It seems like I always come back to Thank You on this page.

Today I need to thank everyone who has donated generously to help get “Duncan” home.  Every little tick upward on his account is just like a hug. 

It is so hard not knowing who you all are.

But I do know who some of you are :

The Palmers

The Rogers Kids

Faith and The Folks at the Buffalo Farmer’s Market

Miriam and Nathan

My Grandma

Thank you so much!

But money is by no means the only thing that we have needed during this nerve wracking time.  The encouragement, kind words and prayers mean so much.

There is no way for me to know everyone who has sent up a prayer on our behalf or posted a link or asked their friends to pray.

But I do want to thank:

Claire

Debbie A.

Chandra and Pat

Renee A.

Nancy T.

The Miles’

Mom and Pops

Lloyce

I certainly do know every single soul who has helped get our paperwork through so far.

Thank you to:

Pastor Westfall

Melissa R.

Jonna B.

Chip

Brenda S. (My bank lady)

The Very Pleasant Ladies at the Washington County Clerk’s Office

Mr. Wrigley (Our Amazing Attorney)

Nancy T.  (This name should be in gilded letters)

Angel

The Woman at DCJS Who Solved a Big Scary Problem for Me

All of you have gone over and above to walk through this with us and offer us all kinds of support.

We are still waiting for that letter from USCIS.  Let me tell you, as soon as we get it we will be in the car making a beeline to the fingerprinting office!

I am also happy to report that almost everything is paid for and we basically just need to save up enough for our plane tickets.  (And there is a chance that Tim’s frequent flyer miles will help there!)

There is no way for us to tell you all how much your commitment to our family means.  I am sorry I don’t do a better job of updating you all.  And I am sure I forgot to mention someone very important in those lists above.  Please forgive.

I will let you know as soon as I hear something.  I promise.

Okay, so what happens now?

Well, we wait for a letter from Homeland Security informing us of our fingerprint appointments.

We get fingerprinted.

We fax the results to our facilitator and she signals the Eastern European team to submit our dossier!

In the meantime we will be:

Trying to earn some extra money to help pay for our plane tickets

Furnishing “Duncan’s”  bedroom

Praying

Learning some useful Russian

Learning more about CP

Praying

Installing some ramps

Making arrangements for the kids when we travel

Praying

Did I mention how much prayer goes into this type of thing?

Thank you all for your tremendous support and, well….prayers!

Anybody who has been through an international adoption knows what these are!

Yep.  All of the dossier documentation is finished and was shipped out yesterday!

The Lord really has taught me to how to trust Him.

And now the wait begins. 

 (I have a feeling He is about to teach me patience.)

Let me tell you, I am getting really good at scanning documents. 

I am also much, much more organized regarding this process than I thought I could ever be.  Funny what God will use to mold you.

Anyhow, I wanted to jump over here for a minute and just thank you all again.  The answers to prayer that we are seeing really are amazing.

I wish I could thank each one of you personally for your help, both tangible and intangible.  But the humility of God’s people and good works performed incognito largely (and necessarily) prevent that.

So if you are one of the many, many people who have prayed for us, or advocated for Duncan or donated money or helped in some other way that I am not even aware of, consider yourself thanked, appreciated, loved and prayed for in return.

So many people ask me how things are going with the adoption. 

The truth is I have no idea.  I have never done this before.  Is it going faster than normal?  Slower?  Average?  I really have no clue.

But I can tell you this.  It is going just as our Lord intends for it to go.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Philippians 4:6

And so I just keep praying (and making phone calls) and giving thanks (and filling out forms) and letting my requests be made known (and taking lots of deep breaths).