Wait, wait, wait

The waiting game. . . we've all played it, endured it and grown irritated with it. The whole idea of hurry up and wait has never been something I've been good at. However, with the adoption process, it's a given. Maybe that's why I have dealt with it so much more gracefully than any other time. It's been about 1 1/2 months since we sent our request to ICBF to get switched to the 0-7 years of age list. Still no word. After speaking with our agency last week, I have learned that things are moving "slower than molasses" right now with paperwork. They say the switch usually only takes 1-2 months, but I know of another family who put in for a switch in the middle of January and they still haven't heard anything. So, the waiting game continues. : ) Matt and I have learned to look at the postives of it all. We believe that God has a time planned for us to get out children. Until that happens, it just gives us more of an opportunity to save money, enjoy our family of three, and learn Spanish. I have enjoyed taking my time finding ideas of what I want their rooms to look like. I've found comforters and accessories and draw energy and excitement from that process. Outside of being frustrated with buying time before we could get on the right list (to make sure that our children will not be older than Luke), this has been a wonderful experience!!

Besides looking at room furnishings, I've most recently been working on learning more about English as a Second Language (ESL)/English Language Learner (ELL) education. They mean the same thing, but different school districts call it different things.) I spoke with the school district that we live in last week about the process that we would need to go through to make sure that our kids will be placed in the correct grade to meet their needs. Since our oldest, adopted child will more than likely be 7 years old, we feel very confident that we will have at least one school-aged child. As an educator, I thought I knew a lot about these kinds of things, but after speaking with the school district, I realized how much I didn't know! In two more weeks, Matt and I will go meet with the school district I work for. Even though we don't live in that school district, I am allowed to enroll my children in it. Since they will physically be taking us to one of the schools that houses the ELL program, and because we have a large number of Spanish-speaking kids in my school district, I will be interested to see how it all operates and how it may be different from the school district in which we live. The good news is we have plenty of time to think about what route we will take! We are just very fortunate that we live in/near two VERY GOOD school districts!!! What an awesome decision to have to make.

Not only am I learning new things from this whole journey, I am also meeting a ton of new people I would have never known. It seems like no matter who you meet or know, everyone has an adoption story or knows of one. It's been enlightening to hear how so many families have opened their hearts to the adoption process. I am adding a new piece to our blog page which highlights other adoption blogs of people I have met. One that is exceptionally fun to follow right now is that of the Hollis Family because they are leaving in a few weeks to go to Bogota and adopt two siblings 0-7 years of age just like we will be doing. So, if you're interested in catching a glimpse of what we'll be going through, you can follow along with that one. However, all of the blogs are awesome, so inspiring and uplifting!

That's about all for now. Thanks to ALL of you for your continual interest in how things are going. We don't go a day without people asking us about it all. Please continue to say your prayers, especially ones that can help to expedite our list switch! We are so blessed to have such supportive family and friends!

Traci