Anna on Adoption

I want to begin this blog by saying Thank you! Thank you to all of you out there who have asked about our adoption, who have given financially, or have been praying for our adoption and the process. It's hard to believe that we began this process a little more than a year ago this month. At times it seems that this year has flown by but at other times I feel like 10 years have passed. I will quickly update all of you on the progress of the adoption and then continue to the lighter side of the process in a difficult time.

Right now we are still waiting, we were informed that AIAA is expecting to receive more referrals in either October or November.  We are not guaranteed that our referral (child information) will be with that group. A few month ago we received an email regarding the status of International Adoption in Korea. Korea has been trying to reduce their total number of international adoptions for several years and plan on greatly reducing that number as of July 2012 with their goal being to eventually phase out international adoption completely and have all of their children adopted by Korean families in country. My immediate reaction to the email was panic, had we made the wrong decision, is this really what God wants for us? I emailed our representative to ask about the status of our adoption. She assured me that the new plans should not effect our adoption at all. As I have said before, all of this is new to the agency and to us, I think God wants us to learn to have faith! I don't update the blog when things like this occur, I don't want the whole world to know of my emotional turmoil during those times!

So now we are still waiting, faithfully waiting, for God to move in this adoption. We trust His plans and provisions completely. We are praying for our referral to come sooner rather than later that we may travel to get our child before the end of the year. As we wait and discuss the adoption around our house Anna has a lot to say about the whole thing:

Anna to Mommy in the car, " Mommy I think it would be ok if our baby is a girl now," (she has been telling us that she wanted a boy)
"What if it's a boy?" (Mommy)
"That would be ok too, how bout we just get both!"

Later that same day...

"Hey Mommy, why don't we just call Korea and find out where our baby is!"

"Hey Mommy, is our baby in Korea's belly?"

After I explained to her that Korea is a country she then asked if we would have to be on the airplane a long time. I told her yes and after thinking she told me that I could have her princess movie Jasmine (Aladdin) to watch on my trip. (She only gets to watch movies in the car on long trips). Anna wanted to make sure my trip was enjoyable, not so sure 24 hrs. of Aladdin would be so great!

Anna has been practicing being a big sister, when she is around her cousins or a baby at church she is always trying to help. She follows her helping jesture with, "I am practicing being a big sister, I am going to be a great big sister aren't I!"

At the same time as we are waiting for the referral in the mail Anna has been waiting for her Wildcat Club letter. (We signed her up for the Jr. Wildcat club online) After several weeks of not receiving her letter she says, "I am not sure what is going to come first our baby or my Wildcat club." Time is so different for a child!

Anna has been both our joy and our sorrow during this time. It is the precious time with her that has helped me to remember what this process is really about. I have taken her out of preschool just to enjoy this last year before she starts kindergarden. I love spending my days off with her, acting out seens from princess movies and Dino Dan. Some days, though, she is sad. She has had a difficult time understanding why so many other babies have come and ours isn't here yet. She prays every night for her brother or sister and for them to come soon. She really will be a great big sister and one day, very soon, we will get to see that.

We ask that you continue to pray for us, for our child and for the process. May God be glorified through it all!