A little closer!

When your child is on the opposite side of the world they are not close. But there are things that bring you just a little closer-like skype! Last night we got to skype Ellinor and the wonderful people that are caring for her and we felt close. The Dunns were so generous with their time and are generous in love to our daughter and we are so grateful. Beyond words grateful, it's a heart thing.
Yesterday Holly took our case to court! The next step is to hear when our actual court date will be and we are so excited! We've known our daughter for 7 months and now things are happening!
We also got a call from the Orphan's Hope Grant people last night to ask if we'd like to be entered in a draw for funding. Yes we would!
We also got to learn so much about Ellinor; how big she is, how close she is to walking (I think before xmas!) and her first word! We got to hear a good belly laugh when she played peek a boo and see her in the super cute outfit we sent (you know the one with the boots? to a tropical country? haha!) We also learned how divinely we have been matched together.

Ellinor's first word is Lai lai which means 'come' in Mandarin. We're coming baby girl!

Successfully delivered!

We've been waiting 6 weeks for a social worker report, which has thrown me a little because our social worker here wrote up our report in 2 days! Everyone is busy and I will be patient because if someone has to respond to my email, they're spending less time caring for my baby and her playmates and getting her home. As an adoptive mom I'm working to let go of my urgency, because it belongs to me and Jesus. So I keep reminding myself!

We've also been waiting almost 3 months for Ellinor's 1st care package to get to her and guess what!?! It's there! Boats are slow. I have to admit I was mostly excited because I wanted to see how big she is and I can judge better when she wearing 6-12 month clothes that I have held before! The picture below though, was the best part. She looks so happy! It makes my heart happy too! Her big brother insisted on sending the piano... And the shoes tied together with a note are similar to the ones her big brother learned to walk in, I don't think Ellinor is far from taking some first steps her self!

Days go by...

We are so blessed to have our daughter in such good hands that I think it really makes the wait easier for us. I did not say easy however. The pictures we receive of her are beautiful, I need a better camera to keep up the quality! Timeline wise we are pretty close to requesting a court date. Because of a few new laws, we needed a signature and a report back from a social worker to request such date. After that we'll be able to move forward until we hit another bump in the road. While I would rather fly over these bumps and get some sweet airtime, it's probably better that the Lord grants me patience and we smooth them out instead. We are very excited for Nora to come home. Honestly, her room is near ready and Jude's pre-loved cloth diapers are washed and folded in a bin. A great friend with great taste has filled Ellinor's closet with not-your-average-hand-me-downs. We feel pretty ready. Every once in a while my mind reminds me that I haven't ever done this before. Adoption. But then I remind my mind that there's lots of things I haven't done before and everything is working out alright. We also are very lucky to have so much adoption around our family that it seems very natural. Children, all of them, are a blessing. I am so grateful that my job and my life cause me to encounter so many children of all kinds. I try not to take for granted what I have been entrusted with. (Not like i'm a chosen one or anything, too much Harry Potter?) But there are days I don't think twice about reflecting on what I've learned from the less vertical of the population. not to mention, kids really do say the funniest things. Anyway, there's my thoughts for the month and a little update. Pray with us that we can apply to court soon and that a court date will follow shortly after!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

I could write a post every week. But the topic would be the same: Waiting. Right now we're waiting for a signature, after that we'll be able to apply for a court date in Taiwan! Until then...

Hello sweet girl!

Our Daughter

We have a daughter! She is practically perfect in every way and we are in love! This girl has amazing hair, I can't wait for the pig tails! More than that we can't wait to hold her. All in time, but while we wait, Ellinor is in the best care, and we get pictures almost every month. A gift. So here she is at 6 months old.

Believe it or not her hair has relaxed since her early days :)

E at 3 months ish...

Big Bro around the same age!

We are grateful. Please pray for smooth sailing as we move forward.

Like right now

"Mom? Do you think my baby sister knows there's mashed potatoes in french fries?"
"Nope, I guess you'll just have to tell her when she gets here."
"She should be here. Like right now."

Forward

Yesterday, I wrote after a very encouraging email. Approved. Later, in the evening (morning in Taiwan) I got an email with the subject line 'get started!' I had asked if we should go ahead and do our home study update when it runs out (which is soon anyway) or if we should just wait so that it would last longer ie: do it right before we get a referral. The email message that followed was even more exciting than the subject:

"Please get started as soon as possible!  You are very close!!!"

Well that's a lot faster than we expected! Our application approval took 3 months instead of the regular 1. This next part, waiting to hear when to start our referral because we're getting close, usually takes 8-16 months... and it took us maybe 8 hours? I'm not complaining!

It is a strange phenomena to ignore the part of the brain that longs for your child. This part of your family you've never met. Ignoring your longing is a coping mechanism because nothing about international adoption is predictable. I didn't even realize that I had pushed all of those thoughts and emotions towards the back of my brain, until it was go time. My friend always tells me it's not for the faint of heart, and she is right. It might seem cold or the opposite of nurturing but like I said it's a coping mechanism.

Then, every once in a while, it's go time! Get  as much paper work and appointments completed in the smallest amount of time so that the part that you can control isn't the part that slows anything down. That's where we're at right now - update background checks, intervention checks, medicals and the home study as fast as we can so we can send it to the Alberta government to re-approve us. For a different country this time (more on that another day). Then we'll send it to Taiwan and wait for a referral. We'll do lots of immigration work so that when they say she's ours there will be no more waiting. Except maybe the day of travelling to her :)

My same friend refers to this up & down as 'Hurry Up and Wait' (She coined this phrase based on her families experience with international adoption.) It couldn't be a more perfect way to describe this process.