The connected child and sandpaper eyes

 

 

Over the last weeks and months, Edgar and I have been working very hard on gathering up all the necessary documentation required to proceed with our adoption. Paperwork, reading, gathering info, revealing every detail of our hearts and lives, answering questions and going through a somewhat grueling process has all been a part of this drill. While the work itself hasn't been exactly fun and sometimes makes us feel like our eyelids are made of sandpaper, it is SO REWARDING because we know the joy that awaits us on the other side of this... Our daugher. :)

 

One of the requirements has been to read chapters out of this book, The Connected Child, as well as complete a 10 hr online adoptive parenting course. We've learned so much about how to love the heart of an adopted child well, how to meet their needs and communicate effectively with them, and what we can do to help them thrive in life. All of this preparation has made us so thankful that we are being even further equiped to love this child in the best way possible!

 

And the best part is, as of tomorrow...we are DONE with most of the work on our end! Yes that's right, tomorrow afternoon (right after I finish the last 20 pages of the book...) I am driving the 3rd and final packet of paperwork/documents we have prepared to the post office. What a great Christmas gift that is for us! The next step is to have our home study completed end of January.

 

And just a quick update for those who have asked me recently, we have already generously been given 12% of our total adoption costs! Some dear sweet friends, Josh & Jess Brown are baking homemade holiday bread this week as a fundraiser for our adoption, so if you live nearby and want to order some, send an email to lilbrown7806@yahoo.com.

 

Thank you for being a part of this adoption journey with us. We couldn't make it without each of you.

~

Joyful & Blessed Mom

I am the joyful and blessed mom of three precious babies.

And yet, I'm not able to hug or kiss any of them right now. I can't wrap them up in my arms and tell them how much I love them, how special they are to me and how there's nobody in the world like them. At nighttime, I can't tuck them in and pray the sweet blessings of Jesus over them.

For you see, my first two babies are already in the presence of Jesus, singing and dancing before the throne of God. They are probably sitting on His lap right now, or playing hide-&-seek with the children of our friends who have also gone before. Or maybe my beloved grandfather has taken my children by the hand and is teaching them about the glorious flowers that grow there. You see, before our babies even had a chance to breathe their first breath on this earth, they went home to heaven. But they are loved with an everlasting love and they are precious to us!

And we now wait on our third baby, our darling little daughter from Uganda. We don't even know who she is or what her name will be. But we love her fiercely and long to bring her home to us.

Every day we live in the tension between all that God has promised us, and the circumstances we find ourselves in. We are parents who have no children in our home at this moment. There are no little feet that run around our house, no finger prints to wipe away, no spills to clean up. Sometimes at dinner, when its just Edgar & I at the table, we wipe tears from our eyes knowing that there are precious little souls who are missing. We wait for them joyfully, expectantly, with hope...

And so, though I have no person on this planet right now that calls me "mom" and runs to me to kiss their tears away and for me to swoop them up into my waiting arms, it is ok, because I AM the joyful and blessed mom of three precious babies. And many many more to come, we hope. :-)