Oh that's right - we are "having a baby"

Sometimes I have to remind myself that amidst the packing, paperwork, back to school, moving craziness - that we are indeed "having a baby", adopting a child, growing our family...

No - I am not pregnant (Aunt Patti that was for you :) )

We are up to our eyeballs with of all the things that are happening to bring Grace home. It's a lot of stuff. It's a challenge for each of us. It does get overwhelming. I'm just being honest, here. We are finding out how strong we are in a lot of different ways. The truth of it is - we aren't that strong. We just serve a God who is almighty. He is giving us all the strength we need. When you look at things that way - it's all good. Sometimes, though, I forget that this all goes back to a little one that we love - but don't know. Yet.

We had hoped to have our dossier to China this month. Well... that's not happening. We need to have some documents that have our current address redone with our new address, and we need to have an update to our home study. This leads to extra fees and more time and a couple of minor setbacks - but in the grand scheme - it's totally worth it.

We submitted our I-800A application to the USCIS (immigration dept.) and it is in process right now. We received our summons to appear for fingerprinting at the Milwaukee office of the US Department of Homeland Security on August 21st. Once we move our application for immigration approval can move forward. We are hopeful that approval will come in September. If you would pray about that - that would be great :)

Our new goal is that our dossier (which includes immigration approval) will be on its way to China by the end of September or early October. Once it is received and "logged in" we will receive a "log in date" (LID). Once that is done we will begin receiving referrals. I'm hopeful we will know who Grace is by Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that be awesome? I'm so excited to know about her I can hardly stand it. It's actually a blessing that there are so many things to think about besides that right now - my brains are about to spontaneously combust.

So that's where we are at with the adoption process. Moving is definitely part of this process and we are so grateful for the support from family and friends and even strangers - as we move along. We have had a rummage sale last week and friends donated baked goods and items to the sale. How awesome is that? Every little bit helps! Such a sweet story God is writing for our family - we are forever grateful.