The Next Step

Literally more has happened lately than I can record here, so I will get down to the most important and exciting news:

We have moved into a new house in our new town and... wait for it...

We are starting the adoption home study!

Finally, after 11 months of raising funds and anxiously waiting to move forward, we are taking the next step in the adoption process. I have been in contact with our home study agency and I'm currently knee-deep in the required paperwork. Y'all, there is an extraordinary amount of forms, required signatures, and extremely personal information about my family and I and every aspect of our lives. My brain is a complete ball of adoption MUSH.

Regardless, we are mooooooving ahead!

Our gigantic home study payment is on it's way from our savings to our checking account as we speak (why oh why does it take so long?) and I have some forms to get notarized tomorrow, but come Friday we will officially be in.the.game. I'll be honest: after so long raising funds for exactly this step, it's hard to see it leave our adoption savings!

It feels so much more real now. Knowing that the home study launches us fully into the process makes me take a step back to examine my life and start placing Lene into every scenario. Her needs- both physically and emotionally- will take the center point of my existence for quite sometime. Maybe she'll be walking by the time she comes home... or maybe not. Maybe she'll be potty trained by then or maybe not. She will need immediate medical attention of some kind due to a recorded heart defect. She has been living in an orphanage literally her entire life and that takes a toll on a child, which means when all of a sudden she is a part of a family- something she has never known- with her own mom, dad, brothers and sisters, her own bed, plenty of food and water to eat and drink, and lots of individual attention, it will likely be hard on her. She might be overwhelmed. She might act out. (Then again, she might adapt exceedingly well.)

Am I ready for the magnitude of that challenge?

The answer is yes.

While I don't think anyone can ever truly be 100% prepared to propel into circumstances they've never experienced, I know that God has called me (and my family) to this. Which means He knows I can handle it. And I believe Him.

I'm terribly excited to get this show on the road! More updates coming soon!