Referralversary

It's been 4 long months since we first saw the faces of our sweet boys.  (In pictures only, of course.)  I like to call it our winter of waiting.  In reality our wait has extended through several winters, but this is the winter of knowing who they are while we wait.  We were told court dates were coming in an average of 2-4 months after referrals to our agency.  So now we're in overtime.  Getting a bit more impatient every day, I think.

Last week was a particularly rough week for our patience.  We got word that our littlest one in Ethiopia had pneumonia.  We knew he was being treated, but had very little other information.  It was the first time since our referral came that I started to really get antsy.  I just wanted to be with him.  I wanted to look at him and decide for myself how sick he was.  I had a dozen questions I wanted answered and no way to get them answered.  It was a long week of waiting, and praying, and tears, and putting our little one in the Father's hands.  Several friends told me "I don't know how your standing it."  Trust me, if there were another choice besides "standing it"  I'd be doing it.   Thankfully we found out this week in our update that he has improved and is doing much better.  I thought the urgency would ease up a bit for me with this news, but it hasn't.

He also got a haircut.  Which is so stinking cute, but something I had unexpected emotions about.  Because I didn't give him his first haircut.  I didn't get to tuck his freshly trimmed off curls into a baby book to keep for all posterity.  I didn't expect to feel sad about that, but I guess I do.

Jena is beyond excited about bringing her brothers home.  She wore a t-shirt with Africa on it to school on Friday and told everyone she knew about her brothers.  She told me that many of the other first graders don't understand what adoption is, but she's doing her best to explain it.  She told me the other day that she was "too excited" about getting her brothers.  When I asked her to explain what "too excited" meant, she told me that she was "so excited that it hurts".  That she just felt like she couldn't wait any longer for them to get here.  So precious.  I know she feels it just like we do.  Someone once told me that a great side effect of adoption is that your biological children become beautiful people in the process too.  I'm excited to see what God has in store for that little beauty.

So here we are, still waiting.  And all of us so excited it hurts.