February Update

     February has been a strange-ish month on the adoption road.  As you can see, the pile of adoption books is STILL growing.  My 'favorites' thus far have been The Lost Daughters of China: Abandoned Girls, Their Journey to America, and the Search for a Missing Past (excellent look into Chinese history & adoption), Successful Adoption: A Guide for Christian Families (a VERY practical guide with wonderful Biblical side notes and personal stories from 'notable' Christians in the adoption process), and I Wished for You: An Adoption Story (a beautiful gift from my Best Friend about a Momma bear and her son).  There have been other good books about Down syndrome, attachment disorders, and international adoption issues, but there are only so many books on a single topic that you can read back to back before you kind of want to poke your eyes out.   The good news is...this is the month that I finished my mandatory training, reading and book reports. Whoohooo!  Despite the last couple book reports dwindling down to just bullet points, my social worker was  impressed and a Gold Star was put on my file.  :)

     Even more exciting, my Dossier arrived in China on February 12th! This is HUGE.  E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g we've done in the last eight months has been to get the Dossier To China (DTC).  Everything. Our friends in China are now reviewing that precious stack of paperwork and will (hopefully) decide to send me an official Letter of Acceptance (LOA).  With that letter in hand, we can process Little One's immigration paperwork AND publicly post Little One's name & photos...AND buy a plane ticket!! What a day THAT will be!  Oh my gosh...I don't even know what I'll do when I have that piece of paper in my hand.  For the lovely lady in Quebec, Canada that has been reading this blog, if you hear a wild scream in the wind sometime in the next six plus weeks...you'll know what day it is!

     February hosted the Adoption Auction.  I was so impressed with how word spread of the auction and the all the lovely donations that were auctioned off.  Don't you just love how God brings people together?!  $1,300 was raised, which according to my most recent search, is the EXACT cost of a cozy little ride from Seattle to Beijing.  Isn't that awesome!!  God is providing exactly what is needed, exactly when it is needed, one day at a time.

       Since all my paperwork, reading and reports are done, I've been playing around in Little One's room.  The before & after pictures are pretty impressive if I don't mind saying so myself.  :)  I hope to post those photos soon. (Yes, that is his crib in the above picture!) Until then, my social worker recommended that I have a small comfort item to send ahead to Little One before I arrive...and to make sure to sleep with it so it absorbs my smell.  Umm...excuse me?!  I'll admit, it makes total sense, but having never been a dolly-girl as a child, cuddling up with a capitated-blanket at thirty-four years old seemed a little over the top.  BUT...I did it.  For a week I snuggled & slept with Little One's giraffe lovey (in the picture above) and prayed that my, uh...fragrance...would be peaceful and comforting to him while we await our first meeting. Probably, the first time I've prayed that particular prayer, but 2 Corinthians says we are the fragrance of Christ so I'm feeling more confident.

     As you can see, it's been strangely busy/not-busy sort of a month.  Turns out I'm not a particular fan of passive waiting.  But I am assured that as there is a season for proactive waiting, there is also a time for expectant waiting (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

But...oh, for the day when I don't have to wait any longer!