This
Christmas is a little different for our family this year. We know we have a daughter and she is out
there, but we can’t hold her, we can’t give her presents, we can’t hug her, and
we can’t teach her about Jesus’ birth.
What we were able to do today was think about her, talk about how next
year may be different, and pray for God to keep her safe, to have caregivers
around her to love her, and for his perfect timing in our adoption.
As we were
driving home today I was thinking about the next steps to continue to move our
adoption forward. We need to get a few
final documents notarized, then all of
our dossier documents need to go to the Secretary of State to be certified and
then to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to be authenticated. We have chosen to do this on our own as it
can save us over $500; however, this process has given me much anxiety. I don’t like not knowing things, and in this
adoption process there is a lot of things I don’t know. I don’t know that I have all the right the
documents, if they are in proper order, and notarized the correct way. I don’t know where I need to take them to at
the Secretary of State, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with Chinese
Consulate. During this same time I began
to think about Mary and Joseph and how they didn’t know why Mary was chosen to
give birth to Jesus, they couldn’t even find a place for Mary to give birth in,
but they trusted and believed in God. In
this time of uncertainty we too have to trust in God. We have to trust that the right people will
be placed in our lives to help us along this journey, we have to trust in his
perfect timing, and we have to trust that this is God’s will for our lives and
our children’s lives. So I take a deep
breath and move forward with the paper processing knowing God is walking along
side us every step of the way.
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We also took
another step this week which is very uncomfortable for us, and that is asking
our family and friends to help support us finically in our adoption. We have completed our home study and have our
first large installment due to the adoption agency. As we continue through the
adoption process the enormous cost of international adoption becomes very
real. We will do anything we have to to
bring Gabi home. We know she is our
daughter and we know she deserves a family to love her and for her to give her
love to. But the truth is we need our
friends and families to support us in this journey. Thank you for continuing to follow our
adoption journey. We hope you had a
wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. If you would like to view our letter I have
placed it under the fundraising tab.
