Off and Running!

I am so excited to have news for you in this long overdue update! First of all, I want to thank everyone that came out to Juju Berries to support our adoption! I thought a few friends would come and we'd enjoy a little icecream but I was completley blown away by the amount of people that came in for icecream that night for us! Many even told us they were having their icecream before dinner, just so that they would have time to squeeze it in! :-) Sounds like a good plan to me. We were there for three hours and we never had a moment where there wasn't someone enjoying a sugar high for us. We again are so grateful for the wonderfully supportive community that has invested in us and our little girl.

Secondly in big news, OUR HOMESTUDY IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whew! I feel like I could do a victory dance through the streets. Though it took much longer than expected we are beyond excited to be moving foward finally and are extremely grateful to all the hard work our social worker put in. When we signed our homestudy her and her husband let us know that they had prayed over our family that morning and that really touched us. Prayer is the biggest part of this process, and we are so thankful for all of those who are covering us in it. So now that the homestudy is done we feel like we are off and running! We submitted our USCIS application on friday and await their approval while we compile our dossier. Once both are done, we send it off to our girl's country and then we will be meeting her finally! This time is the most crucial time in fundraising for us. In a very short amount of time we have to raise the remainder of our adoption costs. God has provided exactly what we needed just in time so far and we know he is faithful to do the rest. We are extremely blessed by any little bit that you may feel led to send our way. Any amount donated will go towards dossier costs, fasciltator fees and legal fees. If you would like to donate find the paypal button located underneath the "thermometor" on the right. Between your generosity and our own savings over 15% of our adoption has been paid for! Once we recieve travel dates, all our remaining expenses are covered! This time in between is our crucial time for funding. Please pray with us that we will not encounter any delays as we raise the funds and finish the paper work. She is ready for her Mama.

And third, is the best news yet! We got a wonderful update (and some BEAUTIFUL pictures that I desperately wish I could share with you!) on our precious little girl. This sweet family is there right now meeting their own son for the first time. I am so happy for them and cannot wait to be in their shoes. She has been kind enough to spend some extra time with our little girl and give her some extra love from us. Apparently she is quite the chatter box and top dog of the orphanage. She is playful and made sure to instruct the other children when they were out of line! She is anxiously waiting our arrival and was walking around saying "Mama soon, mama soon!" Oh my heart completely aches to make "Mama soon" mean "Mama now". Regardless I am SOOOO grateful for this update. When we first started our adoption process we had learned that "Andrea" was barely speaking, with just a few syllables here and there and seemed to be struggling some. Each update since has been better and better. She is getting better services because of our committment, and this last one it seems she is just flourishing. Personality plus, and happy as a clam waiting for her Mama. What a good God we serve, to provide for her in such amazing ways, even before we've met her! 

So how fast can this Mama run? Lacing up those Nikes now, and with some help and support these next few months, we will be sprinting straight there!