure if it would happen in 2016! I've been busting it to try to get this approval (and sending TONS of follow up emails and phone calls!)

What does this mean you might ask???

This means that we can.....

• Send our notarized home study and additional dossier documents for Missouri to APOSTILLE (read about that process here!) In short, it is the NOTARY's BOSS, certifying/checking on the legitimacy of the notary. (Just apart of the process :) 
• After the apostille, we can send off our Dossier to All God's Children for translation! (They send it to Colombia experts!) We have been WORKING working working on the Home Study AND Dossier at the same time. Translation takes a bit.....4-6 weeks, I believe.
• With an approved home study, we can also apply for our Immigration. This takes an average of 2 months.
• After translation is complete, immigration is approved/signed and all these are sent to our agency--we are OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL in the eyes of the Colombian Government! I'm anxiously awaiting THAT part too! (Don't worry, you will hear about it!)
• AND, all at the same time, an official home study approval ALSO means we can apply for grants, loans and fundraising opportunities through adoption non-profits.

How can you help!? PRAY for favor and speed in the paperwork, for our female child for health and protection. For endurance, as this is ONE small step in an international adoption! We have a LOT more to go! For our hearts to wait. God has a plan, but we are SO excited. To be patient in HIS time. For provisions, planning and coordinating in this process.

You can also DONATE to our online GoFundMe page. We have big goals and have been saving, but you can help us out too! AND, support us on our next ONLINE opportunity (more details around Jan 1, 2017!) LOVE on us! Babysit for free, send us notes of encouragement, or take us out to coffee. This adoption is like another full time job, we need rest and filling up too!

We pray you had a blessed Christmas and for a safe and Happy New Year!

~Stephanie 

Kick Kick Away

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

It took me all holiday break to finally concentrate and feel the baby kicking! At first I thought it was a twitch, but then I realized baby was kicking and moving a lot!

As Friday gets closer and the mystery of baby boy or baby girl will hopefully draw to a close, I find myself SUPER excited, anxious and grateful. I'm so happy to have supportive family and friends who ask about baby all the time and help with baby items. Plus, I feel sorry for those who don't have kids yet and have to listen to me talk ALL the time about baby stuff. From what I know, it doesn't ever change. Its now ALL about the kids : )

So, I take time every day or night to feel baby kick a little. Sometimes (like just a few moments ago) I can feel him/her kick while working, moving, cooking, etc. It is QUITE exciting!

Lots of praises--Jerret did well on his GMAT and awaits official entrance into the MBA program soon, our friend Cheryl's cancer is gone, we had an amazing holiday break, we continue to hold down our jobs--despite the economy, our family is healthy and we are growing our friendship circle.
Prayer for finding a babysitter, a visible ultra sound (so we can know!), small and study group friends and their requests, friends at work who are suffering and need God's love, for a healthy delivery, for our friend Katie who has triplets!, for Stephanie who is in Germany and just had baby Elena, for JD our new roommate, for pregnant work friends and church friends, and for Jerret and I to grow closer to God.

Spaz is helping mom clean out a cabinet for JD, our roommate.
New photo from New Year's eve of S and J

16 week belly with cat on the ground.