Weekly update- 7/24/15

How far along are we: 6 months in the process

Our progress: We got immigration approval! YAY! We had a delay in this step so it is taking longer than normal. My feelings at first were frustration, but I was gently reminded that God's timing is perfect and He is in control! Through this adoption, I continue to grow in patience and trusting God!

We are waiting for: The approval letter to come in the mail! I excitedly got the mail everyday, but still no approval! It's now Friday and my hearts hurts! We need this approval in the mail before we can move on to the next step!!!!

The next step: Our agency will send our letter to be authenticated, which takes a couple weeks. Then once they get that back we send our dossier to China.

Things we are doing to prepare for Zeke: This wkd we are going tackle the yard work! We had 4 yards of dirt delivered yesterday and are going to take out a plant bed in the back yard for 2 reasons: 1. More grass for the kids to play. 2. I simple don't have time to maintian the weeds. I do love the beautiful flowers but I'm in a season of my life where I need things to be simplified so I can focus more on the kids and not yard work. Someday I'll have more pretty flowers in my back yard! We are also planting grass on the side of our house and taking out the stepping stones. They are just a disaster. Also on the list for this wkd is to fix up the swing set. Underneath the slide is a mud pit so we are going to put a flooring down.

Things we still need to do:

-Make room for Zeke's clothes to fit into the boy's room. Maybe a closet organizer. Maybe a taller dresser with more drawers. We'll have to get creative!

-Fix the boys walls: patch and paint some areas (maybe an update)

Exciting stuff: We got a lot more pictures and videos of Zeke! Our friends went to China to adopt there sweet daughter and got the amazing opportunity to go to New Day to visit our Zeke!!! In return we got an update and a lot more pictures and videos! They were able to take him a blanket, stuffed animal, family photo album, and little toy that we sent with them for Zeke. The plan was for them to mail it, but then they got the opportunity to actually go and deliver it themselves!!! They said he is doing amazing and he can't wait for his mommy and daddy to come get him :)

Random thoughts:

-We are still waiting to hear back from any grants!

-The kids and I went rummaging today in hopes to find some musical toys for Zeke, an activity table, and a walker, but we had no luck! :(

Today I am feeling: My heart is aching! A lot of tears flowing down my cheeks today! I am aching to hold our little boy who is waiting for us on the other side of the world! I am feeling impatient waiting for our approval letter to come and feeling helpless that I can't do anything to make it come sooner! Seeing Zeke's pictures gave me warm fuzzy feelings inside, but they also made me want him! Seeing him cry in one of the videos made my heart hurt that I couldn't be the one holding him and comforting him! Eli says almost every night that he wants Zeke and that he misses him! My heart just hurts! I sit here and try to wait patiently. I continue to grow to trust God knowing his timing is perfect! I am learning patience in a whole new way! This adoption has grown me! Theres nothing I can do at this point, but to trust God and wait patiently though my heart aches today!