"I will not leave you as orphans..." - John 14:18
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Saturday, May 11, 2013

March and April Waitlist Numbers and Update

It's been a while! Quite a while, in fact, but we're back with our updates and with some news as well. And no. We don't have a referral yet (boo!).

But first, the numbers...

Girl:
November - 26
December - 26
January - 22
February - 21
March - 19
April - 18

Boy:

November - 19
December - 16
January - 15
February - 15
March - 14
April - 13


Siblings:

November - 7
December - 4
January - 4
February - 4
March - 4
April - 4

We've been slow going for a while now, as you can see. I suppose that's why I haven't been motivated to post an update lately. But honestly, though both Travis and I have gone through our moments of doubt and moments of great faith throughout our adoption journey (which we've been pursuing for close to three years now), I know we are where we're intended to be. 

God's timing is alway perfect. And while we can only guess at the reasons our adoption is taking so long, we can rest assured that our family (including our new little ones) are in God's capable and loving hands. 

Now for the news: Each year, we need to update and renew our homestudy. We usually begin the process each November, and each time we renew, we revisit our referral parameters. 

Last November, we went through the usual process, but for the first time, Travis mentioned that he thought we should expand our referral parameters to 36 months for all lists, which would mean that we would be open to being referred a girl or boy 0-36 months old at the time of referral or a set of two siblings up to 36 months old. 

My response? No.

I wasn't for it. I had always imagined bringing a baby home, and there was just so much more to think about with older children (It sounds so calloused when I say it out loud!). 

So, we kept our parameters as they were: 0-12 months for a girl or boy and 0-24 months for siblings. 

Recently, however, Travis began a new job (which is a huge blessing from God), which requires us to do an addendum to our homestudy. I contacted our social worker, got the ball rolling, and passed it along to Travis who would have to discuss his new job with our social worker. 

Once the draft of the addendum was complete, our agency emailed it to me for review. I read through the document, and it all looked fine. But as I read the words, "There are no changes to the referral parameters," something inside of me happened.

Still, I tried to respond to our agency, telling them to proceed, but I couldn't send the email. Travis and I need to talk, I thought. What's interesting, however, is that I still didn't want to change our parameters. I was still fighting it.

Travis came home, we discussed our parameters, but still, I told him I didn't want to change them. Why, then, Travis asked, was I bringing it up again? I knew his position. He wanted to expand them, and I didn't. Yet, I couldn't send this email keeping them as they were.

As I'm sure you can imagine, it's been a long road for us, and we really would like our children to be home with us, but I didn't want this to be motivation to expend our parameters. I didn't want impatience to motivate our decision. But after talking with Travis, he assured me this had no baring on his desire to make this change.

Travis and I continued to talk. We prayed. I sought counsel from close friends. And at the end of it all, it became so clear. 

We were being called to change our parameters.

And so this is where we currently find ourselves. It's quite a change, but both Travis and I believe we may be called to adopt an older child. 

This means we may be bringing home a three year old (or two for that matter)! 

And here's what we've been up to since our last update in February:

"Toothless" - Ella lost two teeth in two days!

Easter!







 Things that make a mommy's heart melt: 
"I'm happy that you are my  mom." - Avery
I am so blessed!

 I have a dream... "that I can teach people about Jesus to help make the world better." - Ella
My prayer and dream as well! 

Mommy and Ella "special time"


Last Ski Day of the Year


 Avery and "Wolfie"

Spring has sprung.

Exploring and Park Days with Friends 




Our Tulip Bed

The Sacramento Zoo





Our Trip to the Wine Country









Okay. We're going to try to be better at posting each month! Until next month...