A Year Ago Today...

A year ago today we opened our hearts, opened our home, and said YES to adoption and I haven't regretted that decision one bit. 

We are getting SO close to bringing our little guy home that the wait can be extreme at times. Especially when I have NO CONTROL over these last steps. And if you know me, you know how difficult that is for me. But I have been reminded over, and over, and over again that I wasn't in charge of this process to begin with. It wasn't my idea, but an idea that God had planted in both my and my husband's heart. 

I was reading in Romans this morning and was struck by verse 17 in chapter 9: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display MY POWER in you and that MY NAME might be proclaimed in all the earth." What struck me, and what I have been reminded of MANY times this past week from conversations with friends, my neighbor, random texts... that GOD'S GOT THIS. That He will finish what He started. He planted the idea, we simply obeyed (after 4 years of going back and forth), and He's got this. Not by what I can do, not by my doing, but what HE is doing and going to do.

Then I do a devotion with my daughter that has us in Genesis reading about Sarah and Abraham and how she is promised that she will have a son in her old age and she laughs at God because the idea sounds ridiculous to her... And the Lord says to her, "Is anything too difficult for me."

And let me tell you, TRUST, even when you are hit with reassurance repeatedly, is still difficult. Maybe not for some, but for me, the negative worries on meeting deadlines start to creep in quickly.

I mean really, do I need a sign on a billboard that says, "MICHELLE - I'VE GOT THIS!!!"

Apparently. (**sigh**)

So here we are. A year in and I am grateful for every step. Ever tear shed. Every frustration that has crossed our path to get to where we are. I know God isn't done yet. That He has big plans for our little guy. We are getting SO close!

We are currently waiting for our Article 5 (final paperwork) to be dropped off at the U.S. Embassy next week after China has concluded a 10 day holiday on the 10th of October. Once the Embassy has made sure everything is good to go, it will be shipped overnight to Beijing where we get Travel Approval to enter the country. Once we have Travel Approval, we can apply for our travel visas in time to hopefully make the November travel group.

I have had people ask me what a "travel group" is. Each month our adoption agency sets travel dates that include a consulate appointment at the U.S. Embassy in China to finalize documents for the children being adopted before they fly home. This consulate appointment creates the travel dates. Then, families who have Travel Approval and are able to make the travel dates work, fly to China and travel with a group of other families who are adopting from our agency. I have heard it is an incredible bonding experience for families as we are all experiencing this moment together. 

The November dates have not been 100% set in stone yet, but we pray and hope to make this trip to bring our little guy home. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!!!