The "REAL" wait has begun

When you start the paperwork chase in adoption, you do a lot of waiting for other people to do their part. You get your fingerprints done, then you wait for the FBI to clear you and send them back. You send in your paperwork to immigration, and you wait for them to respond. You send in the sacred DOSSIER and you wait for it to travel to Ethiopia to be translated. What you're really waiting for is to be put on the WAIT LIST. When you make the WAIT LIST, it means all of your paperwork is correct and you're just waiting for your referral.

You thought you had been waiting, then you realize the "REAL" wait has begun. Then a year passes, and you re-do your fingerprints and homestudy. And then another 6 months passes and then you realize you are finally in the "REAL- REAL" wait. It took us TEN months to get on the wait list, and now it's been 18 months on the wait list. We are just about to have our dossier expire and need to re-do our home study.

I had my heart so wrapped up in getting our referral call in September. Today is the last work day of September. There are only 5 more office hours left at AGCI today. I may have already had a shoulder shaking good cry just moments ago, as I realized the wait has just really begun. Each day I pray at 8:15, for mountains to be moved, miracles to happen, and that we'll get a September referral call. When my phone rang today, even though it wasn't the special ringtone I have for our agency, my heart jumped. I'm still holding out hope that it could be today. But, I think what I'm learning is that now is the time where I have to really dig deep. Now is the REAL wait. The kind of REAL, where I can feel our child. I am desperate to see his or her face. I feel like I'm pregnant, and so overdue that I feel the baby will never come.

At the end of this journey, I want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:23) I want to keep the faith, and keep hope alive! "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

My friend Alison over at "Lovin' Much" wrote a wonderful post called, "His Ways are Higher." June was her special month that she prayed for, and when it came and went, she wrote this post, that I told myself I would read again if my September ever came and went. I'm so thankful that His ways are higher! She's also doing a really fun giveaway for Jenny over at Blessings and Raindrops that you don't want to miss! =)

Just a reminder from my darling Maizie James....