Update - Week #56 post referral

Three weeks have passed since the last post......
It basically comes down to this: no new info + a long process = no words to type.
I was all out of vamp.
 

Little Miss's cuteness can not be contained!!!!

However, now there is reason to update........

So although there has been frustration along the way with our process, there are still *moments* of being grateful for parts of the delay. Moments that don't make sense when they are happening, but make sense afterward.

The review date that we didn't pass back in February? Because of a request that could have been satisfied (in country) about referral #1? So grateful that happened.

Why? My 93 year old grandfather passed away last week.

Had we had passed our review date in February? We would have been out of the country when it happened - I would have missed it. I would have missed visiting with my grandpa 4 days before he died. I would have missed being able to celebrate and honor his life with my family. This precious man. What an enormous impact on my life he (and my grandma) had/have.

It would have been heartbreaking to miss.
*If you would, please keep my grandma in your prayers, as she survives him and is grieving the loss of her husband after 71 years of marriage. That she would be comforted. For her health. So hard. It is just so hard.

I arrived home from my grandfather's funeral Friday evening (the 20th) - to an update email from our agency and found out that our file was reviewed early (it wasn't scheduled to be reviewed until Monday the 23rd) - the email told us that.......
...........................we got the signature that we have been waiting for.

Praise.The.Lord!

You can not imagine the sigh of relief that ensued.

Seriously. Take a moment and sigh with me. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Now we are waiting on the next thing.
In adoption, there is always a next thing.

But in this case? The next thing? Is our actual court date (that WE attend) to be assigned.
*Normally* a court date is assigned pretty quickly after the signature we just received is aquired.........however, we have never fallen under the category of normal :) We are now a week out and still haven't heard a peep about when court will be.

As you can imagine. I am now back on the edge of my seat - as this news could quite literally come at any time - and we could find out that we are expected to be in country in less than a weeks time OR we could find out that our date is a few weeks out. I've seen it happen both ways to scores of folks before me.

People. Do you know how crazy that is?
Oy.

Please be praying for my sanity as we wait for this last bit of news......it is exciting, but I am so exhausted. The toll this whole process takes is unexplainable and I literally feel as though I struggle to focus on anything else at this point.

Only because this is SO funny do I even share - this is a recent card we received from a dear friend that I can't stop laughing about (the best part being the commentary written on the inside - which you can see below in the caption of the photo, worth the read!). As always, thank you to those around us for continue to pray and be an encouraging support! You have no idea how much we appreciate you!!!!!

Future Blog Post: Little Miss Calder's first trip to the beach! She still enjoys turning upside down.....and Cheryl's still finding creative ways to block out her face online ;)

Oh Little Miss.
How we look forward to your homecoming and being able to show your face.....
officially as our sweet daughter!

Soon and very soon. We are hanging on in hope!