Since both Roman and Anna Gray's adoptions were expedited, this is our first time to experience a "typical" timeline. That could feel painfully slow if we let it. The bright side of having so much going on right now, is maybe it distract us from waiting so terribly long for our girl ;)
Except to her big sister. "Mom, I want Lincoln." Constant. And then slobbers all over my phone kissing her pictures.
I love a list. I make lists for everything and even more than the list, I love to cross things off the list. Sometimes I add things I've already done- like brushing my teeth or putting real clothes on- just so I can cross them off and feel accomplished. This is the same chart we used for Roman's adoption and I love to check off those numbers! Right now, we are in between steps 4 & 5, waiting on immigration approval. I have absolutely no idea how long that is taking these days for a 'typical' adoption. Don't wanna know. Just gonna coast through and check off those numbers as they come.
Most asked questions thus far:
When will we travel?
Our dossier is all but ready to head East as soon as we are approved. At that point, the process is a little more predictable. I think generally travel is 4-5 months after our dossier gets to China. So probably winter, Early? Late? We dunno.
How old is she?
Lincoln is 2 1/2 right now... but tiny. The last measurements we got put her in a size 6-9 month clothes. We plan to send a care package to her in a couple of months and will hopefully get an update then. I'm still trying to learn what her orphanage allows, etc.
What are her special needs?
She does have Down syndrome and nystagmus, but otherwise healthy :)
Will Cupcake Tuesdays return?
This CRACKS ME UP. I have gotten so many messages about Cupcake Tuesdays! Such a happy question.
The cupcakes were a successful fundraiser and so much fun! But ya'll... so much work, ha. I don't know if I have it in me this time. Right now, I'm thinking instead of a weekly occurrence, we might do one or two big cupcake sales. Make all the cupcakes at once, sell all the cupcakes at once? I'll keep you posted.
We will be launching a tee shirt sale... next week! We designed it as a family and are really hoping it does well. I'm a tee shirt hoarder. There are probably enough tee shirts in the world already, but it doesn't matter. I have six kids. This is, like, my uniform. I can't be alone in that, right?
Ya'll hear from me constantly but Hubs doesn't do social media, he just shows up looking handsome in photos from time to time. We each had to write an update to our personal bio for our home study since adding Roman to the family and he copied me on his when he sent it to our social worker. I thought it was only fair that ya'll hear from him too {sharing with permission}.
Spoiler alert: He's the best.
********
UPDATE: (Nathan)
Roman didn’t become a West until he was almost 8 years old
but he plugged into this family like he had been a part of us his whole life!
I’m not going to lie but I thought the “transition” into our life might be long
since he had lived a relatively lengthy different life and now it had
completely changed. Boy, was I way off. Right from the start he developed his
own unique, loving and personal relationship with every one of us and it took
no time to feel like he had been with us the whole time.
Roman brought to us a
new understanding of resiliency from everything he has been through and
everything he continues to overcome and his curiosity and enthusiasm to learn
(EVERYTHING) has energized our family, As a father I couldn’t be more proud
to watch my family’s eagerness to teach and show him everything. He plays so
many roles in our family- from little brother who hangs on everything his big
brother does to protector of his “baby” sister. I thought our family was amazing already but he managed to make it better.
Last year we made another large change…. We packed up
(literally) and followed a path that God was shining a very bright and blinding
light on. We moved to a different community, new house, new schools, new buses,
new places to eat, new parks to play in, new grocery stores, new streets to
ride bikes on…. We are always apprehensive of change (and
by "we", I mean me). All of this “newness” has been nothing but upgrades for each and every one of us and this has changed me
spiritually in ways I can’t even explain. My eyes, ears, and heart are more open
to understanding and trusting what God is showing us and wanting for
us. All of this had given me a sense of “completeness”... So I thought!
There she was. A short bio and a picture on a computer
screen. Here I am getting settled in to all these changes and feeling a sense
of “We are here, everything is settled”. And all of a sudden there’s another
small void. That one very small piece missing from a 1,000,000 piece puzzle
like my grandmother used to put together. And you are in awe of the puzzle, but
the more you go back and look at it, you begin to no longer admire the beauty
of all of that together but only focusing on that one small piece that’s
missing. It's like God is shining a big bright flashlight on my daughter who is on
the opposite side of the world.
Now I’m anxious. I’m anxious to meet her, hug her, watch her
with her siblings, see how she changes us all and how we change her. I’m anxious
to put that last piece in our beautiful puzzle and show it to the world- complete.
Hang on, sweet Lincoln. We are checking off numbers as quickly as we can!
{freeze frame from a video we have of her. presh.}
1 comment:
The Wait (with a capital W!) is so hard! The only good thing about it is that it gives you time to really prepare yourself and your family for all the good that's going to come home to you. I hope things move quickly and that you can start checking more boxes off soon!
Post a Comment