This is a question we have been hearing a lot recently, and the above image some days feels like it sums up our current mood the best - Mr. Bean style.  We feel so loved that even during the cricket chirps and not hearing from us that you continue thinking about our adoption and praying for our adoption, and genuinely, we feel the love. :)

 

To tell you the truth, right now we are in the wait…it feels as if we are out to sea bobbing up and down on the tiny rippling waves, with miles surrounding us of what appears to be the same ripples.  But, what we also know is that it is often in the stillness and the wait, the bobbing up and down looking around and taking it all in, that God is up to big things behind the scenes and in the (not too far) distance.  So we are trying to be still and know that the high waves, the Hawaii-type surf that has the power to bring us to land, are coming soon. 

 

Financially, God has done amazing things through so many people—family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike.  To say we feel blessed feels like it fails to express the overwhelming gratitude we have.  In communication with our agency a few months ago, not to our surprise, we learned the minimum cost of the process has increased, just like everything else (I mean…have you seen gas prices and the housing market?).  So what we thought was our minimum to raise has now raised a few thousand, so we are a few thousand short of the minimum.  Which to be frank, is amazing!  The fact we are that close and it has happened in just shy of two years - go God!  The exact amount needed is on a case-by-case basis, but the difference between minimum and maximum is about $10,000.  We are striving for minimum, but would be blown away if we could get a little over the edge of minimum.  Whatever we list as our budget on the application this fall, the agency will not present potential available children in the following weeks to be adopted to us that do not land on our listed amount—only those that are equal or less; thus, the more we have ready to go, the broader the opportunity.  But we also know that God has already handpicked our Baby Wags (or Baby Wags twin pair, or Baby Wags + sibling, whatever He has in store), so whatever amount we are able to list due to the overwhelming support we have already received and what we are able to give ourselves, that is His doing and we praise Him for that!  We do not have any current plans for another fundraiser, but will prayerfully consider as we get closer if that is something that would be most fruitful and necessary.

 

Meanwhile, this summer is Operation Baby Proof the abode.  Papa Craiggers is strapping on his tool belt and coming to add a gate/fence between our yard and the pool (currently there are ginormous gaps in the fence between yard and pool due to broken gates, which would not pass home study), as well as other smaller projects like adding carbon monoxide detectors, fixing outlets, securing/fixing our heating vents, etc..  All are important steps to prep for the home study.  Then, Lord-willing, we would like to start our home study late fall.  That will take a few months to be complete, and then after that we go “active” (so approximately mid-wintertime).  Current average for active period is a six month wait prior to being matched to a child that needs adopted, it could be shorter or could be longer, but we know all in His time!  Once matched, the wait could be as short as weeks to as long as months.

 

In this time of wait, a passage about Elijah resounds with us.  “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” (1 Kings 19:11-12) 

 

It is in this time of stillness, of preparation, that we can best wait for and hear His guiding whisper, as we continue to trust in His perfect plan.

 

Thank you to you all for all the love and support, we are so very touched, and thank the Lord for each and every one of you.  Baby Wags won’t know what hit him/her when coming home to all of you amazing people that have loved Baby Wags way before the homecoming! :)