Putting Relaxation To Work

Just returned from day 1 of a little chair massage at a local advertising company to promote adoption awareness, as well as do a bit of fundraising. It went fantastic and I'm looking forward to a little more "R&R" tomorrow. The people were great and very encouraging about adoption. I even met one girl who is herself an adoptee from Korea and what an awesome opportunity to speak one on one with someone that can share a bit of perspective of what it was like to grow up in a similar situation as we foresee our Lilian experiencing one day.  I'm continually impressed with the people in our area...we have diversity as well as lots of families that are "pro-adoption" and particularly pro INTERNATIONAL adoption.  It's exciting to be a part of a community like this. 

In further great news, I received a call after the fundraising job from a woman who works with a grant organization that we are hoping to hear some great news from anyday now. She had a few more questions to ask us but was pretty positive that we should be awarded some sort of grant before the holidays! (whoo hoo!!!) The only thing left to be decided would be the amount, so prayers please!!! At a time when most everything "adoption" is up in the air, it would be a god send to have this particular facet of the adoption no longer a concern.  We would naturally be grateful for ANY amount as this is not something we have ever been able to do by ourselves, so we feel very blessed at the moment for opportunities to work and gifts we've received too. 

Lastly, I need to commend a local and very talented woman we love for taking it upon herself to create and hand paint clay monsters to raise money for our adoption. I was floored the first time she handed me a wad of cash and told me what she's been up to!  :)  They are beyond unique and we have 4 (one for each of our girls) that we got awhile back and LOVE them.  If anyone is local and interested in getting their hands on one, you can go and meet the owner of the store (and clay monster extraordinaire!), Betty Morris @

Avalon Nutrition & Indian Food

(479) 582-9158
1388 N College Ave, Fayetteville, AR 72703

Enjoy the holidays and be safe! Every day we are one day closer to bringing home our daughter! :)

Patience is a Virtue indeed

 We have heard news today about the delays going on in India.  They seem to be continuing with no clear end in sight. I had hoped that any day we would have the great news that babies were being matched to families again and we were up next! I guess that was a bit unrealistic on my part but once you have an idea in your head of how this adoption is supposed to go, well it's a bit hard to shake! (I feel there might be a lesson I'm supposed to be learning here but can't seem to place my finger on it...something about "THY will not MY will be done?" haha)

 Our director of the India program mentioned in her letter today that India is implementing some changes to their guidelines on adoption and should be releasing those changes in the next couple of months. One of the changes that will take place is that there will be extra documentation that is required of adoptive families after we accept our match with a baby.  Another change is in how a child is cleared for domestic and international adoption.  This change will determine when a baby is ok'd to be adopted and therefore offered to a family that is waiting for a match with a child.  This would be the part that would affect us the most since we have not been matched with a baby yet.  Once the referral is accepted, it appears that the delays will continue making each step of this process a bit longer to complete than it used to, at least temporarily so.  Currently, the families that have been already matched with a child are having delays of their own and until they can pick up their babies and come home, there will be no room for any additional babies at the orphanage to come in. 

Not sure what to feel about all of this really.  At first I'm disappointed...naturally.  We had originally thought by this point we would not only be matched with our daughter but looking forward to traveling sometime end of spring of next year to bring her home.  Now it is all up in the air. I have no estimated time frame and at this point am not sure if we will be traveling next year at all.  At the same time I feel conflicted as God has been driving this adoption from the beginning and I can't lose sight of how He has a view that I don't have.  So I am continuing to be patient.  There is nothing on my end that can be done to bring things together any sooner than they will be and this does allow us more time to gather finances together so that when things start moving again, we will be ready!   (see... now I'm climbing back up on my perch of optimism!) 

This is the news. It is something, at least to gain a bit of perspective from.  So now what?  I suppose what's left is to settle in and enjoy the enriched life we already have rolling and see who around us could use a bit of encouragement and help as a much needed distraction from our stalled progress.  Time spent waiting for something to happen is not always wasted but can be the most worthwhile time ever spent in the end.  We will continue to appreciate everyday as we have been given and when the time comes, we will be very thankful and thrilled to welcome another daughter into our family!


"All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope"  ~Alexandre Dumas Pere