Wow, it has been almost 3 months since the last post. We are (mostly) settled in the new house, Shannon has started kindergarten, I've gone back to work for another school year, Amelia continues to show us her abounding joy for life and Ben's honey-do list is never ending. In short, life has been cruising by right before our eyes. And through it all, good and bad, I cannot deny we are truly blessed.
From time to time, people ask me how things are going with the adoption and there is a part of me that aches when I don't have anything to update them with. But, there is no where I would rather be than right here, right now with my family. Life can get crazy busy, but being the mom and wife to the family God has given me is the best (and hardest) job, blessing, responsibility, opportunity, experience, LIFE I could imagine.
We really don't have anything new to update about the adoption. We are still planning to adopt. We still believe God has put the Dominican Republic on our hearts in terms of the where and a sibling group in terms of the who. The specifics of how, when and just who will be a part of that sibling group are not something we can answer right now.
Not a day goes by that I don't pray for my family - my WHOLE family. My devoted husband, my precocious Shannon, my passionate Amelia AND the children I have yet to meet. My heart aches for whoever those children are out there that will someday join our little family. I pray for their safety, for them to know love, for their health, for their happiness, for their future, for the transition into our family. And then, I say those same prayers for the two sweet girls we already have. I pray for God to give me the strength to be the mom and wife I need to be for our family - now and as it grows. I pray.
I pray for hope and guidance. It is far too easy to panic and think of all the details surrounding growing our family through adoption. Where will the money come from? Who will take care of things here when we are there? Will my work and Ben's work understand when we need to take significant time off (at least 60 days for Ben and potentially 8 months for me) to go to the Dominican Republic to meet our children and bring them home? How will the girls handle living abroad (and for some of it, away from dad)? How will we adjust once we are home? How will all of us grow into a larger family? So many unanswered questions.
I don't know how to answer these and so many other questions swimming around in my head. For now, I am choosing to trust in HIS timing and HIS plan. I am also mindful not to miss the blessings happening every day and to cherish each day with my family. I am indescribably excited, anxious, blessed, frightened, amazed, nervous, hopeful and so many other feelings I can't even begin to name to be on this adventure with my family.
