What's going on

Things have been moving positively.  Our home study is almost complete!  We reviewed it and it has been sent to our Adoption Agency for final edit & approval.  Our dossier has been completed and sent, missing only a few minor documents.  We recieved our renewed passports yesterday, so I will be able to send those to be added to the dossier.  Everything seems to be going well on our side of things!  We still do not have the first payment we need for the next step of the process. The homestudy took longer than we expected (waiting on background checks, paperwork, etc).  The homestudy is an important part of the application process to most fundraising/grant organizations, and so we are not in the place we had hoped to be at this point.  But, God is good and our family and friends have been so helpful, we know that we are super blessed. So now, my time will be spent essay writing/filling out applications for fundraising opportunities. 

On the other side of things, I spoke to the adoption agency director last week, and she is headed to a meeting in Lesotho.  I stole and/or borrowed the below post from another blog I follow. This family is just a few months ahead of us with their adoption from Lesotho.  Her post describes the need for prayer for the upcoming meeting, and I wanted to share it. She seems better informed than I am about what is going on with the meeting, and what to be prayerful about.

The original blog post can be found at : http://florafamilycalling.blogspot.com/  We will wait to hear what comes out of this meeting, praying and hoping for the best, and staying faithful that the Lord's will will be done.

Here is what was written:
In 2 days, October 20th, there will be an important meeting taking place in Lesotho between the Lesotho Department of Social Welfare and the adoption agency reps.  Please join me and those waiting for their child to come home in praying specifically over these areas:

1) pray for clarity of roles and processes and for relationships to be healed
 

2) pray against confusion and the spirit of competition and control

3) pray for cooperation and a focus on the best interests of these orphaned and vulnerable children.

4) pray that God will act mightily to defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed; rescue the weak and the needy (Psalm 82:3)

5) pray for the children and families that have already been matched and those who are still waiting for that step to take place

END of her post.

Thanks to all of you who are keeping up with us through the process.  If you ever have questions or want to chat, hit me up!  HEARTS!

Few things still left...and then more waiting :)

We are currently wrapping up the last few items of the home study.  Answering a few questions here and there.  We are also finishing up all of our documents for our dossier.  Needing a few signatures, a notary, etc.  We have also been taking pictures of every room of our house.  That has been quite lovely, as our home is much cleaner and it spurred Michael into de-cluttering our office.  Michael and I just wrote our letter to the Lesotho government and sent a draft to AFAA (our adoption agency).  Since we have no clue what we are doing, we are hoping for some constructive criticism :) 

Rosebud started preschool in August, and is growing more fond of it as time passes. The teachers let us know that she does great with them, but as one of them eloquently put it, Rosebud doesn't seem to understand the 'freakshow' that is the whole gaggle of children.  Having not been around gobs of kiddos, I think she sometimes gets overwhelmed.  But she comes home singing songs, doing yoga, and smiling, so that counts for something!  A little socialization twice a week will be good for her. 

I think of our son often.  I wonder what his name is.  If he has been born.  If his family is okay.  If he is okay.  I haven't even gotten into the thick of it yet, and adoption is already a much more emotional process than I had imagined.  We have fun anticipating his arrival to our family.  How long will it be?  We speculate on Rosebud's reaction and on our own.  It is fun to guess about things like this. Like an expectant mother wondering if her child will have hair or no hair, birthmarks, blue eyes, dark eyes, etc., we have our own curiosities.

 It seems like people feel sorry for us when I tell them we are in for a long wait.  But we aren't sad.  We believe in God's time and are enjoying Rosebud's early childhood.  We are figuring out our parenting strengths, and where we can improve :) As someone who likes to be in control of most things, its nice to have this adoption thing be so outside of my control that I can go with the flow, an attitude I pray to uphold ;)

Baby Fever

For the first time since Rosebud was born, I feel like it would be lovely to be pregnant.  I really never thought I would feel that way, since pregnancy = hormonal craziness.  I guess it is the way of biology. My brain is forgetting the difficult moments, and only remember the joyous ones.  And as my Rosebud gets bigger and bigger, I think part of the yearning is for her to slow down and stay my baby. 

I'm glad to have this feeling and so glad that the adoption process has been started.  Now I have something to tell my uterus when it starts telling me it wants to start on another beautiful life.  So sorry womb, our next baby will be or has been created somewhere else.  During the wait, I have family and friends who are enjoying the new beginnings of having little ones, and it has been pretty stinkin' fun to be a part of it!

Finally... an update

It has been awhile since I posted anything!  Things have picked up at my new job, and Rosebud is adjusting to preschool (finally).  It is just two days a week, but she has had a hard time missing Mimi and Pawpaw.

Our home study is underway. We are waiting for our DHS background checks to clear and then our home study agency should be able to finish up.  We also need to expedite our updated passports. Not only for our adoption, but also so we can flee to a private island once the economy crashes (thanks Euro!).  We don't really have a private island.. .just so we are clear on that. I was joking.

In this time, Michael and I continue to pray for our son and for our family.  We will probably be adopting a son that is older than we first imagined, and so we are praying that our hearts adjust to the needs of the country and to the needs of our son.  I have my own concerns that an older child could possibly mean higher risk of special attachment needs, and so I pray that Michael and I are up for parenting a child who will need extra compassion, patience, and consistency.  I will be reading reading reading, so if anyone has good suggestions, let me know! I am also bouncing names around, but realize that if our son is older when we meet him, he will already have a name.  I would like something cute to call him, like when pregnant women refer to their babies as 'peanuts' or 'sea monkey'.  Peanut seems a little weird at this point.  So, email me if you have any good nickname suggestions!

So that is where we are.  Waiting, gathering, checking and double checking documents. And enjoying every second with Rosebud :)

Coffee Promo: Wednesday June 15th

Just Love Coffee is having a promotion tomorrow.
If you buy 3 bags of coffee, you will receive a 13 oz bag of coffee free!
The free coffee will not be displayed on your order confirmation, so do not be alarmed.
If you order your first three bags of coffee ground, then the free bag will be the same; otherwise, expect it to be wholebean.

Thanks for your support! and happy caffeine Wednesday!
www.justlovecoffee.com/glennfamily

Prized Ones

I would love to hear your comments about this video.  I have some thoughts, but hope that people will watch the video before I say much about it.

Support

We dove in today and started our first fundraiser for bringing our son home.  It is so exciting and scary and exciting.  It has been very difficult for me to ask for financial support for this, for a variety of reasons discussed on this blog previously, but know that the Lord works through others’ blessings. We chose an adoption fundraiser called Just Love Coffee for many reasons.  First, it was one of the only fundraisers we could find that would help us in this early stage of the process. Second, I like coffee.  Third, the Free Trade coffee benefits not only us, but the local farmers in countries where it is truly needed. The website for those interested is:

www.justlovecoffee.com/GlennFamily

Our intention is to also provide other opportunities for fundraising/contributions. We have added a link to donate if you are not interested in coffee :).  It is placed in the right hand corner of this blog. Also, look for updates on the blog!

BUT more important than people’s financial support, we would ask for your prayer support.  This will be a long journey.  This is our first effort to really make this adoption adventure public.  We are excited to let others know.  Our prayer requests are for the Lord’s will to be done; for our son; for the family of our son and the many events that may surround his early life; and for this process to strengthen our faith and commitment to the Lord.

I had a fantastic conversation with the agency director today, and I’m so excited about what is in store for us.