First month of forever.

I know, I know.

I am AWFUL at this blogging stuff. The last time I updated the blog was in September. We found out that we did not pass our first court hearing and were waiting for our second hearing on the 26th of September.

Well...I have some catching up to do, but in case you didn't know...our sweet Maya Pallavi is finally HOME!! Back in the beginning of September, I really thought that we would go another Christmas without our daughter, but the Lord made a way for her to be home before Thanksgiving!

We arrived in Phoenix on November 20, 2016 at 12pm after being in India for a month!

We've had an awesome first month home! We're finding our new "normal" and she is adjusting better than we ever could have expected. Yes, there are extremely hard moments, but this adoption process is continuing to remind of the grace that we can extend because of the grace we are so freely given.



My amazing sister in love took these photos for us on Thankgiving! Never have to hold a picture frame again! It's still so surreal to see her in our family photos! We are so very thankful.

Our little Christmas blessing. We prayed for this. God is so faithful!

Things to remember:

• You weigh 33lbs. 4oz. and are 40 inches tall! You've gained about 2 lbs! 
• Your goofy dance moves.
• How absolutely terrified of the dogs you were...it took 8 days for you to be OK with them. You're still not so sure about Miles. Molly is becoming your little puppy pal! You like Mitzy...Mitzy is afraid of you! 
• You have had your share of meltdowns, but are calmed by rocking in the glider with mommy. Usually, at the end, you open up about your past. You love talking about Babies Home and all your friends there. 
• You learned how to how to pedal a tricycle.
• You're learning to speak in phrases and short sentences. You understand so much of what we say to you!
• You love music and dancing
• You are very expressive. You have the best facial expressions!
• We ordered your first pair of glasses.
• How you ask to be carried in the Tula carrier. 
• You love your baby cousins Edison and Lylah.
• You sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jingle Bells".

Likes:

• Minnie Mouse
• Eating (Seriously, you can eat man-sized portions of tacos and spaghetti...you also like pizza, carrots, apples, bananas, oatmeal, salmon, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and potato chips. You LOVE chips.  )
• Sleeping (you sleep from 7:30pm-7:30am!)
• Princesses and playing dress up
• Playdough and painting
• Trolls
• Playing outside
• Dancing and listening to music
• Playing with your brothers and their friends! You love all the Nerf guns, superheros, and toy cars that we have here! ;)

Dislikes:

• Cheese
• Not getting your way
• Sweet breakfast food like cinnamon rolls, muffins, or donuts (we're working on it! LOL!)
• When other people have shoes on in the house and you don't!

And as if that wasn't enough picture overload, here's a little slideshow of our first month home! 

And if not, He is still good.

Sometimes things just don't go the way we want.

Sometimes you can pray all the prayers, believe all the things, have all the hope...

And still find yourself in a place of disappointment.


This is where we are after our court hearing on Wednesday. A familiar place of sadness, disappointment, and more waiting.

Unfortunately, we did not pass in one hearing, and our next hearing is scheduled for September 26th. A little over 3 weeks from now which seems like an eternity, but I know it will come quickly.

Today, our family coordinator offered a bit of encouragement. "It's not the movement that we had hoped for, but it's movement, and any movement is still good." She's right. She will come home. It may not be in my timing, but someday we'll finally get the call to book plane tickets and hotels. Until then, we just have to keep trusting, praying, and hoping.

The crazy thing is late that night on the 30th, something in my heart knew that things wouldn't go the way I wanted. The same experience happened on the way to my OB appointments where we found out that we were miscarrying a few years ago. As I scrolled on Facebook, these two posts were literally one right after the other. God really used these words to comfort me, even before the hurt began...

"Really, right now: you're going to be okay... 

There is a plan & there is a purpose & there is a God in heaven who didn’t just ink you onto the palm of His hands but etched your name right into Himself with nails & He’s hasn’t just got your number, He’s got your heart. He sees you, hidden in Him, & you aren’t ever forgotten because God can’t forget those right in Him.

His perfect love absorbs all your fears tonight & His perfect grace carries all your burdens, & your story is a happily ever after because Christ bought your happily ever after --- so you *always know how this story ends*: 

You’re going to be okay."

-Ann Voskamp

"..sometimes it's ridiculously hard to know how to live through the stuff we're facing & you know, maybe this is it:

"Be cheerful -- no matter what; pray -- all the time; thank God -- no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." 1Thess5:18

So maybe there's our map through our Wednesday -- we will crush our complaints with thanks -- we will not give in to cynicism, we will not give up to discouragement.

Let's be cheerful, prayerful, thankful -- to keep the day from becoming: awful.

Today's game changer: There is always, always, always something to be thankful for."

-Ann Voskamp

So, here were are yet again in another month of waiting. Please continue to lift our family up in prayer. We appreciate your prayers, hugs, encouragement, and support more than you'll know. I'm praying that September 26th will be our final court hearing.

"But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." 

Daniel 3:18

It's almost court time!!

I can't believe that this day has come.

We've been praying and waiting for this day. And now we are  literally HOURS away from our first court hearing.

It's a bit surreal. August 31st could be the day that our little sweet P will become our daughter.

We pray that God would move mightily in that court room tonight while we are sleeping. That our case would be heard. That He would guide the judge's heart and mind to grant us verbal approval. That we would be one giant step closer to our daughter.

After 26 months in process we are SO ready to go get our precious girl.

Please be praying with us tonight! We will be sure to keep everyone updated as soon as we find out anything!

We appreciate your prayers, support, and encouragement more than you will ever know! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

She turns 4 in a month.

Last year when we celebrated with Indian food, cake, and family, I thought that 2016's celebration would include a precious little girl.

With our August 31st court date, having her home for her birthday is pretty much impossible. I say pretty much, because I know God is powerful, and if it's His will, we will be celebrating with her. But, realistically and practically, I'm preparing myself to celebrate another birthday spent apart. 

However, I have to remind myself that one month from now, we'll be much closer to getting on a plane! Closer to embracing our sweet girl and never letting go. Closer to hearing her voice for the first time. Closer to telling her how much we love her. Closer to thanking her caregivers for loving on our girl while we couldn't. Closer to starting our forever with her.

I pray that this month leading up to her birthday, that she truly feels the love of Christ deep down in her little soul. That she has a joy, peace, and excitement about her new family. 

We're coming Sweet P, we really are. 

Happy almost birthday, my baby girl!! 

Another month has come and gone...

I've said it before. Adoption is hard. Lately, the waiting is taking a toll on my heart.

I am constantly thinking about P. I walk a fine line (not always that well, might I add) of keeping my focus with the family that's living right here with me in our home, and daydreaming about our precious daughter all the way in Ind*a. I feel so torn. I long for the day when we're all under one roof.

At the beginning of this month, the POA that we sent arrived where it needed to be and I had the hope that we would finally get the court date that we had been waiting for. Well, the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into a month. That month has come and gone.

June came and went. July has done the same. Unfortunately, we are still without a court date.

I feel so discouraged, so drained, so tired of waiting, and the worst and possibly ugliest of emotions...so jealous. I see families that were matched after us traveling to bring their little ones home, or have been home for a while now. Yes, I rejoice with them. Each and every child home to their forever families is a huge victory that must be celebrated, but I wonder why we aren't celebrating this victory yet? Why after 25 months in process, and 15 months since we've laid eyes on our precious daughter is she still not home?

I'm really trying to lean into Jesus. I'm asking and praying for His strength to sustain me in this time where I feel so hopeless and impatient.

I know this post sounds so gloomy and depressing, but some days, that's reality. I want to be real with you all and share both the mountains and the valleys that I experience throughout this adoption process. It just so happens that we've been hanging out in the valley for a while.

I know that we won't be waiting forever. Someday, we'll finally be boarding that plane, driving to the orphanage, and holding our girl for the first time.

Please continue to pray with us. Pray that AUGUST will be the month that we have our first hearing. Pray for a quick court process so that we can bring our girl HOME!

Unexpected answers in the wilderness

The past couple weeks, our process has been heavy on my heart. The pain of the wait and silence were really getting to me.

The Lord was really speaking to me through His word, sermons at church, and through song. Everything that I was reading or hearing seemed to have a common theme.

Wilderness.

In Numbers I'm reading about the Israelites and how they were so hopeful to move to a land full of God's goodness. Their travels and wanderings had lasted years, but God knew what he was doing. In his sovereignty, He allowed the Israelites to take this "scenic" desert route not only for their protection, but to learn from their experiences.

In church we're going through a series called Broken People, Big God where we spend time studying how God used broken people like Abraham, Samson, and this past week, Elijah. Elijah also had to pass through a painful season in the wilderness. Literally, God sent Elijah to the wilderness where he has to rely on the Lord to be fed by ravens, drink from a brook in a land during a drought, all while being alone. He literally had nothing to do but wait on God. And trust me (and Elijah), waiting is HARD. Eventually the brook dries up and God sends Elijah elsewhere. He ends up with a widow and her son and is put in yet another situation where he must  put his trust in what little resources the Lord provides. A small amount of flour and a little jar of oil. He has to have faith in God that they won't run out. God used Elijah's wilderness waiting to protect him, provide for him and sustain him, and prepare him for the next chapter (literally, 1 Kings chapter 18) in his life when he would need to stand up against the false prophets of Baal. 

A blog I had read about Elijah said, "Wilderness seasons are brutal. But God is powerfully at work in the 1 Kings 17 season of our lives."

God uses these wilderness situations. In the wilderness we can feel His presence, worship Him in a more authentic way, and have a clearer picture of what obedience looks like. Our faith is strengthened and our relationship with Him deepens.

My wilderness looks a bit different from the Isrealites or Elijah. I'm not part of a nomadic tribe wandering around in the desert, and I'm not relying on God for food and water via ravens and brooks. However, I can relate. We've been waiting for over a year with very little updates or answers about our girl. There really is no other way to describe this wait other than brutal. It just flat out stinks. We were matched with a 2.5 year old and she's about to turn 4 in a few months.

This Monday I posted a prayer request asking for BIG MOVEMENT on my Facebook page. So here's the update you've all been waiting for, though it's a bit unexpected.

Today our family coordinator called and let us know that we do NOT need to be present for our court date. Basically, our case will continue like a "typical" Ind!an adoption. So we don't have to take two trips anymore! We do have to send yet another power of attorney document (yes, another) tomorrow to our agency and once that arrives back in Ind!a, we should be able to be registered for court and find out when our first hearing will be. We are now praying for an early July court date. We really don't have any details on how long the court process will take. We were given estimates of anywhere from 2-6 hearings over a course of 2-4 months. Hopefully we'll get more details in the next few weeks.

So there it is. Our unexpected answer. Just a reminder that God is always in control. Even when we think things are going to happen in a specific way, he allows us to see his sovereign hand in every situation. I'm at peace because I know that this was not unexpected to God. It's already passed through His hand.

Please continue the prayers. We felt them and appreciate them so much! 

May 4th

Today is the day one year ago that we were officially matched in the system with our little sweet P.

We knew the moment we saw her face on a Friday morning, that she was ours. Despite the unknowns, (and there were A LOT) we made the decision to email our family coordinator Saturday night and request to be matched with her. By 6am Monday, May 4th, 2015 my phone was ringing. Our family coordinator was calling to let us know that we were officially matched with P.

What a year it's been. I feel like we're on this crazy rollercoaster and we have NO idea when the ride will end. But it's also an amazing rollercoaster, and I feel blessed to be on this ride called adoption. The highs and lows have taught me so much about Jesus. His longsuffering patience. His unwavering love. His pure goodness.

We stepped out in blind faith this day one year ago. We felt a peace that only God could bring to our hearts in this situation. A peace that allowed us to move forward without any real information other than 4 pictures.

Today, one year after our match, we are waiting for a court date to attend. This is where a judge in Ind*a will legally make her what we've known her to be for a year now. Our precious, chosen, daughter. A Salonga.


Here is how you can be praying for us:

• We ask that you pray for our attorney. We won't share her name with you, but God knows who she is. Please pray that she will receive our affidavit and register our case in court so we can have a date set. 

• Please be in prayer for our court date. We are boldly praying for a June date. 

• Pray that our judge would be for adoption and would grant us verbal and written orders in record time. 

• Pray for our last moments of a family of four. That all of our hearts would be prepared for this new transition to a daughter and a little sister. 

• Please continue to pray for P. Pray for her little heart. What she has known for 3.5 years is about the come to an end. The loss and pain that she will experience is so huge. Pray that we would be able to be a source of comfort for her and we could help her to handle her grief. 

I'll leave you all with this picture of her. I could stare that those adorable little feet and that cute denim skirt all day! 

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Remembering :: The days leading up to our referral

I'm notorious for using this blog like a diary. I'll write and write posts because I don't want to forget how I felt at certain points in the process, but often they get left as drafts because I either never finished my thought, or because I'm waiting for the right approval before I share more details about our process. Of course, there are quite a few details that I won't be able to share until we have our girl in our arms, so you'll have to wait to hear about those!

But, I want to begin sharing some of these stories because they are such wonderful reminders of how faithful God is and how much He has sustained us through this journey.

I can't believe that I wrote these posts so long ago!

::April 30, 2015:: 

After 12 weeks of waiting, our home study was approved by Ind*a! This meant that we were finally ale to be matched with a child!

Thursday night at my women's Bible study, as I was sharing the excitement of our approval with my sweet sisters in Christ, I also asked them to pray for a few specific things:

• That we would be matched quickly.
• That we would be open to the daughter God has for us, even if her special needs were different than we expected.
• And of course, my constant prayer to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and for patience. 

On the way home from Bible study, Stephen Curtis Chapman's song, Something Beautiful was playing on the radio and though I've heard that song so many times, the chorus stuck with me and was playing on repeat in my head. Seriously. All. Night. Long.

"And God says,
I'm gonna turn it into something different,
I'm gonna turn it into something good.
I'm gonna take all the broken pieces
And make something beautiful like only I could.
So put it all in the hands of the Father
Give it up, give it all over to
The only one who can turn it into
Something beautiful,
Something really beautiful."

At that point, I was thinking, "Yes, God really does have a reason as to why everything took SO long in the beginning of our process. There is a reason our approval took over 2 months. He's got this. We WILL get our daughter, maybe not on our own timeline, but when has His timeline failed us? Never!"

::May 1, 2015::

Friday morning our family coordinator sent an email just checking to see how close we are to finishing up our dossier. (Which by the way, TWO of the three documents we needed came in the mail the day before, so YAY for answered prayers!) I let her know that we were pretty close to being done with it.

A little less than an hour later, around 9:00 AM my phone rings and I notice it's our agency. I picked it up assuming our caseworker wanted to discuss what to do once we're ready to send our dossier to her.

Instead, this regular phone call, turned in the THE phone call!!!! Just ONE day after we had finally been approved to receive a referral! 

I'll never forget the words she said:

"I have a little girl that I'd like you to consider. I think she'd be a perfect match for your family."

She began to describe the little girl known as "P", who was two and a half years old . After describing some delays we might encounter due to the particular state she's in, the need for two trips (one for court, and another for pick up), and some serious unknowns about her special need, she asked if we would like to see some pictures of her. 

Of course?! Why wouldn't we? What an answered prayer! A potential referral after only a day of being approved in the system?! Pinch me!!

What a blessing to finally open that email and see not one, but FOUR amazing pictures of this precious girl...one even being a picture of her as a newborn baby!  Let me tell you, she is SO beautiful. We were pretty much in love with this girl from the start. When Mark saw her picture for the first time he immediately said "that's our girl!" My emotions went from extreme giddiness to fear. You see, we were given no information about this sweet girl's special need other than a brief, obvious description. No why, no diagnosis, no medical report, no child study, nothing. It was slightly terrifying...but at the same time, we knew in our hearts she is the daughter God had for us.

We decided to take the weekend to really pray about her. To be honest, for a short time I struggled with the known delays we would face due to the fact that she's in a state that's known to be much slower. All I wanted was to bring home our daughter as quickly as possible. The Lord really revealed my own selfishness in that. This whole journey to a third child has NOT been on my own timeline, but I can say with complete confidence that God has worked everything out for HIS good in HIS own time. The other immediate hesitation was her special need and the lack of medical information pertaining to it. Seriously, we had four pictures, and a name. That was it.

::May 2, 2015::

I got to spend the morning at Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market with my best friend, who also happens to be a nurse. We spent the morning talking about little P and her special need. She helped me so much that day. So much back and fourth, so many whatifs, still so many unknowns. But as we talked, I began to feel at peace. I really just felt that the Lord was calling us to step out in faith and say "yes" to this little girl. To trust that He would work out all the unknowns. After talking and praying, Mark and I decided to email our family coordinator  and asked her to match us with P. She was ours and we would fight for her no matter what.

::May 4, 2015::

My phone rang at 6:05am and I used my best "I've been awake for an hour already voice" to answer when I saw that it was our family coordinator. She informed us that we were officially matched to P! She reminded us of the long wait that was ahead of us due to the region she lives in. So, here we go! We're buckling up for what I'm sure will be a huge rollercoaster of emotions and some serious practice in patience as we wait for our P to come home.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"
Psalms 27:14

Project Life {week 26}

I still can't get over how amazingly easy this Digital Project Life stuff is!

Last week was a good one. Lots of memories being made and documented. We were able to see some more pictures of our little one last week and they just MELTED our hearts.Unfortunately, we can't share her photos on social media, so you'll have to imagine her sweet little face under the big LOVE sticker! ;)

I think the amazing part about our photo album is that when our little Sweet P comes home, she'll be able to see that she was part of our life even before she got here. That we loved her, thought about her, prayed for her, and already considered her family.

With that being said, I am trying my best to remember that I have two little lives right here before my very eyes (three, if you count my handsome hubby) to be pouring my time, energy, and love into. I don't want to be so consumed in the adoption process that I miss out on these special moments as a family of four. It's a tough balance to maintain though when a piece of your heart is about 9,000 miles away.

Well, I've rambled enough. Here it is, week 26 of our Project Life album:

Oh hey, dossier.

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist a cheesy title. 

For those of you not familiar with adoption, I'd like to introduce to you the dossier (dos-ee-ey).

Dossier is a fancy French word for pain in the booty...not really, I kid! Basically, a dossier is a compilation of a bunch of authenticated and translated legal documents which are used to process an adoption. We had to gather birth certificates, medical exams, bank letters, financial information, tax forms, employment verification, police clearance, family photos, and a bunch of other stuff that I won't totally bore you with. Gathering and creating all the documents needed is definitely a lot of work. These papers literally took some serious blood (lab tests), sweat, tears, and major prayers.

It was SUCH a relief to finally be done collecting everything and begin making all the necessary copies to send it off to our agency (who then sends it to the orphanage)! In order to send the dossier to our agency, we needed to make 5 additional copies of our original. That's A LOT of paper!

Well, the good news is that a copy of our dossier arrived at our little Sweet P's orphanage late last week! (Sidenote: I figured out the cutest little nickname for our girl that incorporates her beautiful Indian name! She will still be Maya, but I also want her current name to be a part of her when she comes home. That's a whole separate blog post!) 

Please pray with us that the people at the orphanage who will essentially be "meeting" us on paper, will see just how perfectly Sweet P will fit into our family. We are also praying that they will send us electronic versions of her medical reports AND the originals so we can really get the process going. My mama heart is also dying to know her height and weight! It's so hard to try and guess how big she is just from pictures! Right now, we are stuck waiting for these documents. So when you think of us, please lift us up in prayer. We would really appreciate it!

Friends along the way

I'm generally a quiet person. I've never been the type of girl to have a ton of girlfriends. In fact, as a child I was painfully shy. I have my close circle of friends and family, and that's always been good enough for me.

I'm convinced that adoption requires a little more support than just my handful of girlfriends (whom I love dearly). 

During our home study, our social worker asked me about my support system. She obviously gathered the fact that I'm pretty introverted and seemed slightly concerned that I wasn't this huge social butterfly. I didn't make the greatest case for myself when I mentioned that my Facebook Ind*a adoption group was really amazing and so helpful. 

Truth is, it IS amazing. There is something special about the women in this group. We pray, we cry, we rejoice, we sympathize, we gain knowledge from one another. I have made so many connections with women literally from all over the world and it's like we all share a heart.

A heart for a beautiful country, a heart's desire to seek God and his will, a heart for orphans, and a drive like no other to make those orphans sons and daughters. 

Don't get me wrong, my closest friends are amazing and speak so much truth and wisdom into my life, but sometimes, unless you're going through an Ind*an adoption you just might not completely get what I'm going through. 

The friendships I'm making along this adoption journey are priceless gifts from God. While it's true that I may never meet many of these amazing women in person, they are still special regardless. Just the other day as I was talking to another mama from Oklahoma on the phone, it dawned on me. We would have never "met" each other, much less talked on the phone, if it hadn't been for adoption. Now, I have a friend at a very similar stage in the process to share victories and struggles with, to pray with, and one day to look back at our journey and see God's faithfulness through it all. 

When we began this process almost a year ago, I never would have guessed that the friends along the way would have such an amazing impact on my life.

Thank you, Jesus for each and every one of them. 

Good news!

The past few weeks, I've really felt the many prayers that I know were being lifted up. I wasn't feeling as anxious or discouraged which was a huge improvement from a few weeks ago! Waiting for approval was always in the back of my mind, but I had gotten to the point where it wasn't consuming my thoughts. I knew we would eventually be approved and I was just going to have to be patient. 

So today when my phone rang at 6:59 am, I honestly expected it to be my mom calling me. To my surprise, I looked down to see our caseworkers name!

"Hi Megan! I have good news!! Your family is approved"

Ahhh, like music to my ears. My heart was beating faster, my palms were sweaty, and the grin on my face made my cheeks hurt! 

We found out that our home study must have accidentally been skipped over. It happens sometimes. I trust that God has a reason we were skipped over and that he is leading us on the perfect path to our daughter. 

So, what's next you ask? First, we're going to celebrate this small victory! Then, we buckle up and prepare for more (you guessed it) waiting.

We are now officially able to be matched. This can take anywhere from a few days to many months. Our caseworker will search the database for us every day to look for a match based on the special needs that we are open to. 

We can't even begin to tell you how excited we are to finally to see the face of our sweet little Maya. This girl is so loved. She is prayed for and talked about daily in our home and among our family members and dear friends. She even has some pretty little dresses waiting for her in her closet! :)

We ask that you'd continue to keep our family in your prayers and have some specific prayer requests:

• We are waiting for our USCIS approval and some documents getting apostilled in two different states. Please pray that we would get the approval and documents soon so we can finish our dossier. 
• Be praying for a referral to come to us quickly! You can also pray that we would be open to the daughter God has for us.
• Prayers for patience and peace during the waiting would definitely be appreciated. 
• Always pray for our little Maya. We may not know who she is, but God does. 

The week of updates!

What a wonderful week this has been for our family! 

A year ago I was signing a different tune. A year ago today, I was laying in a hospital bed getting ready to have a D&C when my doctor shared bad news about my high hcg levels which indicated a molar pregnancy. I shared a little about my miscarriage in a previous post if you missed it!

Each day I am  reminded of how much God has provided and has been there for me through my trials and my triumphs. As I look back on my year full of loss, sadness, fear, doctors appointments, and weekly methotrexate injections, I can't help but thank God for those experiences. 

They shaped me. They strengthened me. They led me here.

This week has been amazing. God has shown his faithfulness!

Mason started soccer on Tuesday which is something he has been looking forward to since we signed him up around Christmas time. He did great at his first practice and had a ton of fun meeting new friends and learning new skills! He's so excited for his next practice.

That same night we got an email from our social worker that we were officially certified to adopt! You guys, that news made our night! We had been waiting SO long to finally be finished with our home study so we could move forward with our adoption process.

God didn't stop with the news there! On Friday evening, we got an email from our family coordinator that just completely caught me off-guard. You see, we struggled to get to this point and it took MUCH longer than we had anticipated. Honestly, I was kind of expecting to have to deal with some of the same issues again due to some changes with our agency, but I feel like God provided us with reassurance that he has his hand in this process when we received her email.

The subject line made me giddy: Home study registered on C*RINGS!

As of right now, we are officially waiting for Ind*a to approve our home study. We were told this can take about 2 months. Once we have approval, we will be able to be matched! Yes, matched. Like, finally get to see a picture of our little girl and learn more about her! This is the stuff of my dreams! We are so thankful that God is paving a path to our daughter and we are so excited to see her precious face! 

In the meantime, we have some specific prayer requests:

• That our home study would be reviewed and approved in a quick and efficient manner
• That we could tackle the next portion of paperwork easily and be granted approval (I-800A)
• That we would have a quick referral process 

We truly believe in the power of prayer and appreciate each an everyone one of you for joining in on our journey!

Until next time!

Moving forward with patience

Last week we experienced some answered prayers! In my last post I was feeling down about the lack of progress we have made thus far in our adoption. I can't tell you how many times people have asked me, "So, how's the adoption going? What part of the process are you in now? My answer for months has been, "Well, it's going....slowly...we're still working on completing our home study."

I'm pleased to say that we are almost completely finished with our home study! We were able to review the draft last Thursday night and it was perfect! Our social worker was able to submit it to court on Tuesday morning (since Monday was a holiday)! Now we wait for the final approval!

It's amazing what a small step forward in the process can do for your soul. I know that we still have a LONG road ahead, but I am doing my best to rest in God's provision thus far. In this season of my life God is teaching me patience. I'm extremely patient when it comes to my children, but my patience is terrible when it comes to waiting for events (like, for example I'm already getting antsy about getting home study approval!) I'm guessing that through this adoption process my patience will be tested and stretched in ways that I never thought possible.

If I needed any confirmation of the fact that the Lord was trying to teach me patience, today's devotional was just that.

Ephesians 4:1-2 "I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Jesus was the perfect model of patience. He endured negative circumstances, coped with difficult people (and prayed for them), he showed willingness to accept his Father's plan, and suffered on the cross because he knew it was God's will.

My prayer is that I could follow Christ's perfect example and work towards patience in ALL circumstances.

Here's to practicing patience and a cheerful attitude while I wait!

garage sale, home study, and some thoughts...

I've neglected the blog, but I want to update you all on what's been going on with our adoption!

Our fundraiser garage sale in October was a HUGE success! So many people were beyond generous with their donations, and we had a great turn out! By God's grace, we were able to raise $2,026!! Yes, you read correctly! Isn't God amazing?! That money really helped us to take care of our home study fees.

It was not an easy task, but we know our sweet girl will be worth it! Sooo many hours were spent sorting, organizing, and pricing all the wonderful donations.We really couldn't have pulled off such a successful sale without the help of our amazing family and friends.

I really want to keep you all informed when it comes to our adoption journey. I've gone to write a blog post several times and just ended up not being able to find the words to say. I think I was struggling with the fact that NOTHING was happening. Documents were submitted, forms were filled out, paper was chased, but we just weren't able to make any progress on our home study since mid October. Home studies do NOT need to take this long, but from some reason ours is.

The problem is, I have this sense of urgency to get our daughter home (what adoptive mama doesn't?!). She needs a mommy and daddy to love her and care for her. She needs her big brothers to protect her. She needs the support of an extended family and friends who wants nothing but the best for her. But we are so. far. away. from getting to bring our girl home. I know we don't know her yet, or have a picture of her, but that still doesn't change the fact that there is an orphan somewhere in Ind*a who belongs in our family. I was frustrated when meetings were delayed and pushed out. Annoyed that meetings wouldn't get to happen until DECEMBER (which seemed so far away at the time). But even with all those feelings, I kept telling myself that God had a plan and I needed to trust him.

Well, December came and went and we had our individual interviews with our social worker on the 5th and our joint interviews on the 13th! It was nice to feel like we were actually making progress with our home study because I was starting to feel so disconnected from the whole process!

The dreaded home study really wasn't as scary as I had thought that it was going to be. The interviews were just going over a lot of what we had already written in our autobiographies. It was a lot about our childhood, our families, and some questions about parenting our marriage, and discussion about special needs we feel prepared to handle. Super easy! The home inspection was even easier. We walked though our house and she made sure everything was safe, we had a space for our daughter, and chemicals and medicine were out of reach from little hands. I of course went a little overboard with the cleaning and decorating to make sure our house had that "homey" feeling. The one thing that surprised us was that she wanted to check out our refrigerator to make sure we actually had food. Too bad it was due for a cleaning and re-organizing...oh well! The joint interview went great. Mark and I really enjoyed just talking to our social worker and letting her get to know us!

Now we are just waiting for her to finish writing our draft so it can be reviewed by our family coordinator and then by us. Once we review it, it will be submitted to the court for final approval. Originally, we were told that we should be complete with our home study and ready to move on to the next step by the end of January, but now due to some delays we're looking at February.

We expected delays going into this adoption...just not this early in the process. We're so antsy get to the point of waiting to be matched with our daughter. We are trusting in God that our time will be soon. I know in my heart that God is writing the most perfect adoption story, but head just wants in on the details now! ;)

Please pray with us that our home study will be finalized and approved so that we can move forward with our adoption! And you can also pray for a little patience, I know we'll need it!

The Whys of Adoption

Since beginning the adoption process, so many people have been curious about our adoption plans. Many of the common questions are, "Why exactly did you decide to adopt?" ,"Why Ind*a?", "Why international adoption?", "Why not domestic adoption?", "Why is adoption so expensive?", "Why does it take so long?", etc. I can't speak for every adoptive family out there, but I can do my best to shed some light on some of the answers to these questions for our family personally.

So, stay tuned for the first installment where I'll be sharing why we decided to begin this crazy, beautiful adoption journey!

T-shirt fundraiser

I haven't posted an adoption update in a while because, well, there's not much to report! But, if I did post an update it would go a little something like this:

Every night I lay in bed thinking about paperwork. Correction. Pretty much every waking moment somewhere in the back of my mind you can bet I'm thinking about paperwork. Paperwork to gather, paperwork to get notarized, documents to create, what items can I check off the seemingly never-ending list that compiles our homestudy and dossier. Apparently, I'm slightly overwhelmed by paperwork. The pimples that are showing up on my face serve as proof to this. Yet, at the same time, I'm thankful for this paperwork. I'm thankful that each document gathered, each form notarized, each item checked off the list is one step closer to our little girl!

With that being said, we're meeting with our social worker for the first time on Saturday, our homestudy is coming up, and we're hoping to be able to submit our dossier by the end of the year at the latest.

Mark and I are so excited to officially announce our first fundraiser! Our hope and prayer is to raise enough funds to help offset some of our upcoming adoption expenses by selling some awesome t-shirts!We've been working with a great company called Fund the Nations who has helped us to create the most perfect t-shirts.

By purchasing a shirt (or two!) you're helping us get one step closer to our sweet girl, AND you're getting an awesome t-shirt that will promote adoption awareness and can serve as a reminder to pray for our family whenever you wear it! I'd say it's a win-win situation.

So here they are, the shirt designs! We will be taking pre-orders from August 20-September 5.

All pre-orders must be submitted to us and paid for by Friday, September 5, 2014. Once all pre-orders are received, we will be placing the order and the shirts will be shipped to us. If you are local (Glendale and surrounding Phoenix area) we will arrange delivery or pick-up. Otherwise, shipping will be a flat $4 fee per order. You can expect to have your shirts by mid-late September.

How to order:

1. Choose your t-shirt design (1 or 2), style (scoop neck or v-neck), and size.
2. Place your order one of many ways:
1. Send an email to megansalonga {at} gmail {dot} com with your order information.
2. Send either Mark or myself a message on Facebook
3. Comment on our t-shirt pictures on either Facebook or Instagram
4. Leave a comment on this blog post
3. We will send you an email confirming your order.

Pricing/Style/Sizing:

• Adult T-shirts will be $20 (plus $4 for shipping if you are not local to the Glendale/Phoenix area) for sizes XS-XXXL. Both designs 1 and 2 can be ordered as a traditional scoop neck (as shown in image) or v-neck for no additional cost. Please specify the type of neck line you would like. Otherwise, we will assume you are ordering scoop neck.
• The t-shirt itself is very soft, so it is a little thinner than your normal t-shirt, and a bit more fitted (some people say they run small, but it is just a more fitting shirt). Please keep this is mind when ordering, as some may want to order a size up. 
• Children's sizes (2T-youth sizes) will be available for $15

**UPDATE - A few people have shown some interest in getting one of the designs as a racerback style of shirt. If you are interested in this, please contact me ASAP and let me know which design preference you have so I can put you on a waiting list. We need to reach at least 13 shirts to place an order. Once I have 13 people on the list, I will look and see which design is the majority, as we can only do one of the designs. I will then contact everyone on the waiting list to finalize your order. **

Payment:

• Cash in person
• PayPal - You do not need a PayPal account in order to pay. Once you tell me your order, I will send you an invoice via email and from there, you can pay with a credit card.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions at all!

Remember to keep our family in your prayers. Thanks so much for your support and love! 

Let the paper chase begin!

Time for an adoption update!

After we got the call about being accepted into the Ind*a program, we were emailed a bunch of documents and agreements to read, sign, and send back to our agency along with our first big program fee. 

Here are the big brothers getting ready to take everything into the post office! P.S. I'm so excited that they are getting to share in this journey with us! So much fun...and quite the learning experience (no blog title pun intended!)

Yesterday, I got a call from our family coordinator who we will be working with up until we travel to Ind*a. Mark and I are so excited to be officially beginning the infamous "paper chase" phase of our adoption process. I know that at times, all the paperwork will be overwhelming and stressful, but at the same time, I know that each day, each document checked off the list, is one step closer to our sweet girl.

We dream about the day when we get a referral and finally get to see her picture, we imagine traveling to India hold her in our arms. We talk about bringing her home to her forever family with her two big brothers who are already praying for her daily. Mark and I are just amazed at how much we already love this little girl that we don't even know yet! While it's fun to dream, I also realize that we've got a long road of waiting ahead that's going to require an enormous amount of patience that only our God can provide.

And with that, I'm brought back to reality with words that are going to become a frequent part of my vocabulary. Words such as dossier, home study, Apostille (no, I don't mean Apostle), Hauge Convention, and oh so much more.

So, here we go! It's time to start collecting documents for our dossier!

What's a dossier, you ask? Well, basically it's a compilation of paperwork that will be sent to the C*RA and the local adoption authorities in Ind*a to prove that we are in fact, awesome parents that are fit to raise a little girl! It will include our home study, copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, tax information, financial information, physical exams and lab work, criminal background (of lack thereof), reference letters, and I'm sure there's more but you get the idea...and now you understand why they call it the paper chase! Our goal is to get this completed as quickly as possible and hopefully before Christmas! Once our dossier is complete and we are approved with C*RA, we will be able to receive a referral. There is no way of knowing how long we'll wait for a referral, but we're leaving it in God's hands. We are confident that he's called us to Ind*a to bring home our daughter, so we'll do our best to trust in him and his timing...he hasn't failed us yet! ;) 

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. Specifically, please pray :

• That we can navigate through this dossier building process quickly and efficiently...and that we won't mess up any paperwork! 
• That our upcoming fundraisers would be successful. I'll be starting to work on the t-shirt fundraiser soon, and our big garage sale will be in the beginning of October. More details soon...
• For our little girl. That she is safe, protected, and loved on until we can provide all those things for her.