Friday, October 28, 2011

Waiting



So, I had sort of planned to not update the blog until we actually had news (meaning a referral), but we still have so many people asking (and because it's been almost 5 months) how things are going. I thought it was only fair.



We are still waiting for a referral. We did update a bunch of our paperwork a few weeks ago. Here is a picture of the sweet women at the Boyle County courthouse who helped authenticate the updated documents from our home study agency (Adoption Assistance in Danville). The updates came from three factors. First, the home study agency license expired in September (annually renewed). Second, and most positive, our agency opened up two new regions (orphanages) from which to accept referrals for children. Third, a couple of the documents prepared early in the process (homestudy and psychological evaluation) had my name listed as Dana Creech Waldroup, when it needs to match my passport that reads Dana Elizabeth Waldroup. The Russian level of detail never ceases to amaze me! All in all, we had to redo 37 of the 60 original dossier documents. Now, it is much easier to make a quick change (add a region to a list, change a name, etc.) and reprint than to prepare the documents the first time. Since we did have to have all those apostilled at the Kentucky Secretary of State's office, it did mean we are getting very close to the unofficial record that their office told me was 120 documents (also for Russia) for an adoption (60+37=97 and we still have "Dossier Part 2" to complete after our first trip to Russia...we may break it).


We also received the quarterly update from our agency. They do not give waiting list "numbers" like some agencies, but they send out a list of how many families are in which stage of the process. There are three families waiting to make their first trip, so three referrals went out in the last couple of weeks. There are 5 families (including us) waiting for referrals. This still doesn't give us much timing detail, but there are referrals going out. We'll see when God has ours ready.


The good news was that our agency has already placed 22 children in 2011. They had been averaging around 15 a year when we began the process, so we're thankful to hear more children are finding forever families.


As far as our feelings about the wait, I think it was harder for me when we finished all our paperwork than it is today. After working hard to finish everything, it was an adjustment to be just waiting with nothing we could do. Now, I feel like we've settled into the season. Also, I think God has made me realize that having one fairly compliant 2-year-old means life is pretty easy. And, we know that as we make all these trips, bring this new son home and help him adjust to a wildly different life as part of a family and living in America, there will be plenty of challenges on the horizon. We certainly will be thankful to add our second son, for the challenges will more than be worth it. But, it will not be an "easy" season.


Another help in the waiting came as I was able to attend the Lifeway .mom conference in Birmingham last month. There were around 50 breakout sessions to choose from (and only 4 times to attend...talk about decisions!). One of those I chose was a panel discussion on infertility, adoption, and miscarriage. They had an amazing group of six women on the panel including, Chris Adams (matriarch of Lifeway Women's Ministry) and Heather Platt (David Platt's wife). The discussion was varied but much of the session was simply each woman sharing her family's infertility and adoption story. The unanimous opinion of all the women and their final encouragement was that God's timing is perfect in sending children, even if that means years of infertility, birth mothers who chose to keep a child they'd planned to adopt, or a host of international adoption delays or closings. When you heard it from someone on the other side, it made waiting seem like a gift from God. We are so thankful that our trust is in a Sovereign God who knew His plan for our family before time began. We thank Him for peace and patience that we know is only from Him.


(Might I also add that per Chris Adams one of the planned panel breakouts for .mom 2012 will be a group of adult adoptees--including her twin daughters--called, "I'm adopted. Ask me anything." I'm planning to be there for that and the rest of the conference if any mom friends wants to join me.)


Please continue to pray for our son, wherever he may be. Continue to pray for us to trust God and open our hearts to His peace as we wait to begin our travels. We are so thankful for all of your support and prayer for us through the adoption process.


Also, for those who have not spoken with us the last few months, Andy has responded to God's call into full-time ministry. He'd had felt pulled at different times over the past few years but this summer, God made it abundantly clear to both of us that God wanted this for his life. He enrolled at Southern Seminary in Louisville this semester, driving up for one night class a week and taking one class online. He has kept his engineering job at UK for now and will work there at least through next semester. Please be in prayer for God's direction for him and for our family as he determines what God has for him after that. Thank you so much!

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