Picking Our Pumpkin

Today we went pumpkin picking and apple picking with the girls and had a wonderful time.  My Mom and sister had taken the girls to a pumpkin patch last weekend and let the girls each pick out their own pumpkin.  We went today to get our big one for the family.  We set out to find the perfect one.  It didn't take us too long to find the one we wanted.  We started to head back to the wagon and it hit me - we need to get our new brother or sister a pumpkin.  The girls were thrilled and we all headed out again.  This time it took a little longer to find the perfect pumpkin.  I watched the 3 girls looking and was in tears at the picture.  The sun was starting to set, the sky was beautiful and all I could see was my 3 girls looking for the perfect pumpkin for their new brother or sister.  Again the Lord was saying "It is on the horizon".  At times it seems like the day will never get here - the day we hold him/her in our arms.  This journey is like nothing else we have ever gone through.  It is hard, long and the unknown is always in front of us.  Today, once again the Lord reminded me that it is on the horizon.  Even through the unknown, I find peace in knowing we are in the center of God's will.  I love watching my girls get excited about our soon to be new life.  I rest in the fact that the Lord called us to care for the fatherless and I am honored and grateful the Lord is using our little family.  When we got back on the wagon, Gracie turned the pumpkin around and noticed the pumpkin was flat on one side and it was dirty and dinged up.  It hit me then that this child will come to us like this pumpkin.  He/she will need to be cleaned up and loved on in spite of its "issues".  Isn't that what God does with us?  Ignores our flat, rough and dirty spots and loves us unconditionally.  What a wonderful picture of adoption.  

I figured it was time for an update as we are moving along in our adoption process.  Our home study was finished and the final copy was mailed to us at the end of September. The same day we received it I was able to head to the post office to mail off our I-800A.  This is mailed to Homeland Security and it is basically us getting approval to bring a child back into the United States.  Right now it is taking a little over 2 months for the approval to come back.  In the meantime, I have finished all paperwork that I can finish at this point.  On Friday, I mailed all of our documents to Chicago for authentication.  Once we get our approval back from Homeland Security, there are two more things I will need to update and then we send all of our paperwork to our agency.  They will then review and send it to China!  Once our paperwork is approved in China we are then able to be matched with a child.  At this point, we are thinking this should be around the end of December or January. 

As we hit each stage in this process we owe different amounts of money.  As we come to each stage I always wonder (and at times worry) how we are going to come up with the money.  To date, the Lord has provided all we have needed and at the times we have needed it.  Each time this happens I am in awe.  We owe $3000 in the next couple weeks.  We had some of it but still needed most of it.  We had our huge garage sale and made $2,800!!  Wow!  We were blown away at the amount.  I was even more blown away when I realized the $3,000 we owed would be covered and we would have a little left over.  With each of the amounts we owe I am learning to trust Him.  When we are matched with our child we will owe close to $12,000.  Up to this point the amounts we have owed have been between $500 and $3,000.  So, the $12,000, lets say on one hand has me really worried.  On the other hand, I have peace and I can't wait to see the Lord work.  Would you join us in praying that this amount would be met by the time we are matched?