Six Months Waiting

So when people ask how our adoption is going I usually reply with, "Well, we have been waiting ____ months to be matched with a child now.  We are just in the waiting time."  The other day when I said that we'd been waiting 6 months for a referral (to be matched with the child that will become our son) it struck me that 6 MONTHS IS A LONG TIME- it's like half of a whole year!!! 

We were told going into this waiting period to expect to hear about our match between 6-8 months after we were on the waiting list...and here we are at 6 months.  Sadly for us, a couple of weeks ago we received an update from our agency that the waiting times had increased to 8-10+ months to be matched with a child in our age range.  Referrals are slow (aka: not happening) with our agency right now, but we are told they are coming soon, so we choose to remain hopeful.  The slow down in the process on the Ethiopia side that we've mentioned and asked for prayer for, is another 'issue' entirely, and one that comes into play immediately after we are matched with our child.  We still pray that the process does not slow down at that point and can move forward so he (and SO many other Ethiopian children being adopted) can come home as quickly as possible!

Trace and I have felt a tremendous amount of grace during our time on the waiting list so far, and we appreciate prayer that has been answered!  While six months is a L O N G time, we have been busy and {mostly} content that we would not hear anything before now anyway.  But now that we've crossed the threshold into the "possibly hearing something any day now" territory, there is potential that it could get more difficult.  As I've mentioned before, distraction is my friend in this season of life- and fortunately I have a few specific distractions at the moment:

1- A litter of 3 incredibly adorable (and hilarious) puppies!  They are 4.5 weeks old and in my favorite stage (i.e. still in their whelping box and nursing so mama Colette does most of the work, but able to play and give me puppy kisses :)  On Sunday we will probably begin weaning, and that's when it gets to be real work for me!

2- Our Adoption Yard Sale is this Sat!  We are in the homestretch and lots of things have come together.  I had a stranger let me borrow hanging clothes racks, lots of people lending us tables, and several amazing families donating items for us to sell (many also people we don't know)!  I like to be organized so the sale looks appealing and people stop and spend $$$, so it takes me a LOT of time to get ready, but it's so worth it to do something that helps our little Ethiopian son come home!!!

3- My last great distraction is working on projects around the house.  Once the yard sale is over I will (fingers crossed) have my garage back in order to start refinishing both of the 5 foot dressers I have.  This will be quite the adventure for this not-super-handy girl, but I have big plans to become a furniture refurbisher (that's a mouth full!) so I'm looking forward to it :)

Thank you for following our ssssllllllloooooowwwwww adoption journey and caring enough to even read our updates :)  Not everyone has such a support system of love, prayer and encouragement for adoption and we are more thankful than we can express!