LID

Finally we have a Log-In-Date! Yipeeeeeeeee! I don't know why but waiting for that was the hardest wait of the process for me thus far... like agonizing!!! I think we were the last of the lifeline families to get our LID... thinking they turned in the dossiers in alphabetical order and we are unfortunately a "w." My mind was about to go crazy with the wait, so how did I cope you may ask? I prayed for patience and then had a little retail therapy! Got some fun purchases for baby girl including a lovie that we will mail to her once we know who she is!

So to help you understand what is next..... more waiting! Haven't we done that already? If you want an exercise in patience, start the adoption process! Here is the lowdown on the rest of the process... once a month a list of new children comes out. It is generally toward the end of each month but you never quite know when it is coming. The children on this list can have a myriad of health issues. When we began the process, we consulted with the international dr. at children's and filled out a check-list as to what health needs we are open to. (Sound strange? It feels strange, believe me. When you give birth, you have no say in what needs you are open to your child having. Nevertheless, that is the way this process works. And being that it is our 4th child, we honestly checked very minor issues.) Our agency also knows that we want her to be younger than our baby, although they will most likely be very close in age.... kind of scares me to think we may have "twins" but remind myself that God knows what we can handle. So, when the list comes out, our agency scours it to find a child that meets what we are looking for, sends us the referral and we have a couple of days to accept or reject it. And yes, that may sound harsh to reject a referral, but we firmly believe that we will just "know" if she is our daughter and are praying to that end.... that God would make His will crystal clear..... so if we cannot get a peace, then we will know she is someone else's child. Of course, my hope is that we find her on the 1st go around.

Once you accept a referral, it is 5-6 months before travel. So we are still a long way off from holding her but to see her face will be pure sweetness!!!

So, just wanted you to understand the process a little better and what lies ahead in the next couple of months. I'd love for you to join us in prayers for the following:

Wisdom for Lily (Lifeline employee who does the matching)

Peace for us in the waiting.

Perfect clarity as to God's will.

God to surround our baby with love & protection

Oh and can I just add an aside? I have been so sad about my son going to real school this week. He got such a sweet teacher which made me feel a lot better. I e-mailed her to "talk" to her about a couple of things the day before school started and guess what? She adopted last summer! It literally brought me to tears. Just so sweet to see God's provision and attention to detail. I have no doubt he is with the perfect teacher for him and that she will be able to show such compassion and understanding that he will need when we travel to china for 2 weeks and leave him at home.

Hope to be back in the next couple of months with some exciting news!!!

Also, check out my friend Mallory's blog on the side who is in china right now getting her precious little girl!