Visas sent

I spent many hours on this the past 2 nights. India didn't make any of it easy but luckily they weren't asking for a lock of hair or vile of blood. 

Yet. 

After my doctor appointment today, I gathered the rest of the items and mailed off our VISAS along with another $315.40. I am kinda nervous that our passport is included in that package...Praying it makes it's way to Atlanta and back to Alabama in one piece and we are praying I filled it all out correctly. It was very complicated - and I've filled out my share of documents in the last year and a half. If it's approved, we are good for traveling to India for five more years. Ya know, just in case. 

And just like that...

he's 19 months old. It is currently September 20th in India. Our little guy will be waking up soon. It's been almost nine months since we were matched and watching him grow older each month is hard. Much harder than I had anticipated BUT he's healthy, appears to be happy, is well loved at his orphanage, and already ADORED by his family here so I am choosing to be thankful for that  {{{while praying for a miracle that our case would clear court quickly so we can bring him home}}}

Someone shared this blog post with me recently. So much of what the author says resonates with me as an adoptive mother. Ok, not much but maybe All 12 of the bullets  -  

"She loves a child she’s never met. It’s possible. So possible. It’s irrational and crazy but it’s reality. Does she love them like she will once she gets to know them? No. But she loves them. She wakes up loving them and goes to sleep loving them. She drives to the grocery story and aches to have them safe and snug in the carseat waiting for them. She pushes her cart around the store and hears a child cry and her heart pounds wondering if her child is crying? Alone? Hungry?"    You can read the rest of the post here, Dear Friends of Waiting Adoptive Moms  

Until next time -  hopefully with good news from court :) 

small update

Our agency heard from Ryan's orphanage last week. They expect our case to take about 3-4 months to clear court and for Ryan's passport to be issued, then for us to TRAVEL TO INDIA. Sister at the orphanage said she filed our case last month, right after we received NOC. Our new expected date for travel went from 3-4months (back in January when we were matched) to 12months now. She expects we will be in India by Dec 2013-Jan2014, so a year after being matched but I guess we'll take it. It's nice to know we are making some progress and we have a date to look forward to even if it's six months later than originally planned. Of course we would love for a miracle of travel by November but I have learned in all of this to not get my hopes up. The constant disappointment is too much to bear at times. Our next step is to work on our travel visas so we will be doing that soon since September is half way over and hopefully December will be here soon enough. "Keeping myself busy while I wait" has been my mantra since May and it looks like that will continue for the next few months...

four thousand less

So our fund raising thermometer has taken a dip down.

$4,000 down

Apparently we did not receive an anonymous donation in July like our agency told us which means we have $4000 less for travel. This is HUGE - of course not too big for God, but the stress and worry isn't what any of us needs right now. School just started, my 17 year old is now driving, my grandmother passed away last week, our baby boy is STILL in an orphanage 9,000 miles away, and we now need MORE money when I thought we were fully funded! I know one day I will look back on this and realize it is just money, but right now I want to cry - as I have been for days now. In the past year-and-a-half I have PRAYED for God's provision, asked for donations, had a huge garage sale, sold dozens of items on Ebay and Facebook, did an enormous amount of fundraising with my photography business - working two jobs I might add, applied for 7 grants (received two) and two loans (received one). I am still saving for maternity leave while I'm out for at least three months, assuming the bonding and attachment go smoothly.

God sure didn't say following him would be easy but he did say he would provide so I'm clinging to that and praying for Him to show me some creative ways to generate {{more}} funds without adding to my grey hair collection which is quite out of control these days.