It has been awhile since we have reached out to our friends and family to update you on our adoption journey. Our world has changed, and while our journey of adoption continues, we wished to give those we love the space to adjust to many other things. We also wished to give ourselves the space to adjust. We genuinely hope you all are well despite the remaking of the world.

 

Our world is going through birth, just as Ahmed and I are going through birth. Adoption is a birth journey. It is true that children will not literally burst forth from my womb, but the work of adoption is a preparation that involves the spirit and a lot of grunt work, and it takes TIME.

 

I recently thought to myself that I felt as if my adoption were a business transaction, that all of the "heart" was sucked out of it as I have filled out stacks of paper, found out the answers to questions nobody has ever asked before, completed assessments, notarized documents, etc. My dear cousin and friend reminded me that having a baby from the womb can also feel like a business transaction with temperature taking, doctor visits and scans, birthing classes, preparing the finances, etc. There is a lot of business and busyness that takes place for a baby to come into the world and for a child or children to arrive at their permanent home through adoption.

 

In our case, we just don't know how many months we will have to wait for our children. There is no set time to adopt children, and a lot of waiting. People often ask us how we are doing, and we have given the same answer for about 6 months now...."We are still working on the Home Study." Then they ask, "When do you get to meet your children?" We answer, "I have no idea." We always want to be able to tell everyone more than that, but the reality is, the process takes a LONG time.

 

We want you all to know, we really want to tell you MORE about our adoption process. We really want our friends and family to be able to understand and connect with us. The problem is, the process is so complicated with details that it is difficult to tell the story. We really want to be able to show you pictures, to let you know that we will be flying to Colombia in only a month to get our children! We want to share our joy with you, maybe have a child shower, maybe just smile and laugh and look forward to the joy of welcoming them. We want to be able to tell you about our Zoom conversations that we will have with them and the ways we are learning about who they are from a distance. We want you to be able to know that your prayers have been answered, and they are HERE with us learning about what it means to be our children while we are learning about what it means to be their parents. We are saddened that it is taking so long. We are disappointed when we answer your questions and cannot yet tell you that the time is close to bring our children home.

 

Will you hang in there with us? This is the time we need you the most. We don't expect you to be able to say anything that will fix things. This is one of those things that will take time, and you can't keep track of us by watching my womb grow. You can keep track of us by reminding us you are praying for us. You can share your real feelings about the waiting, and we will be OK with that. You can tell us, "I look so forward to meeting your kids," and we will be moved by your words and feel supported and blessed.

 

So, this is the update we CAN share...we are getting closer to finishing the home study. We deeply hope we will be done by the end of the summer. We hope to be finished with the dossier (big stacks of paperwork for the country of Colombia) by sometime in early fall (sooner would be better, so pray!). After that, another stage of waiting will begin as we wait to be matched with our precious children. The country of Colombia is currently closed, so we do not worry about this taking time. We just hope that when we are matched, we can go grab up our children and hold them in person as soon as possible. That is what matters the most to us.

 

Keep praying!!!!

 

We love you all.