Referral = Done Deal! (Almost)

Proud Momma:

I'm not sure what I thought it would feel like when we got our referral. I'm not sure what I think now that we have it. Yep, that's right WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!

We just booked our flights to go meet our son! We leave November 10 and come back November 23. We'll be with our boy for a glorious 4 days in the middle of all that. We'll have a few days before we meet him to adjust to the time change and for us to focus on preparing ourselves and the kids.

Thank you to everyone who donated to our purecharity account! Your generosity provided us with $11,532!!! We were able to pay all of our Gladney adoption agency fees with it and a good portion of our fees for the agency in Bulgaria.

The garage sale and just people giving us cash paid for a lot of our home study fees, and a generous donor provided us with travel money to cover our first trip. We have been able to fill in the rest by the grace of God and his blessings on our finances. We also received a grant for $1250!

We only have about $4,000 left in fees for our agency in Bulgaria, our second trip to bring our son home, and then $1600 in social worker visits after we bring him home. I know that God will provide faithfully as He has so far!

It's been amazing to have all of your support, whether it's financial support, prayer, or kind words at just the right time. We could not have gotten to this point without you, and every bit helps! We are so excited to share these next steps with all of you. We have so many questions that are waiting for answers. We can't wait to get to know our son!

Proud Papa:

At each new milestone or event, this becomes more real. The length of time that this process takes is, in some sense, a blessing. It has given us time to gradually digest this life-altering pursuit. This is the most amazing news we've received, and if I'm being honest, it's also a bit terrifying. I look at our biological children and believe in our hearts that we've done a pretty decent job thus far, with a lot of help from family and friends. Still, nothing can truly prepare us for what's to come.

With this referral comes a certain level of certainty. It is certain that we have passed muster and have been granted the legal authority to adopt this boy, the rest is paperwork and his decision. The joy of that knowledge is too intense for my man-sized emotional range to express in a way that would do it justice. I'm bursting inside, but you probably wouldn't know it to look at me. Maybe I'm just tempted by the knowledge that, with that certainty, comes gobs and gobs of uncertainty. It's a paradox and it's real.

So now the hard and messy part(s) truly begin and I'm starting to think like his parent. Adoption isn't the answer to children without family or those in abhorrent conditions. A good home and a good family are the answers. Adoption is just the vehicle, that's all it's really meant for; child A to family B. Can we provide the good home and are we the good family he needs? We're encouraged that friends, family, and complete strangers in two different continents, countries, and states seem to think so. We're encouraged by how God has been, and continues to be, so obviously involved in this. His generosity and faithfulness, in every sense and meaning of those words, are indescribable, and we're all going to need more of it in the months and years to come.

In a few short weeks, we will meet him for the first time. He still may or may not be aware of our existence at this stage, but we have to trust that the people closest to him have his best interests in mind, and will prepare him in the right way and at the right time, however and whenever that is. For now, prayers are so graciously welcomed. For our travels, his response and reaction to this news, our meeting and our short time together.