one month!

We have known who our sweet boy is for 1 month!! What a blessing to have pictures to look at, a name to call him and a few bits of info to know him better. This month has flown by and it seems like we have known him for so much longer!!

We look at his picture often, pray for him throughout the day and long to be with him. oh how we long to be with him. This wait is hard and sometimes seems unbearable but then when I honestly think about it, I am thankful we have time to prepare...maybe a little too much time to prepare but time nonetheless. There are so many things that need to get done! The list goes on and on and on and on. and on.

And in true international adoption fashion, nothing really seems to go as planned:) For example, our us.cis approval states that our child must be between 0-12 mos...well babyu will be 15 months in a few days so we have to get re-approved for an older child. This shouldn't be a problem but we just sent the addendum off today and it can take anywhere from 30 days-90 days. Our homestudy agency has been working on it for the past few weeks. What should have taken a week has taken a month so in the whole scheme of things I am thankful for the time because I am sure there will be many more things that take longer than expected in the coming months.

People are constantly asking how we can stand to wait. Well...we don't really have a choice...and honestly, there are families that have been waiting since February to travel so one month doesn't seem all that long in the whole scheme of things (praying for all of you to get dates soon!!). And like I said before, there is SO much to do...just off the top of my head...the list includes:

*finish o's 2 and 3 round of shots that have to be ever so spaced out because some of the vaccines contain live cultures. sick.
*a and i have to get blood drawn to know what other shots we need. yuck.
*go paperless (bills)
*put o in a twin bed so babyu can use o's toddler bed. (we think he will be two old for a crib??)
*make the chicken coop larger and bring home the other two from the in-laws (this doesn't seem like a priority but one chicken is getting pecked constantly so we do need to fix this)
*paint the fences before winter comes (this makes it sound like we actually have cold winters;)
*finish fundraising (more on this later)
*train and run a half-marathon (there. i finally said it. more on this later too:)
*accumulate proper suitcases
*get a new car seat
*organize all in country info, important numbers, contacts, etc.
*finish training for Lifeline (which includes reading about 35-50 different articles...good articles!)
*going through o-boy's clothes and picking out some for babyu (can't wait for this!)
*not to mention packing for four of us, getting prescriptions filled, etc...

I know I am forgetting so many things. They are written down somewhere...now if only I could find the list:) Checking things off of this list is a wonderful feeling because that means that we are that much closer to getting our baby boy. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel...everything will get done. it always does! and while we wait, we are resting in God's perfect timing.