CELEBRATE!!!

It is time to celebrate- I mailed the paperwork off yesterday!!!!!!!!! It feels amazing to have it out of this house and on its way to the right place. Unfortunately, I am celebrating temporarily by myself because Dave is gone on staff retreat. I cannot explain the weight that lifted off my shoulders as I watched the very nice woman at the UPS store put all of that precious material into an envelope and seal it. Even that experience was sweet- the woman at the UPS charged me less to notarize our papers and copy them. God has been so good to shower small gifts of love and assurance on us through this process. Now we will take the time to tie up loose ends (I am not counting my chickens before they hatch- they may want more paper work from us), set a home visit up, and set up a date for the informational weekend. During this process just taking baby steps forward is such a gratifying feeling.
On a side note I am very glad to have this blog as an outlet for what is going on. Somehow I feel more connected to people. I feel like I can share our progress and our story of adoption, which in many cases during real life I don't get to share. It is tempting to feel like you are alone in this process, or that you are the only one excited about doing paperwork. But for me paperwork is my pregnancy process,adoption updates are my ultrasound pictures, and talking with our adoption agency is our doctors appointments. I know that so much of the adoption process isn't glamorous or exciting, but it is our way of experiencing bringing a child into our world. I want very much to feel like we have this huge family just as excited and just as ready as we are to meet this baby. That has been one of my deepest prayers. So, if you have been one of those amazing encouraging people who have emailed, facebooked, commented on our blog, or said an encouraging word- thank you. You will never know just how much we long for that and need that. You are truly a part of something we hope brings amazing amounts of glory to God.