Peace

People who know me, know that I have never been good at waiting. It has always been a struggle for me to wait on many things. And along with not being good at waiting comes patience that does not always appear to be in supply.

I have been incredibly anxious since we sent our paperwork off to China. In the years that I have been involved with China, there have been several times where things have been written as I leave the country. You never really know what they are documenting. So waiting for our LID was a hard time of waiting. I was wondering if there was something where China was going to say no.

For many in the adoption process that I have talked with the harder parts are usually after the approval comes. The waiting to find out WHO. Who that child who is waiting for you to come. And, the other portion is the time in-between when you know and when you go.

It is odd, we got our LID approval on Monday and this overwhelming weight was lifted off of my shoulders.  That peace that surpasses understanding the bible talks about came over me set in.  I am ironically ok with this phase of waiting.

Yes I want to know who my daughter is, yes I want to have her home. But I want it not to be in my time. I want it to be the time where my Father says is perfect and all who are involved are ready.

So we are waiting. It will probably be sometime in the spring before we have a referral. So many things are going on behind the scenes. It is plainly clear to me that God has said you need to complete this check list before this can happen. And while realistically I know that things will never be perfect to bring her home, to HIM it will be perfect.

We have been getting a lot of questions about the next steps, so I thought I would clarify the next steps.  (In a much shorter version than they will really take place in)

·      We wait for a referral.

·      Once our referral comes, we will have roughly a 4 month window before we travel which will involve visas, airline tickets, the end portion of the paperwork.

·      We will have a 3 week notice of travel. We are required to be in China 12-14 days.

·      We come home and bask in how hop across the world will make us a family of 3.

We will not get to meet our daughter before we go to get her. I am actually totally fine with that. I trust in who is picking my daughter. I know that the process is being covered in prayer. That is enough for me.

Yes, we get to look at the list of waiting children. Which for some might seem like a great thing, but for me it is very hard. All those faces of children who are longing for a home.

Yes, she very well may come home with a special need or something about her (Like a clef pallet) that will need repair. But in our eyes, she is made in the image of our Creator and we are perfectly fine with that. It will not be anything that we cannot handle.

We are working on scholarship applications, a couple of fundraisers and saving like mad. We know in our hearts that we will be a family of three at some point this year and we will be changing both side of our family tree forever.

Please pray along side of us!

Love,

Jennifer