2 more months..perhaps

We are in the middle of updating our homestudy. It has been 2 years since we started the process and it is time to go through all the hodge podge of paper work again. It is not as detailed but still tedious and time consuming. There is nothing fast about getting five family members physicals with specific qualifications needed on the paperwork. Especially during school and with an office who isn't very comfortable drawing blood from children. So, then, there is the trip to the hospital lab where they are super pros. But first, you have to check the kids out of school again and on a different day because the two other two hour doctor visits in the office took up all your free time. I am not complaining. Doing all of this is worth it. It is. Today, we had to trek across town to the sheriff's office to apply to get police clearance letters. We will pick them up on Friday when they are ready. Liam got a cool sheriff's badge, of which he was proud to wear all day! After that, we traveled down to Spring Hill to get our FBI, TBI fingerprinting done. This is NOT the same as the immigration fingerprints which are done in downtown Nashville. NOPE. same fingers, just different prints. go figure. :).
We are almost done with some of the other items on our checklist. We need to get a carbon monoxide detector...and get the kiddos to write a letter about how they feel about getting a new sister. We need to make tax paper copies and insurance copies and oh...drive across town to pick up our lab results from the doctor's office. It seems to be a lot of running around and honestly, it seems like nothing is getting done because you know what? ...our little girl isnt here yet. BUT boy...she is worth it. My prayers are nonstop. I am praying for her safety and health. I pray for blessings over her mom. I pray for her care at the orphanage. I dont even know if she is born yet. But...I have a feeling she is. Something very strong in November came across me. I could be very wrong. I chalk it up to mother's intuition. We will see :). In the meantime, we wait. trying to wait with patience and fewer tears and more faith. Today we got an email from our social worker. She offered words of encouragement and a hint that we are about 2 months away from a referral...for REAL. She gave no definite numbers but indicated strongly that there are fewer than 25 families ahead of us. Considering that there are currently over 425 families signed up with this agency, we are pretty high on the charts. I cant believe it.
I would love to hear from you if you are keeping up with our news. I love the support that we have been getting from everyone. It has certainly been a God-send. It has been a long 2 years which was reportedly only supposed to be 6-9 months. We appreciate every word of hope and support, every prayer lifted up on behalf of our sweet little girl. Blessings to you!

Moving closer

I believe it was the week of Christmas or the week before that I found out that the agency is now making referrals for families whose wait times started in July of 08. It took them about 6 weeks or so to get through June. It is really up in the air how long it will take them to get through July. The agency refuses to give out information like how many families are in the waiting times for each month, or how close you might really be. It has always been this ever extended time span. Originally, it was 6-9 months. That quickly moved to 12, 14, 16, 18 and now 24 months. For us, it should be around the 18 month range...but again, we are just waiting for the Lord on this one. I have a feeling that our sweetie is born now. I have been praying for her fervently. I am hoping and praying that they will travel quickly through the July referrals and onto the August families. That is US!! So, we COULD hear something really soon ...like in the next few weeks. That is my prayer. :)
In the meantime, I am excited to announce that our friends from church will be traveling in 2 days to go pick up their son from ET. They have a sweet story. Their time span has been less than 6 months. God matched them with a precious 6 year old boy who is anxiously awaiting his forever family. I am excited for the Wortons! Can't wait to hear how their trip goes. I saw them at Walmart the other day making last minute shopping trips before they leave. So sweet. I can only imagine how crazy it will be when we are just days away from meeting our daughter. Actually, I can't imagine. It seems so surreal right now.
My next blog, I will tell how we have given our sweetie a name.