Thursday, September 13, 2012

One Month

I know I have been quiet since we returned from our trip. I think I needed time to absorb everything, recover from jet lag, catch up on things at home and complete more paperwork.

But today. Well, today marks one month since we walked into the orphanage and saw Gracie with our own eyes for the first time. This week has been a hard week.

When we came home I was on cloud nine as they say. I was so ecstatic that we had met our girl and fell madly in love with her and would be bringing her home soon. The euphoria has now worn off and I am missing her so badly.

As each day passes I feel further away from her. I feel like as time goes on I am forgetting how she smelled and felt and sounded. I have to force my memory to go back there. I am also reminded that we still have a few months to go before we can bring her home.

This is all just part of the process and I always try to see the bright side of things. My husband has been my rock. Monday I just could not stop crying. We went to lunch and he told me not to be sad and reminded me we would have her home soon.

So as we are now one month from our first meeting with Gracie, we are also one month closer to bringing her home.


This is what we have left to do to bring our baby girl home.

Send off I-800 application (done)
Get I-800 approval (done)
Wait for article 5 appointment
Wait for court date
Raise the rest of the money needed for fees and travel (about $8000)

We are past the paperwork and now just waiting. We are working diligently on getting the money that we still need. My husband is working extra hours and away from the family a lot right now. I have a couple of grants that I am applying for and we are going to try a couple more fundraisers. Tax deductible donations can also be made to our account by clicking on Gracie's picture on the sidebar.

God has truly been involved in every little detail of our adoption story and I am so amazed by His works! There are just so many things that either didn't work out or did that led us to where we are now and I am in awe.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed, donated and helped us out in any way. I can't wait to be able to announce that we have a court date and even better, that we are bringing Gracie home.

Please pray that things move quickly with our paperwork and that our article 5 appointment and court date are set quickly. We are praying that our sweet girl will be able to celebrate Christmas with her new family!