"Waiting" Period

Yesterday was a big day. Today is even BIGGER! 7/22/2014 we submitted the most important paperwork in our lives. The dossier that is sent over to South Africa, the last thing before getting matched with our adopted child is COMPLETED!!!! Well, basically. As with everything in this process, nothing is as quick or simple as we originally thought. We keep saying that we are learning a lot, because we totally are. This has been a fun, long, detailed ride so far and we know it's only the beginning.

On Saturday we received our USCIS 797 approval to adopt our child from an immigration standpoint from South Africa. We received it a little earlier than expected...which was a great surprise! So, we had to get 26 documents apostilled (basically meaning we needed to bring our notarized documents in the dossier over to a secretary of state to have someone place a seal/certificate saying that we had a legal public notary witness on each of the documents.) Confused yet?! We were too. Austin got that done, we had to have 3 documents re-notarized because the notary's signature didn't match their records. SO many details. Anyway, after all of that, Austin proudly hand delivered our dossier to the global office of our adoption agency. They said they would let us know this morning if it was all set and sent off to South Africa! Turns out, we are missing a copy of Austin & I's passports. We have one, but need another. Something so simple and small...blocking our completion. Austin & I are taking care of that small detail this afternoon, and then turning it back in to the agency. Our agency said it will be in the mail traveling to South Africa by Friday. YES! YAY! WHEW! Hopefully by the end of the day I can breath a sigh of relief :) :) So glad Austin is so even keeled. Because I am not!

What comes next? Once South Africa receives our plethora of info, we "wait" for them to process it and refer a child to us! (To our agency, but ultimately to us.) :) :) I keep putting the word wait/waiting in parenthesis because Austin and I don't view it like that. Will we need patience in these next 12-18 months while waiting? YES. Absolutely. BUT we want to view this time, as God's time. He has a child already planned for us, and however long it takes is how long it is supposed to take because it's His plan and not ours. Is this SO much easier said then done? YES. I know I am all positive right now, but I know this will a hard period of time. The good news is, Austin & I are a team. We love being married, and having our family of two. We will enjoy and cherish the time where it is just us two until our child joins our family forever. We also have a lot to continue to learn on how to parent an adopted child. And We want to learn as much as we can about South Africa, this beautiful birth country of our baby! We want to be able to teach & show our child where they came from and we want it to be a part of our family's life! So yes, we have a lot of "waiting" time but we have a lot to learn and we will continue to prepare our hearts and minds for our little one. :)

In His Love,
Austin & Meg