Adoption Update...

So, the questions I get asked a lot are...."How is your adoption going?" or "Any news on your adoption?"

And really the truth is that there is rarely anything new to report. The process is long and the waiting is endless. As those of you who have done the journey can attest to...there's a lot of space where there is simply nothing to report.

We have been in our adoption process for 13 months now. It seems crazy to even say that because it feels even longer then that. Part of it is because Chris and I have dreamed about adopting since we first got married and even before we officially started our Cameroon process in January 2013, we had been talking and praying for months.

All that to say, our process has been long and we have much longer. Our home study process was trying to say the least. We changed jobs, moved houses, and invited someone to live with us all while doing our home study...needless to say this made the process much longer then normal.

Our home study is being processed here in Illinois. Then it will be sent to USCIS for approval. And THEN......THEN we get a referral!!! A referral is that small photo and scattered info sheet on the child that has been selected for you. And that, my friends, is when it all becomes real for this mama.

People ask if it's just so hard to wait. And yes, it's hard to feel like things take forever to move forward. But, my heart has not been connected to a specific child yet. There is no name or face or paper saying that she likes playing soccer on it. There's simply the dream of her. And when that picture is in my hand and beside my bed...that's when the waiting gets hard. That's when the tears come. That's when it feels endless and the ocean between us seems so big.

And that's when GRACE steps in. I'm excited to receive depths of God's grace that I've never known. It's my word for the year. GRACE. Abundant, undeserving, sufficient grace.

So, there you have it. The adoption update with really very little to report. HA!

We will be having fundraisers in the coming weeks and months! We need all the help we can get! I'll be selling things in my Instagram shop soon and we're partnering with Raising Up 1 for an awesome fundraiser in March. We can't wait to see all the ways God provides and all the ways we can partner with Him to bring our daughter home.