The Waiting Game

Update: Last week we mailed out our I-800a form to the Department of Homeland Security for clearance from them to be able to adopt a child internationally. I've been told from other adopting families that this will usually take about 30 to 40 days for approval. So we have started our 1st of many waiting periods for an approval. After we get our I-800a approved, we will then have everything ready to send off to China for their approval, this is also referred to as the Dossier. Here is a picture of Addi and Colton on the day we got our finalized Home study and then were able to send out the I-800a. We were all soo excited to get our Home study back, this was a huge step forward!!!

I know we are early on in the waiting period as far as paperwork goes, however we have known since December that our little guy was ours in our hearts, so really we have been waiting since then for him to be home with us and its not easy! I try to remind myself often that God is taking care of him and protecting him until we can! Then this morning when I was looking at my facebook I came across a friends new pictures and video of her sweet baby girl. By God's grace we found each other on FB a few months ago and our little ones are in the same orphanage!! When I was watching her video I kept thinking to myself, our little guy could be feet or even inches away from her right now, and watching her stand in her little crib with nothing else around her, flooded my heart with so many emotions that its hard to focus on the day! I thought this waiting period would be like it was when I was pregnant, however it is very different. I'm not sure why its so different, if its because we already know him and what he looks like, or if its because we know very little about where he is living or what his daily life is like. Whatever it is, its HARD and I'm trying to keep myself busy and focus on the good! We were told by our agency that once we send our Dossier off to China we can then request a new update and pictures!! I cannot wait for that day, it has been 7 months since we have been able to get any kind of new information about him. So today I decided to take a screen shot of his video, and to me it feels like we got a new picture of him. I just love this little guys so much!

Even though our little guy is thousands of miles away from us God sends us reminders all the time that someday this waiting period will be over and he will be home in our arms! A few days ago Jon came home from work with a coin that someone used at the bank that day. After some investigating we found out that it was in fact a Chinese Coin!! Neither one of us have ever seen a Chinese coin before and were both in disbelieve that we were holding one! I think this was just another reminder from God and our little guy to keep holding on because soon we will all be together!