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

Waiting and Praying.

It's so crazy to think how much can happen in a year...yet, so much can be very similar.

February 21, 2014: I went in for surgery to remove my molar pregnancy and began what I thought was the most trying times in my life. The weekly blood tests and doctor appointments all began. We waited and we prayed.

February 21,2015: Our home study was registered on the database and we began to wait for Ind*a's approval. Again, we waited and prayed.

Today: Here we are yet again, in a time of waiting and praying. This time, we're closer than we have ever been in 3 years to a child! Our daughter is so close to coming home. It's crazy to think we're in the home stretch, but it still feels like we have so many mountains to climb.

Please pray with us that we will receive our court affidavit soon so we can finally get a court date. We're praying bold prayers for a summer court date...which means we need that affidavit SOON. We would love to celebrate P's 4th birthday in September with her HOME.

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

Let there be...PINK!

Yep, there is finally a room in our home that is PINK!!

As I was prepping P's room to be painted today, it was such a surreal feeling. I've dreamed about the day that I would finally get to have a little girl's room to decorate (although decorating the boys' Avengers room has been pretty fun too)!

We've been slowly working on her room and collecting random things here and there, but since getting NOC, we decided to celebrate the occasion by working on her room a little more!

A while back, I found EXACTLY the bed I was looking for on Craigslist...and it was a great deal! Mark re-painted it white and it's absolutely beautiful!

Over the weekend, my mom and I went shopping and found the prettiest quilt for her bed! The $19 price tag made it even prettier! ;)

We painted her room today and it's such a sweet shade of super light pink. I can't wait to share the finished room with you all!

Pinch me.

Really. I must be dreaming!

Today started out like any other day. There are some days where the adoption process weighs more heavily on my heart than others, but today I was just going about my day as usual. We happened to be right in the middle of a reading lesson when my phone rang. I knew that area code. It was our family coordinator.

Friends, we have NOC (No Objection Certificate)!!!!!!

What a flood of emotions!! Honestly, I think I'm still in shock about it! I was really expecting to wait quite a while for this approval. We were told to prepare to wait AT LEAST 3-9 months. But you know what?! God crushed those time lines and moved some serious mountains!

I am amazed at God's faithfulness. I am at a loss for words to describe just how good He is to us. Even in the times when I felt weak, hopeless, or upset, I knew God was walking this journey right alongside us.

So, now that we have NOC, we finally get to make and send a photo book to the orphanage for our girl to see. Once she gets this book she will finally know that she has a family: a mommy, a daddy, and two brothers who have prayed for her daily and love her deeply!

Here's how you can continue to pray for our family:

1. Photo book: I know it seems silly to ask for prayer for a photo book, but our prayer is that her caregivers will share this book with her. That they will help prepare her for what is coming. That she would feel joy and peace and excitement when she sees our faces!

2. Court: Now our case is all up to the court. Right now we are praying that God would continue to move in mighty ways and we would receive our affidavit very quickly. We are praying for all the people that will be involved in our case: lawyers, advocates, judges, whoever. That they would be sympathetic toward adoption and they would move cases quickly.

3. Maya: As usual, pray that she is being well taken care of and loved on until we can wrap our arms around her. (Can. Not. Wait. For. That. Day!!! Eeeeeeek!)

Waiting (yes, again).

This Christmas, I experienced feelings I never imagined I could feel. You see, I LOVE Christmas time and would love to seriously slow time down during that season. However, this year felt so strange to me. Part of me still did want to freeze time. I loved doing Truth in the Tinsel with the boys during our homeschool time, the Jesse tree at night, and all the fun Christmas traditions that we have to fill our month full of great memories. But, the other part of me knew something was missing: our daughter. Last year, she was just a thought. Sure, we loved her and were excited to day dream about her,  but we didn't know her yet. This year, she is so real. She has a face, a name, and a place even deeper in our hearts. I found myself  torn between focusing on the present, and wanting to fast forward to traveling to Ind*a to get our girl so we can all be together. With that being said, I don't think I've ever been so excited to take down Christmas decorations in our house before. Normally I dread it, but this year it gave me so much excitement! Taking down those decorations meant time was moving forward. Each day brings us closer to our SweetP and that is exciting! 

When we started this journey in the summer of 2014, (wow, where does the time go?!) we thought that maaaaybe we'd have a little girl in our arms by now. 

So far, 2016 has already been quite the rush of emotions. I began the year really thinking we'd see some major movement in our case because a few other families in similar stages in the process saw movement. That first week of the new year was hard. Each day I was feeling less and less hopeful that we'd be lucky enough to move forward in the process so quickly. 

This past Sunday at church (because God has a way of reminding us at the most perfect times), during our prayer meeting and the sermon I was reminded of SO many great truths and promises. 

God knows. 

My God sees me. He sees my longing for Maya. He sees her too. I wanted her home yesterday, but He has something far better planned than I can ever imagine.

He has a plan. 

He is using this whole process from miscarriages to adoption to form me into the woman that I could never be on my own terms if things were going smoothly and "easy". 

He made provision. 

He will make a way (He always has), and in the meantime, I will cling to His word because it gives me life.

So, you may be wondering where we're at in the whole process and when we'll get to bring Maya home. Welcome to the club, we're wondering the same exact thing! ;) But, here's what's left in the process:

• NOC - This is Ind*a's federal level approval that we are currently waiting for. This approval could come tomorrow, or nine months from now. We really don't have any idea. We're hoping sooner, rather than later!
• Court affidavit - This is unique to to P's region in Ind*a. Once we get NOC, we wait for the advocate and lawyers to draw up these documents. This could take months. Once we get them we'll sign them and send them back to Ind*a. Once those are back, we will find out a court date.
• Court - We will finally get to go and travel to meet our precious daughter and take to her court (again, unique to P's region) and get verbal approval from the judge. 
• Return to USA - I am dreading this part of the trip the most. The part where we will have to hug and kiss our girl and return home without her until we get the written orders from the judge.
• Pickup-Fly back to Ind*a, get our girl and finish the remainder of the adoption process in Delhi.

Here is how you can be joining us in prayer:

1. For approvals: The next step in the process is such a huge one. Please be praying for the committee that meets weekly to grant these approvals. We know that these approvals are being issued fairly consistently lately, but we also know there are cases that have been waiting for too long.  
2. For our SweetP: As we inch closer to the day that we bring our girl home, I know the grief and loss that she will face will be so hard. Please be praying that her heart is being prepared to receive so much love from a mommy, daddy, and big brothers. We also ask that you keep her health in your prayers, as well as the women who are taking care of her. 
3. For the whole court process: Though we are not in the stage of the process yet, we want to begin praying for whoever will be involved in our case. That everything will go smoothly and without delays.

"...And do not be grieved, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

More movement!

This morning I woke up to a great email from the US Embassy in New Delhi! 

We have Article 5! 

That was our last US approval...now we wait for NOC. This will likely take several months (anywhere from 3-9 months), but we are believing in God for a miracle to occur so we can get NOC quickly. 

Please keep us in your prayers!