I know it's been awhile. I just haven't felt like blogging. I'm not good at putting my thoughts into words, especially for others to read (if anyone even reads this stuff!)
We got approval from the CCCWA to accept our late paperwork! That was an exciting day! Lots of dancing and singing and praising God! We went through so much to get our paperwork done on time and sent in, but a combination of our government and the CCCWA, kept us from getting it logged in before the October 1st deadline. Since our son-to-be is considered hard-to-place, our agency asked for leniency so that he won't have to wait any longer than necessary for his family. They agreed! It looks like we'll travel sometime next spring.
I read some very good news today! We started the adoption process this time around back in March when I saw a blog about a 12 year old girl who was aging out in China. She had a repaired cleft lip and palate, and she looked so sweet and sad in her picture. We started the paperwork specifically to bring her home. There was a family who had wanted to adopt her, but they had 4 younger children at home and had been advised by many people that adopting a child out of birth order, especially a girl, might not be a good thing. So they decided to not pursue her adoption and were advocating for someone else to adopt her. When I heard that, I had reservations too. When our homestudy provider told us they wouldn't approve us to adopt out of birth order, I was relieved to not have to make the decision. I felt so bad for her and continued to see her picture on others' blogs advocating for her. Today I read that the family who originally wanted to adopt her, with the four younger children, have moved forward with her adoption anyway! Such wonderful news! I have read other blogs where families have adopted older children out of birth order and it's worked out fine. Maybe next time! :) I texted Doug today to tell him about the Duggar's expecting baby #20, and I told him we're only 15 away from catching up to Jim Bob and Michelle! He just laughed. Who said I was joking?!
Marlee and Russell have been home a little over 2 weeks now. We've had a great time catching up with them and spending time playing with their two beautiful kittens! We will be so sad to say goodbye to them on Saturday, especially since they'll be moving to Alaska in April for four years!
That's all for now. Hopefully I'll update more often.
