We have been blessed with two special daughters and two sons from Eastern Europe. We welcome you to follow our journey as a family of five, waiting to travel and pick up #6, with the ins and outs of family, education, farm life, and love!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

And so it goes...

And here we are.  January 6, 2011.  The day after a large manilla envelope arrived in the mail.  The one that makes my heart pound and my stomach hurt.  The dreaded packet--the wonderful packet.  This manilla envelope contains many pieces of paper.  Pieces of paper that will approve us to adopt from a foreign country.

Max's visit has been great.  Yes, we've had to adjust to teenage boy attitude rather than the attitude that I can pick up and put on the time-out step.  Overall, each one of us are going to miss him when he returns on Tuesday.  We are already talking about when he can visit again.
So I called and asked for the packet and what it would take to update our homestudy.  No big deal, right?  Well--it expires on the last day of January and Child Abuse Clearance checks are taking approximately 100 days to get back.  CRUD!  An update is lots less paperwork...and money.  Oh well, we are talking adoption--the land of expect the unexpected and open your wallet!

I cannot imagine spending a long time away from my girls. (We spent 42 days in country in 2007).  After much discussion, we have decided to make two trips this go round.  We'll go together for the first trip, then most likely Doug will return with a family member to finish the paperwork. 

We've been talking a lot about options and feel that if we are going back to Max's homeland to adopt, why not find another kiddo that needs a home too?  So, if we travel, we will plan to bring home two kiddos.  A 14 year old boy, and a child who is "wonderfully-abled"!

Yes, yes, I know.  You think I'm crazy!  I'm crazy enough to know that when we say YES to God and HIS intentions in our lives, that HE will provide!

Let the paperwork fun begin!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

congratulations! It's always a leap of faith, but oh so wonderful!

Leah Spring said...

100 days????? HUH? Ours too two weeks!

ArtworkByRuth said...

YEAH! Adopting a teen can be rough but worth it! As well as a wonderfully made "special needs" child! My heart rejoices to know that God continues to works on the hearts of men to work out his purposes. Especially when we can't go back ourselves and get more...YET!
Praying for your process!

This site is dedicated to said...

Cara, that's incredible! Good luck in your continuing journey. ~Jaclyn