Waiting...

It has been 11 months and 13 days since we decided to adopt.

It has been 10 months and 14 days since we mailed our first adoption application.

It has been 5 months and 7 days since we were put on the official waiting list.

And still, no match.

This is to be expected though, and while we were warned of the challenges of “the wait” I underestimated the grip it would have on my spirit. Fortunately, we have an agency that keeps us up to date, works diligently and ethically, and gives us an optimistic but realistic picture. We often get asked, if a country the size of Oregon has 1,000,000 orphans, why is the wait so long?  There are a number of necessary reasons for that wait, and you can find the answer HERE.

For many adoptive families, these numbers still look very new and very small.  But for my heart, these numbers challenge my spirits, stretch my faith, and teach me more with each passing day. I never knew I could desire so badly to be a mom and ache so deeply for someone I don’t know.

I am working to take full advantage of this waiting period, spend more time with friends, family, Sean, and myself.  Engage in things I won’t be able to do quite so easily as a parent, and embrace life for the moment.  But ultimately, this ache is always there, pulsing at the beat of my heart, and reminding me there's someone on the other side waiting too...