It's been just over 4 months since my last blog post which. is. shameful. Admittedly, I wasn't much of a blogger to begin with. Who am I kidding...I'm not even much of a writer so blogging really is a stretch for me. But, I see how blogging can be so incredibly useful...especially in the adoption world. There is so much information out there and so many families to gain wisdom from. I don't know if we will ever be a family that one could gain adoption wisdom from, but I do believe it's important to share this journey.
So what season are we in now? If you would have asked me 3 months ago, 6 months ago, even 2 years ago...I would have told you we are in a season of "waiting". We'd been trying to sell our house since April 2009. Holy smokes....2009. Typing that makes me almost not believe it. We had a few months here and there where we took breaks but for the most part, we were in "house for sale" mode. Shortly after we started our first fundraiser for our adoption, God had a big surprise for us. We were on our way to Phoenix for T4A and got a call that somebody wanted to buy our house! PRAISE GOD! So, we sold our house...during the Christmas season and my busiest jewelry season of the year, survived a 4 week stomach virus, got moved and survived one of the craziest experiences of our lives. Ahhhhhhhh.....here we are today and all is well. So back to the current season. What season are we in? We are now in a season of "waiting". Imagine that! God is funny. I also would have told you 6 months ago that God had us learn how to wait on Him to prepare us for our upcoming adoption journey. But the truth is...and maybe other adoptive mamas can answer this better....is there anything that REALLY prepares you for the adoption journey?
So, we are in a season of waiting....differently. We've tried to compare it to waiting to find out if during our first pregnancy whether we were having a boy or a girl. Waiting to find out if Trent had permanent heart damage when he got Kawasaki disease. Waiting to find out if John got the job we'd been praying for for 7 years. Waiting to....sell the house. But, it's different than all of that. There's a bundle of emotions in this journey that I've never experienced. It's exciting, yet terrifying.
I find myself with a brand new empathy for mamas waiting on adoption. I've just really started and the anticipation is overwhelming. My heart aches for the families who have been waiting a year, 18 months, 2 years...4 years.
This is our first rodeo and I know we are going to get knocked off the bull many times. But, Lord willing, we won't have too many broken bones and we'll be able to dust ourselves off and get back on.
So....where are we at now? Let's just say we are at the "waiting on the pregnancy test" stage. There is a sweet little guy that we are officially pursuing. ♥♥♥ And he is BEAUTIFUL. And when I look at his picture I cry. And when I think about him, I want to fight for him with EVERYTHING I have. And we BELIEVE he is our son. And we are falling in love. And it's REALLY, REALLY scary. As much as we want to guard our heart and hold onto this loosely....we don't want to miss one single experience God has for us on this journey. So....we are ALL IN. (plug for you M.C. :o)
We started this journey independently. But, slowly, Uganda is using more and more agencies. This little guy is with an agency so we have some paperwork we have to get in order before we can be officially matched. Things are definitely moving along and we should know soon. Very soon.
We are also starting a season of fundraising...serious fundraising. Signing with an agency means extra money. And we are ok with that because we trust that God will provide. But..ya...you will probably get really sick of me posting and asking you to buy a t-shirt or jewelry. Because really, how many t-shirts and jewelry does one person need? Wait....what am I saying? EVERY woman needs jewelry.....LOTS AND LOTS of jewelry :o) Did I mention LOTS? All of my hand stamped creations go toward our adoption. And according to my calculations, I only have to stamp up 514 pieces of jewelry to bring our little guy home....but who's counting ;o)
Oh, how I would love your prayers! Prayers for wisdom, God's favor, spiritual protection, financial provision, strength......I could go on and on. If you are an adoptive mama....you know so much better than I what to ask for prayer for so bring. it. on! We NEED you.
XOXOXO,
Dawn
