arden lane

We are thrilled that Colombia accepted our request to meet the girls on January 13th! We’ll be flying out on Jan. 11 to Bogota then travel to their birth city the next day. And then, the future of our family begins.

Please pray that Monica and Kelly will be preparing for us as we prepare for them. Pray for their last month and a half with their foster family to be wonderful and that they will be creating lasting memories. Pray that when we take them with us they will not be very scared but will find us worthy of their trust. Pray that immediate bonding will ocurr so we can start to feel like a family. Pray that the girls will like us enough to say they want to continue with the placement when we meet with the social worker down there. Pray for all our health and safety as we travel.

Thank you sooo much for your prayers. We covet them right now!

We wrote our letter to Colombia requesting to get the girls on January 13th. Insha’Allah Colombia will accept that date. If not, they’ll just tell us another date that will work and we’ll go then. Meanwhile, much anticipation!

God is good. We got that exciting phone call from CHI today saying we have an official referral. Of course I cried I was so happy. I felt like breathing a huge sigh of relief that the wait is finally over. Come January it will be two years since we started the adoption process.

Now we have to write a letter of acceptance to Colombia and tell them when we plan to arrive. They will respond with another letter telling us if that date will work. Once that’s figured out we can purchase plane tickets and then use those to get our travel visas. Meanwhile, we’ll gather all our paperwork, get things we’re missing for the girls, celebrate with family and friends, then pack and fly far away.

I don’t know if I will have a job next year. If I do, I don’t know what it will be. At first, when my district started talking about budget crunch, cutting costs, and possibly cutting jobs, I sort of panicked, and then I got proactive. I researched (as good librarians do) what my options might be  should media specialists get cut. Throughout this process another teacher approached me about doing a job share for a Lanuage Arts position. I wasn’t too thrilled at first because I love my library job, however, the more Z and I thought about it, the more it seemed like the perfect fit. I could still work for the same district in the same school, get a partial  salary, keep my foot in the door, get back in the classroom which I truly miss, AND most importantly, have more time at home with my children (God willing we get them soon!). Since I have to work but don’t need to work full time, this was going to be great.

And yet, haven’t I said this before? We make plans, but God directs our steps. Are you surprised to hear that after ‘deciding’ to job share, getting the go-ahead from my principal, and planning my future, God may have different plans, different steps for me to take? So what do I do? I say, Inshal’Allah whatever happens next year will be God’s will, not mine. I’m just along for the ride 😉 Jen, can I hear an Amen!?!