Dossier Submission - and a Reality Check

We've reached a pretty big milestone in our adoption.  I've been working on our updated home study and Ethiopia dossier since Lou was a few weeks old, and we finally finished everything.  As of now our home study is at the Citizenship office and our dossier is at the Lifeline office in KY.  I spoke to our awesome program assistant at Lifeline, and she thinks we should be cleared by Citizenship in about two weeks and approved to adopt from Ethiopia.  At that point we'll be entered onto the waitlist, and our dossier will be forwarded to several places to be authenticated, then sent on to Ethiopia.

It's anybody's guess how long we'll be on the waitlist,  And after all that's happened with this adoption, we're not even trying to make any predictions.  But we're relieved to have reached the point where we're done with the really stressful part of the process - we can now sit back and enjoy the two children who are already with us, and pray for the one who's not.

I'd been looking forward to the day that we submitted all this paperwork - I even had some sparkling cider ready in the fridge so we could celebrate!  But the timing of this was a bit of a reality check.  Flynn got very sick around New Year's Day, then passed it on to Lara (something like the flu - sickest she's ever been), then Lou got her first ear infection and her first tooth at the same time.  Rough.  My baby hasn't slept in at least a week, and I feel stretched thin taking care of everyone.  And now I think I'm getting what Flynn had...yikes.  I asked Lara the other day, "Who will take care of Mommy, if she gets sick, too?"  And she responded, "Silly Mommy.  No one takes care of adults."  Don't I know it=)

To think of having another child right now is daunting....overwhelming...scary...and a lot of other things.  I'm not ready.  But then I remember that no kid is ready to be an orphan, and I feel that my heart is a few sizes too small (to quote from one of Lara's new favorite books - The Grinch!).  So I'm thankful to see how the Lord will continue to use my children - all of them, even those who are not yet with us - to stretch it to the point where it looks more like His.

Please pray for all of us - especially our little one in Ethiopia, whoever he is.  We love you already little one, and I hope you'll someday understand that when I talk about how this process is hard, I don't mean to complain.  Because you are worth my time, worth my energy, worth my love, worth my everything.  Worth the wait.