{answers}

There’s a lot we know in this process of adoption from the get go…and a whole lot else we don’t.  Many of you have asked us questions recently and I thought it’s about time I write a little post to answer a few of the things we do know…and share the things we don’t.

{clear as mud yet?  Welcome to the world of adoption!}

Let’s begin with what we don’t know…

~We don’t know who exactly our daughter is yet.  We haven’t yet seen her face {at least not to our knowledge} and we don’t know how old she is. 

~We don’t know when we will know who she is either…it could be as soon as a few weeks or months. 

~We don’t know when we will travel to get her.  This is all dependant on when we are “matched”…typically, families travel within 4 months or so.

~We don’t know the blessings that God has in store as we wait…but He’s surely giving us glimpses of them along the way!

 

What we do know…

~God has called us to be faithful to His will and adopt…not merely to read the Word but to do what it says (James 1)

~This is a huge step in faith.  We live frugally off of one income and the slight thought of the cost of bringing another child into our family through international adoption is daunting, to say the least.  But, without having the first yard sale yet, the Lord has faithfully provided nearly $17,000 already…nearly half of our adoption expenses.  {our AdoptTogether button to the right has been a tremendous blessing!}

~This process is lengthy.  We were originally told that from application to bringing our daughter home is about a 12-18 month journey.  Thankfully, we have completed the majority of all that is involved to be “matched” in only 5 months time.  The Lord has shown that He has truly gone before and paved this path for us time and time again.

~The next piece of paperwork we fill out will be our “Letter of Intent” {LOI} for our daughter!  Everything else has been completed and all that I’ve spent the past five months working on is being authenticated to be sent across the globe in the next 2-3 weeks.

~We are approved for a little girl under 3 and know that God has her ready and waiting for us.  He has given us peace in that and we know He will give us peace the moment He reveals her sweet face to us.

~We will wait in full dependence on Christ as He brings her to us.  We will continue to pray over her, over Him opening her heart to us loving her, over our agency and the amazing team that will be matching us together, over the remaining funds needed to be perfectly timed so that we can travel, and that, most importantly, God is glorified in this redeeming journey He has us on!

 

Thank you for asking these questions and thank you for loving us through!  We are so immeasurably blessed by those who choose to walk this road with us and support our family as we bring His child home. We are so hopeful and so amazed at how big our God has proven Himself to be already!  It’s only going to get better!