You know you're adopting internationally when...

* You daily check your VISA application status online.

* You don't mind an early alarm clock blaring

because it means you can check your phone for any updates on your case.

* You have conference calls late at night with your agency director.

* You keep reading any and all paperwork you have about your 

child hoping to find something new about them each time.

* Your knees are wearing out from the hours of prayer time spent 

for your child and their friends who are also being adopted. 

* You stalk the mailman like it's your job.

* The guy at the PO knows you as "the crazy lady who runs 

in to mail something like her life depends on it."

* You forget about "real world" Facebook and only live on the adoption fb pages.

* You constantly think "I could adopt 2 more children for that price", etc.

* You live for update weeks when you get new pictures and info about your child.

* You feel like people you've never met become your 

best friends because you're walking this same crazy journey together.

* You are always dreaming about a child that you love so much but you've never met.

 

 

6909.51 miles

...that's the distance between us and our little boy.

And I'm feeling ever mile of that distance today.

Praying we get to meet him and hold him in our arms soon.  

My heart aches so badly that he's not physically with us.  

We're stuck on the USA side of things (like all other Congo families) and have been since April 15 - please pray the USA gets things moving soon and starts issuing visas.

My prayer is to have my boy in our arms by his first birthday which is July 27.  

To be honest, I'm loosing hope of that happening as each day passes.

Prayer warriors - feel free to join us in praying he's in our arms by July 27.

Something to help pass the time

We have a list of things "to-do" to get ready for Zaine and  traveling.

Some of those things aren't real fun but other things are...

One of the things on the list was for Addison and Xavier to make a Build-a-Bear for Zaine.  

Addison made a bear for Xavier when I was pregnant so she could bring it to the hospital after he was born.  She had the same idea for Zaine except she plans to bring it to the airport when we come home.  So off we went to Build-a-Bear to make something special for Zaine!

Addison put her heart and soul into making his bear!

Had to dress him like Spiderman since it matches Zaine's bedroom.

Can't wait for their brother to come home!

 

Zaine's blanket

We received a package in the mail on Saturday that was so very special.

As I opened a large envelope, my mind was trying to 

think what I had ordered that would be the size of this package...  

When I finally got it opened, I saw a beautiful hand made blanket.  

As I read the card, the tears started flowing.  

This is what a portion of the card read...

"I've been joyfully inspired by your family's adoption story.  

I made a prayer blanket for the newest member.  

The knots are made up of prayers for his and your life together as a family." 

And the tears kept flowing...

This arrived in the mail at such the perfect time.  

The waiting gets harder each day.

Some days I distance myself and my mind from the adoption and from Zaine and the fact that he's halfway across the world from us because it doesn't seem real and it's hard.  Real. hard.

This made it seem real.  

This reminded me that in those difficult days when it seems like I'll never have my whole family under one roof, it's real. 

And with prayer and in God's timing we will be together as a family of five.

 Knowing Zaine, our family and this waiting is being covered in prayer by others is such a blessing!  What a beautiful reminder we will have of God's faithfulness through this blanket.

Thank you Chrissi!

 

His room is waiting on him

Getting Zaine's bedroom ready has been a fun project that at least let me feel like I was working towards bringing him home.  It's finished and I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out.  We went with the Superhero theme so it would last him a while!  Mimi and Pop Pop were very generous and bought his bunk beds and some bedding.  They did this for each of our kids when they were born so they continued with Zaine.  Here is a little glimpse...

Love the way the buildings turned out - the super fun part is that the yellow lights glow-in-the-dark.

Old comic books were mod-podged onto the letters. 

Even though he's not home yet, we still spend a lot of time in his bedroom.

I'll randomly find Addison laying on his bunk bed...  she tells me she's just hanging out and thinking about Zaine and wishing he were home (no, I definitely never cry when she tells me that).  Most nights I wonder in there on my way to bed and thank God for Zaine and for holding him for me while I can't.  I didn't realize this had become a habit as I checked on Addison and Xavier, pulled their covers up, gave sweet sleeping cheeks last kisses and thanked God for my blessings.  I have three little blessings in my life - I get to tuck two in each night and dream of the day when I get to make a third stop to pull up another set of covers.

Where our adoption journey has taken us thus far...

Lots of families begin their adoption journey because God turned their world upside down.  They realized (through whatever source - the Bible, a sermon, a devotional book, a trip, etc) that God has called us to help orphans and widows and they couldn't keep going in life without following God in obedience on this journey.

This wasn't our family.

We didn't have some crazy moment of realization that we were supposed to adopt. 

I knew I would adopt since the day I stepped foot into an orphanage in Albania when I was 19.  It was part of the package deal when we got married and Todd was completely on board - it was just a matter of when we would start our adoption journey.

But let me tell you... God has been turning our world upside down since we began this journey to bring Zaine home.  He's been teaching us, molding us, growing us and hitting us square between the eyes with truth in His word about how we should be living our lives.
There's something about having no control over a situation that brings you to God (and your knees) more than you ever have been in your life.  My faith has been stretched and I have learned more about God's redemption plan for my life that ever.
 There have been multiple ways God has been growing us - mainly through scripture but He has also used Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted to shake up my life.

She begins the book by talking about how she was so busy serving people and doing church...  She asked herself the question "Why do I spend all my time blessing blessed people?"  
Hmmmm...  I grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school and a Christian college, been in church all my life - I live in a life where I bless the blessed.  
She compares her actions to that of Peter:  devoted but selfish, committed but misguided.
Another hmmm...  that sounds like that could possibly be me.
Jen (yes, I consider us on first name basis now) threw out a quote by Gandhi that I had heard before but thought "wow, good thing that's not me".  Well, this time - I reread and reread the quote trying to figure out how I could still say the same thing...  
Here's the quote:
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.  
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."  
Hmmmm again...  this made me think "do my actions and words reflect poorly on my Christ?"
Yikes!
Her book went on to talk about what Jesus said, who He spent time with, who He talked to, who He argued with and how she was content letting Jesus do that messy work Himself and she would just teach from it.  
Matthew 25:40 says "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"


We don't know what God is doing in our lives but He's rocking the boat in our house about how we should be living our lives.  
We're growing in Him and searching for what He wants for our lives.  
Everything we're realizing about our faith means we can't continue living our comfortable life as we have been.  


I mentioned the other day in general to a friend about where our adoption process was and how the waiting is getting so much more difficult... She said "that boy is worth the wait and the myriad of lessons learned along the way - they're just blessings in disguise."  How true this is!!!