Update

Not a very creative title, I know, but it's been a CRAZY week! 

Due to some misunderstandings about how this whole adoption process works, how quickly we can bring her home, etc... We have begun seeing our baby girl A LOT more! (which is extremely exciting to us!)  We saw her Saturday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and have talked with her on the phone the other days. :)  This week we are seeing her every day... except maybe 1 day because of a conflict with our schedule.  We are SO thrilled to get to spend all this time as a family!

Her foster home is about 45 minutes away from our house, so our routine has been: I leave work as soon as I put the kids on the bus, pick up Will and we go see her.  We can't bring her to our house yet, but we are hoping for an overnight visit this coming weekend. As you can imagine, we are exhausted, and to top it off, we've both been sick this week.  I like to think we're so tired simply because we are not able to be home yet, but we have to be out- I've been in more fast food playplaces in the last week than I've been in in my life, I think ;) - but I have a feeling, we are only scratching the surface of how exhausted we will be. 

So here's how you can pray for us:
1. Pray for this transition time.  She knows that she is coming to live with us, and that we are adopting her, although I don't think she knows fully what that means.  She's struggling to understand why she can't come home with us now. Also, we cannot really begin to "parent" her with just a couple of hours here and there.  We want to have fun with her, but we don't want her to think that every time she sees us we are going to be bringing her presents, taking her to McDonalds, going to see Christmas lights, etc.  There will be lots of that, of course, but there will also be lots of nights in eating dinner at the table, and doing homework. :)

2. Pray for wisdom for Will and I as we speak with her foster parents, social workers, therapists, etc.  Pray that we will fight for what we feel is best for our daughter, but still respect and honor their authority in our lives. (Her foster parents are on board with supporting us in whatever way we need- which is a HUGE blessing!)

3. Pray that we will get her room done(ish) by Friday!  We still have a couch we are trying (unsuccessfully) to get moved out of her room, and into our living room.  We got it in the room, so we know it CAN come out... but.... we may be going out the window with it...  Also, our living room currently has only a chair in it...

4. Pray that we will both heal physically so we can be our best for her.

5. Pray for our hearts.  We are as anxious to get her home, as she is anxious to come live with us.  It's difficult to have your daughter be in someone else's home, and have other people tell you when, where, and for how long you can see her.  We know it takes time, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier.

6.  Pray for a meeting on Thursday at 5:00 with her social worker, and her foster mom.  We will be talking about how this transition will move forward from here, and how we will move her into our home.  We desperately want to bring her home over her Christmas break from school.

7.  Pray for decisions we need to make regarding her education.... and a million other little and big decisions that need to be made soon.


.... we continue to be absolutely AMAZED by her foster family.  They are so encouraging, accomodating, etc... We could not have asked for better people to work with.  What makes it even better is that we know they love our daughter, and want what's best for her, just like we do.

Thanks friends for your love and support!



A picture of what we do have finished in her room... her bed! I LOVE the way this turned out! I might just sleep in it until she gets here. ;)  Can you guess her favorite colors?

A school project we helped her with.  She had to design a new suit for Santa, and then write a letter to Mrs. Claus to convince her to pick her suit for Santa.