Moving on

Holy cow! Where did the time go?? Sorry for the super long silence. Did not intend for that to happen. We moved two weeks ago (a week later than we had originally anticipated) and so I'm writing this in our very own home :) Most of the boxes are unpacked and we're finding our way out of the disorientation that moving is. We sorta didn't realize what a big transition it would be to move away from the apartment and the city where we first established ourselves after getting married- into a new home in a different city. And a new grocery store and Target?? Why is that so hard to get used to? And why can't they all just be laid out the same? I have made multiple trips to both stores and have ended up wandering the aisles in confusion because nothing is where it should be! Obviously a small inconvenience in comparison to real problems going on in this world. I'll adjust to all this newness and I'll be just fine.

All in all we are loving our new home and slowly checking things off our to-do list (though it also seems that each time we check something off, we discover something else that needs "help" and it gets added to the list). Our street is really quiet (music to our ears!) and everyone we've met so far has been really friendly. Last weekend we even went out to dinner with our new next door neighbors. They are a fun young couple who hail from Alaska with a super cute chubby little one-year old. We hit it off instantly and are really thankful to already have friends here. Also in our first two weeks we've already hosted my family, Ryan's brother and several friends for visits and meals. And both times that children have visited they have pretty much immediately slipped and fallen on the concrete floors :( I guess we need to give a warning about that now. Apparently it's not so friendly to the little people. Rugs needed immediately!

I promise to post photos soon :)

Besides all the house hullabaloo, the adoption process is also moving along. Tonight we had our assessment interview and are now registered for the classes that start NEXT Tuesday! That came fast! The lady our case was assigned to is a really nice older lady who is really easy to talk to. Sitting in her office tonight answering questions about why we are choosing adoption and different things about our lives was a cool moment in this process. God has brought us here. That is undeniable. Really this is all His doing. We're here because he led us and carried us and wooed us to this place. This is His story for our family and it's so crazy to see the sentences being written right before our very eyes.

She told us that lately there have been a lot of pretty quick adoptions happening (such as people getting matched with a birth-mom in just one week) and lots of calls from the hospital where the birth-mom has decided right then and there that she wants to place her baby for adoption (as opposed to other birth-moms who have made an adoption plan earlier in their pregnancy and have chosen the adoptive family before the birth). She said things are moving faster right now, like closer to 6-9 months and that once we place our profile in their book for birth-moms to choose from, we have to be ready immediately to receive a baby. However, she tempered those exciting reports with other stories of all the unknowns that can come up and how you really have to be in a place of total openness for what God is going to do. We could be chosen by a birth-mom during her pregnancy only to have her change her mind, and that could happen multiple times. We could even take the baby home during the time the birth-mom has to make her final decision and she could decide to parent her child after all. Lots of crazy and very hard things could happen and it all could go really fast or really slow. No one knows and there's not really a cookie cutter way that this goes.

It's gonna be another situation that requires HUGE dependence on the Lord and total faith in his plans for us and our child. He knows the baby that is going to be our son or daughter. He knows the woman in whose womb our baby will grow. He has a story for her life and a plan for goodness for her too. And he knows how he is going to bring us all together. There may be several different birth-moms and babies who come in to our lives and then go right back out throughout this process. That will be a rollercoaster and it will be really hard. BUT- we can trust that God knows the exact son or daughter that will be ours and that eventually they will come to rest in our arms and know us as Mama and Papa. And THAT brings both a smile to my face and tears to my eyes :) Eventually there will be a chapter in this book all about us as a family of three. I can't wait to see my husband love on and gush all over our baby and rush home from work so he can hold our little one. And I can't wait to have our baby snuggle into my neck and know me as mama and be comforted by me when they cry in the night. And so many other things! What a sweet redemption it will be.

Seven weeks of classes and a fat stack of paper work and assignments to complete. Late nights and tight schedules. Lots of money. Interviews and invasive questions. Praying and praying. Fingerprints and background checks. Waiting on edge and wondering if this one will really be ours. And then one day.....it will all be beyond worth it!

Praying for you little one, wherever you are, and for the birth-mother who will carry you.

Happy in Jesus :)

Carrie