A longing. He must feel it, too.

The aroma of Pumpkin, enchanting spices and warm sugar seeps through my home. The kids spend the days giddy for all the festivities that this time of year brings. Their bright smiles are infectious and contagious.

We, Dad and Mom, find ourselves chuckling with them. It is a joyous time a year with much to be thankful for. We are happy.

But with each activity, there is an underlying current of anticipation. A sense of longing. We are anxious for this boy to join our home and our family. A boy we have prayed for often. I know he must feel it, too.

(Photo Courtesy of Coreluv Intl.)

Running, playing and even laughing with his friends in the hot Caribbean sunlight. Chowing down on rice and beans. He must wonder what its like to have a family of his own. He must wonder if there will be a Mom to love him and wipe his tears, a Dad to play soccer with.

This boy, our boy, should know the immense love of his Mom and Dad. He should know the love of his brother and sisters. He has the right to a family that will cherish him forever and always, the right to be loved and to be a part of a family!

We rest in the fact that God absolutely loves this boy! He LOVES him! Far more and greater than we could ever love this precious child. He sacrificially and selflessly sent His Son to make a way for this boy to be called into a greater family. We pray this boy knows this Father's LOVE. We pray that He will use us to help show this precious boy that LOVE.

What a joy and privilege it is to show our children this wonderful LOVE! We would love to share this love with our boy. We're onto the next hurdle in our adoption journey. Will you please pray for us as we move forward?

There are many more documents to be collected. Many more official stamps and seals to be obtained on said documents.

It has astounded us that so many have been so kind and generous to us in this journey. Your giving, prayers and kind words are humbling! We are so very grateful!

We know that this time of year presents many opportunities for people to be charitable.  There are MANY wonderful ministries and organizations that do so many wonderful things, that accomplish so much and ministers to people in very tangible ways.

Would you prayerfully consider supporting our adoption journey? We would be so blessed by your charitable gift and generous giving to help bring our boy home.. to his FAMILY!

Please visit our Adoption Fundraising Website.

Thank you for loving us.. and thank you for loving our boy!

Homestudy Part 2

Oh the Homestudy. Its the first step in the adoption process.

It sounds so simple, so easy.

I think we win the award for LONGEST home study process. EVER. Funny (and by funny, I really mean, not-so-funny) things happened like our coordinator leaving the country for a little while and our agency encountering a slight hiccup, and well.. it just made the process drag a tad.

After rounding papers from here, there and everywhere, we were finally ready to welcome our Social Worker into our home. We'll call her "B."

"B" came by on a lovely Sunday afternoon. We loved having her in our home, and the kids enjoyed "showing off" for her. She had a knack for being warm, welcoming and listened generously. Everyone tells you not to worry about the interview portion of the home study.

But you never listen. Instead you purge 8 years worth of stuff from every nook and cranny in your home. You get 4 hours of sleep the night before, and are running on pure caffeine and adrenaline when the worker gets to your home. Its awesome. (Said no one ever.)

About 30 minutes into your interview, you realize you should have totally listened to everyone. The interview portion is nothing to sweat over.

As soon as "B" left, and my caffeine high subsided, I went into a deep coma for 80 days. Just kidding. But I did sleep REAL good that night. And I've enjoyed the fruits of my spastic cleaning ever since. I've never found things so easily in my pantry before or had so much room to walk in my closet! Its totally amazing.

"B" does all the fun work of compiling all those documents and the interview into a nice 30-some-odd (really its just about 10) page essay about your entire lives and those closest to you. You get to review it, advise of any adjustments/corrections here or there. And then it gets mailed to you several weeks later.

Sometimes you might cry when you FINALLY have it in your hands after all those months (5 to be exact) of hard work to complete that thing!

Yes, we finally have completed our home study! YAY!!!

Next up? The DOSSIER building. That's just a real fancy word for all. the. papers. of. the. entire. world.