We are a Waiting Family!!!

Ohhh sooooooo exciting!!!  Here's a recap of how it all went down.....


Last weekend Justin and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary!  Something beautiful and wonderful!! Although we knew the weekend was going to be busy for both of us, we set aside Friday Aug 13 (hey hey who says Friday the 13th has to be crummy?) as our date night.  Our night to celebrate.  To love on one another as we laughed over memories and enjoying how fun it has been to be together as husband and wife.  This thing called marriage is something special.  For us it has brought a deeper level of passion, confidence, vision & teamwork, joy and steady unending love that makes the day in and day out activities of life  invaluable.   


Getting home just about 20 minutes before Justin, I ran to my computer and checked my email.  FriDaYs!  They are my favorite.  Because each week the gracious Ethiopian team at Children's Hope International sends their families a "family update" email.  I love it!  I think they might do it for their own good too...you know I can imagine working with us crazy anxious mom's and dad's-to-be must have it's own set of interesting stories...they must do it to keep us at bay....but anyway: the email.  It's packed full of encouragement, tips, and helps us families survive each step of the process called adoption.  Well, I had checked my email, no "CHI Update" in my in box.  Bummer.  But what WAS THERE was an email from Angie to me with the subject line of "Dossier back from DC!!!!".  Oh I was soooo excited to read that email in which Angie shared with us that we are an official waiting family.  Do you know how great that feels to write that.  To say that.  To know that?!  


I quickly closed that email, ran upstairs to get ready, and wrote out a card for our anniversary to give to Justin.  He got home just a few minutes later and I was a giddy as a tweener at a Justin Biber concert---ha ha my Justin must have thought I was just nuts for him!!! Don't get me wrong, I am. Totally. ;)  But I was trying so hard to keep it a secret and let him read the awesome news later that night.  It was hard as I was just bubbling with joy and excitement!  (by the way I am a horrible secret keeper when it involves exciting news or gifts!) We made our way up to PF Chang's, got our table, put in our drink order and I slipped his card over to his side of the table.  I was nervous and thrilled, just about to jump out of my seat!  After reading he glanced over and we were both smiling ear to ear; the waiter next to us came over and said "congratulations and happy birthday!!".  Ha ha we let him think that, hey maybe a dessert was to follow?!  


Anyway, in all seriousness, it is amazing, do you get that?  Amazing to be apart of this little one's life even at this stage of our family growing.  There have been dozens of moments these past several months where we were challenged in ways that are unique to the adoption process.  Running in the pouring rain downtown Cleveland with my treasured little dossier shoved up my shirt to keep it from getting wet brought on some pretty odd looks and comments from the sidewalk folk.  Racing to get to FedEx before it closed to ship off our bundle, only to find out that one of the forty two pieces of paperwork was wrong and that we'd have to wait one more week.  Dancing with my man in the kitchen when we shipped off that paperwork just a few days later.  Phone calls to family and friends who are riding right along with us through this process is just incredible.  Because it's all showing me how God will so gently reach down to use His one of a kind grace to remind me He's here right here all along with all of them and that He's excited for us too!  He knows whats coming, He's familiar with the little boy that will someday fill our home with giggles and squirming and sweetness.  


When you read "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart." you've got to know that it's true!  Even when I think that my deepest longings are there just to keep tucked inside, God knows them and that's where the secret petitions start.  In January 2010 when that longing to be a mom just seemed to be more than I could bear alone within my heart, God had been preparing Justin's for the conversation that would soon take place.  We stayed up late talking about the possibilities of our family.  There will be lots more of those nights over the next several months as we wait to receive his picture and more information on who our son is.  But for now, it's incredible to announce to the world that I am an expectant mom!  REALLY!  It's true:  Justin's going to be a dad!!  Our Heavenly Father totally gets us, He loves us like crazy, and when we hand it over to Him we can let go of wanting to have control of it all.  Learning that we have become a waiting family on our anniversary was an incredible gift.  How cool is that Lord!  Thank you so much for being that visible and helping our hearts understand just how great You are!


Filled with joy (!),
Kati & Justin

Paper Chasing Pro

After my marathon of a day last week--trying to get all our paperwork county certified and state certified in one day among 3 different counties, made me think "what am I doing?!"  I was in such a excited rush to get things done that I almost let it get the better of me. (For a moment I felt like we were on the Amazing Race--one of our favorite reality shows--and I was, in my mind, racing to get us to the finish line = waiting list.  To "beat" the other families.  To be the best).  When 5pm rolled around last Friday and Justin and I were standing in Fedex frantically making copies of every single document before their 6pm pick up we realized there was a mistake.  Actually, two mistakes.  And both meant we had to go back and make corrections before any of this could be mailed off.  I felt my joy just bottom out and standing there in Fedex tears began welling up in my eyes.  "Why can't people just do their jobs correctly??" is all I kept saying.  I mean is it really that hard to type "Kathrine" or to copy the notaries name from one sheet to another??  We were both frustrated realizing that the day had been productive....just not productive enough.  For us.  But for this process?  For what God desired for us to complete?  It was fine.  Actually, it was perfect.  

Then have no care for tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Take the trouble of the day as it comes. Matthew 6:34   

Thankfully, I'm completely ok (and quite excited to be honest!) with where we're at with the checklist now, but it took me a while to move from my amped up gotta-get-it-done attitude to realizing that this isn't a race.  No other family is going to "win" our son before we get there.  We won't be late.  In fact, we'll be just on time.  It took a patient, humorous husband, two friends over the phone and a God that knows my deepest desires of my heart to remind me to step back and look at the whole picture.  That there is a family, a man and a woman who are living life, just like me, doing their day to day activities and at some point there will be a child who comes into this picture. 

"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart...." Jeremiah 1:5   

I can't have any control over what she does today, or when our son is placed into the hands of the orphanage workers hands.  Nope.  Nothing I can do about that.  What I can do is find peace and trust in this waiting process.  And to not miss out on this season of our life, right now, where God has called us to be.


A week later, I'm getting ready to go wrap up those previous "mistakes" and send those off to St. Louis where our adoption coordinator will bundle them together and have them couriered off to Washington D.C.  And then, we will officially have all our paper work turned in!  (YES!!..it feels good hear "well done"!)  Next step: waiting list.  And, again I'm sure I'll have to practice giving my plans and agenda over to the Lord as we joyfully wait to hear from Sharon from Children's Hope.  In the mean time though, we've got lots of great things going on with family and friends that we just can't wait to be apart of!!!  Have a great weekend!


In His Grip,
Kati & Justin
:)