Waiting

Waiting is hard for anyone. Adoption has its (un)-fair share of waiting. There is so much waiting for documents and governments! None of it is in my hands. No one waits for us. When we have something to get done, it gets completed in hours. Then we wait, for days and weeks for "them". We are 7 days into our 2-4 week wait for travel approval to go and get our little boy. We have been matched with him for nearly 8 months. It has been so long!! The wait has not been an easy one. It is difficult to explain, and if you haven't been through it, impossible to understand, but I know this baby. He is mine, and always was. I feel him so much, and I feel his absence so strongly. It's like any other of my other kids, I love him fiercely, and he is on the other side of the world, and I know nothing about what goes on with him daily or weekly or monthly, or how he is doing, or if he is sad, scared, lonely, excited, needy, hungry. Nothing. Does he get held? Loved? Kissed on? Comforted? Read to? Rocked? Stories? Do they listen to him? Do they clap for him? I believe he's very well cared for, but I don't know. I don't know anything, and it is so very very very hard. I am praying like mad for a very fast travel approval, and travel date. 

Meanwhile, we snack this little chicken right up every day!

 Cuddle time and stories are the best!

 She had her hard palate closed and is now finished with palate surgeries. Huuuuuuraaaaahhhh!!!She did awesome! iPhone movies fix everything. Every time. 

She loves hanging out with her brother's things. Can't wait to get him home!

 She LOVED walking around in the leaves. Everything about the fall leaves was her favorite thing!

 Trying to stay awake a liiiiittle bit longer!

 Cutest clown on the block! She was not a fan of her Halloween costume.

 We're trying to get her used to headphones, and hope that she will like movies for an entire 14 hours! The flight is going to be brutal! This little chicken runs around the house rearranging the furniture ALL! DAY! LONG!! She doesn't stop! She LOVES checking everything out at all times. She isn't destructive at all (yet), but she will gather everything that she can reach and lift, and move it somewhere else. She is sooooo busy. I have a feeling that sitting still on a very very very long flight is not going to go over as well as we hope. Coming home with 2??? Oh heaven help us.

Today we celebrated Em's 2nd birthday (again!). Awesome. We had a huge Thanksgiving dinner in anticipation of us being in China over Thanksgiving holiday. It is looking like we're going to keep her birthdate the same and just move the year up one. That feels right and makes sense. We can't do it yet because we have to travel with her birth certificate and passport and obviously they need to match. We are so incredibly happy and excited about this opportunity to make that right. She and her brother are going to be virtual twins. Their birthdays are just a month apart. They are going to be so great for each other. I could not be more amazed at God's hand in my life. It never ever will cease to amaze me, the miracle that these little babies are. They are the direct answer to prayers offered and answered years and years ago. There is absolutely nothing coincidental or random about their lives coinciding with ours. Nothing. Pray that our little man gets home soon!