Thanksgiving

Family

One year ago we submitted our letter of intent to adopt Emery.  I remember thinking that we weren't quite ready to adopt  We had just bought a house that was a fixer upper;  not just a few cosmetic changes, but a gut it to the studs and , upper.  We live in a community where it can be hard to find housing and this one kind of dropped in our lap.  It has a yard and is in city limits.  We really wanted a yard and it is hard to find that here.  So we (mostly me) decided to buy it when we walked around the outside before we went inside.  Some rooms inside we didn't even go in.  It is small.  One of my sons had to go to the doctor right after being inside because he had a severe allergic reaction to cats that lived inside.  We lived in a hotel for weeks while we cleaned it up and repaired enough to move in.   But it is in a great neighborhood, and did I mention it has a yard?  In the midst of this craziness we saw Emery's pictures, read her files, prayed, fasted and decided to move forward in a leap of faith.  Her file seemed pretty straightforward.

Jump ahead a month and her file wasn't quite as straightforward.  There were all kinds of complications that could be happening and time became precious for her chance at a repair surgery.  The cardiologist who reviewed her file gave us best and worst case scenarios and told us realistically she was probably somewhere in the middle but they couldn't tell from the testing that had been done.  The worst case scenario was that we would bring her home to die. 

We weren't really ready to expedite the adoption.  We had planned on a 10-12 month period to go through the steps and get all our finances in order.  And I was a bit scared.  Should we proceed with this adoption when surely there was someone else who was more ready to go forward?  In January I put out the word that we needed help to expedite.  I have never been so humbled than by the extreme outpouring of support and help that we received from friends, family, and strangers.  We did a 10 day fundraiser and were completely overwhelmed by the grace we were shown.  And we had, almost to the cent, what we needed to expedite the adoption and start rushing things through.

Our homestudy writer was amazing, she put in all the visits in one week and got it written up quickly.  We had to fly to Anchorage to be fingerprinted for USCIS and they allowed us to walk in whenever we could, once we explained the situation.  We got an extremely helpful and sympathetic USCIS worker who helped us to expedite.  Our agency representative was extremely attentive to our file to make sure it wasn't lost and to ask if it could be expedited at every step of the way.  Eight months later we were meeting our little girl.

In the last year our family has grown in more ways than the obvious,  we have felt embraced and carried by so many wonderful people, and we have seen God's hand in our lives more. 

I have so very, very much that I am thankful for.  I am thankful for the power of prayer.  I am thankful for the gift of friendship.  I am thankful for the blessing and strength of family.  And above all I am thankful for God, who knows and blesses me in so many ways.

Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas season. 

Hopefully we will have a surgery date soon:)

Sleeping Beauty

First Day

The Little Princess