Here's What I Know

Well, with thinking that referrals were starting again in September and not hearing anything all month, I decided that it was time to call our agency. Thankfully, I was able to get in touch with Mission of Tears on Monday and had a pleasant conversation that gave us some answers (for now).

So, here's what I know...

- Referrals will be starting again in November. There's a new policy where children need to go into a database for 60 days before they are able to be adopted internationally. I guess things didn't get going quite as quickly as they had anticipated which is the reason for the delay.

- The social worker in SA has been working very hard, as she always does, and has 12 children on the database that could be potential referrals. This was really encouraging because she has about 24 files waiting for referrals so that's a pretty good ratio.

- Our agency is hoping to send out some information this week giving us an update on the program.

- The lady I spoke with from our agency said things should be getting busy in terms of referrals as January gets closer and we head into the new year. Yeah!!

So now I breathe again for another month without wondering "will we get the call today?" As much as I want referrals to be happening now, it makes such a difference to just know a little bit of what's going on and to know things won't really be happening for another month or so. We pray for our baby girl/boy all the time and trust that God is preparing us both to meet each other.

I was really encouraged after talking to Mission of Tears and am anxiously waiting for what the next few months may hold. Realistically it could still be a a while down the road before we get a referral, but I'm daring to hope that it will be soon.

Week of Dreams

I fully believe that God can and does speak to us through dreams, but I'm not too sure about the one my mom had the other night. Here it is...

We came home from South Africa, but not with a baby...with a 48 year old man! Apparently he wasn't the most attractive looking gentleman and, at one point, was all curled up in the fetal position. Everyone was excited and asking to see her new grandchild but my mom was so embarrassed to introduce him because really, who adopts a 48 year old!! Then, all of a sudden I was holding a 4 year old girl. Her back was to my mom and as we turned around, the little girl revealed gigantic lips that hung down onto her chin. So, any interpretations?

We've had other people tell us too that they've had dreams of our adoption. Not strange dreams, just images of us with everything from a baby boy, to a 5 year old girl to a vivid dream of us with twins. Ian also had a dream that we adopted 3 First Nations kids.

I'm not sure about the meaning of all these, but as long as we don't come home with a grown man, I'll be happy!

Labor of the Heart

I am still here, believe it or not. Sorry it's been so long. There are probably a couple of reasons for that but, if I'm being honest, I just didn't feel like blogging.

It's hard to know what to write when I have no real news to share. I feel that you'll be bored listening to my emotional roller coaster ramblings, but I feel that I need to get back on track and focus this blog on our adoption. I'm sure I'll still fill you in on what else is happening in our lives, but what I really want is for this to be about our adventure of adopting.

So that said...it's been a tough (well, tougher) week for me. The waiting just hit harder than it has in a while and I must admit, a few tears were shed. It's just so hard to explain and until you're in it you just don't realize the impact it has on you...emotionally, physically, spiritually. Our lives are in limbo right now which just emphasizes the importance for us to anchor our hope and trust in Christ. It's truly the only thing that's going to get us through this time.

Lately I've been thinking that I need to get back to setting up the baby room, reading about adoption/parenting, picking baby names and getting excited about all of that. So today I went to the adoption support centre to pick up a couple of books and it felt good. We're also going to keep working on the baby room. Ian has decided to do panelling/wainscotting in there and I'll keep looking for things to make it "homey" for our amazingly adorable new addition (I just know he or she will be cute!)

One of the books I picked up today is called "Labor of the Heart". That's exactly it. This child will be born of my heart. It's amazing how this little person, who we know nothing about, has such a special place in our family already and the day can't come soon enough when we get to meet them in person.

Thanks for listening. We appreciate your support, thoughts and prayer so much!