Into the Waiting

This past week, we accomplished a pretty big milestone. We completed our dossier, which is the initial file of documents sent to Russia requesting the adoption of our little girl. Along with this, we also completed 100 documents that have been sent to 4 specific regions in Russia, to request a child. All that to say, we are "officially" on the waiting list.

So, what does this mean? It means that all of the running around and making appointments grinds to a halt. Now we settle in for one of the toughest parts of the journey...the waiting. This is the day after day, week after week, month after month nothingness.

Even though the paperwork phase of this adoption is tedious, it does help us feel like we are doing something to speed the process along. For the next few months, there will be no paperwork to keep us busy and our answer to "how is the adoption going" is going to be the same..."good, just waiting."
We have no idea when we will get a referral, or from what region, or how old she will be. Now we just sit and wait and trust, and wait and trust, and wait and trust.

In many ways, this is a very lonely and helpless leg of the journey. We are in the waiting room. We dream and wonder and think about what this little girl may look like or what her personality is going to be, but we don't know. And no amount of dreaming or wondering or worrying will bring a referral any faster. Which is difficult for a "do-er" like me.

Life goes on as normal for all of us. It is in these months where we desperately need community and encouragement. God has already given us so much of this already and it has been such an incredible blessing to our hearts as we are reminded of those who are walking this road with us.

Every night we pray and thank God for all He has given us and how He has continued to provide for this adoption. We are continually blown away by His provision. Almost daily we receive a check in the mailbox. We go to our paypal account and find that money has been placed there by strangers.

God shows Himself through people who offer financial provision. He also shows Himself through people who offer encouragement. This past Sunday, I was walking through our church when a sweet friend handed me a wrapped gift. In it was this beautiful print...a reminder of Dima and a hope for our daughter...

My eyes welled up with tears as we hugged. I was once again reminded of how important it is to walk this journey with community. Not just for finances, though we are so grateful for that. But, just as important - the emotional encouragement that comes with a gift like this - that reminds us that there are people praying for us and walking with us, encouraging us all along the way. 

And above all, God shows Himself in the ways that He is affecting people's hearts and lives through this story. Just this morning, I received a message from a friend who is a mom of one of our students who helps out in Dima's 5 year old class at church. She said that her daughter was so encouraged on Sunday because Dima prayed in class thanking God "for giving mommy and daddy money to go get my little sister." (this was just before he got in trouble for giving a boy a bear hug that turned into a wrestle take-down :)).

What a beautiful reminder that this time around, God is using our  son to encourage the hearts of his teachers and stir curiosity in the hearts of his classmates.

We believe God has much to teach us through this next season of waiting. We don't want it to just be a time we get through, but our prayer is that our eyes will be open to lessons God is teaching us even in what seems like silence.

God, the Great Orchestrator, is working behind the scenes. He is connecting the story of a little girl in Russia with our story. He is working in our lives by using many people to remind us that He knows what we need. He is working in our hearts by using others to encourage and bless our lives. Thank you for being a part of this story with us. Thank you for responding to the promptings to pray and encourage and suppport us along the way. As you do this, please know you are a tangible fingerprint of God's work in our lives!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• For God to continue to meet our financial needs. (And just an FYI - we are furiously trying to stay up to date on thank you cards. So please be patient with us. It is definitely an awesome problem to have, but just know we ARE working on them!)
• For our hearts during the waiting. 
• That our little girl's caretakers making her feel loved - treating her EXTRA special. I even pray that somehow someone is sneaking her EXTRA food and EXTRA hugs

Until next Monday, love Kate, Steve, & Dima.