So, the lack of updating has been a combination of a few things...small steps in moving forward, computer issues, but really my own attitude in dealing with patience and good perspective. I had no idea how tedious and drawn out this process would be and it's been trying. The Lord, however, has been gracious in holding out our vision before us in different ways...our children talking about their baby brother, His working through others in providing funds along the way, and walking through this process with an old friend and seeing her come home with her precious one just a week ago...this was such a perfect reminder that all this, the tedious, the waiting...is worth it....at the end of all this paperwork and financial stuff...is our son, waiting for us.
As far as the completion of our dossier goes, we are still waiting on one last thing. We are waiting on immigration to give us an appointment to get fingerprinted in Atlanta. We filed papers with them back in January and are just waiting for that appointment.
One of the things the adoption process has brought about is the need to be creative in fundraising. Back in the fall we had our very successful yardsale that brought in over $2,000 and we have since seen the Lord continue to provide as we have taken each step in this process. Our second fundraising project has been to sell t-shirts. Our goal is to see $1,000 come in from the sales of our shirts. We also hope that these shirts will also be a reminder of our son, who we are waiting and praying for as well as a reminder of the many other fatherless children. It's been encouraging to hear from others about conversations these shirts have prompted as well, from conversations random strangers to parents explaining to their children who these shirts represent.
Here are a couple of pictures of our "One Life, One Hope" t-shirts. We are selling them for $15. We started out with over 100 and we now have about 25 left. Let us know if you want one!
