Twists and turns along the road

This update is long, and 2-3 weeks ago I wouldn't have anticipated sharing this, but here we go....
Over the last couple of years, Brandon and I have talked and prayed about moving to a place where we could have some land. When we returned from vacation at the beginning of August, our neighbor/friend mentioned that she may have someone who’d want to look at our home if we were interested. After talking it over, Brandon and I agreed that we’d be willing to show the house and see what happened. During those days prior to our showing, Hebrews 11:8 and 9 were running through my mind....By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. I contemplated if the Lord was speaking to me, or if it was me creating something that wasn’t there? Was HE asking us to leave a home we love, and step out in faith??  We prepared for the showing (Monday the 14th), while looking for land, or homes on land, and had no success. The night before our showing Brandon shared that he felt, "if we didn’t have a place to go, he didn't want to pack up his family and move". So, I went to bed that night thinking this was likely over and we’d stay put after-all. I woke up the morning of our showing, had a cup of tea, and started my reading. My reading that morning just happened to be Hebrews 11:8-10! The same verses that were running through my mind earlier that week.  My heart skipped a beat!  I sent my reading off to Brandon and said...”I think we might be moving, honey”  The buyers came through that evening and made us a generous offer the same night. We then spent the rest of the week trying to find a rental place that would take our 3 dogs, fit our family, and our new little one to come. As the week was coming to a close, we were weary and tired, and the opportunities of us finding a rental weren't looking promising.  We had to meet certain criteria spelled out by our social work agency for our adoption and that just wasn't happening. Then, God again provided in some truly miraculous ways!! Our buyers offered up rental assistance, AND a new rental came on the market (that day) that just happened to be right across the street from our very dear friends!!!  Their son is one of Wyatt and Hadley’s best friends!  What were the "odds"?! 😉  We were watching Gods hand move on our behalf.  We’ve since had the inspection, signed the final agreement, and providing all continues to go well, we’re moving in September, to a town-home in Zionsville. Our hope is to stay there until we find either land to build on, or land with a home on it. It has been a whirlwind to say the least over the last couple of weeks! But even with all the ups and downs, He has provided every. single. step of the way. 

So the adoption....This move does affect our adoption timing. When a family moves amidst an adoption, and I’m sure most aren’t crazy enough to do it, 😉 they have to have a homestudy update done on their new property. The update gets sent off to China, and then we will also do a USCIS update as well. According to our agency, this will potentially delay us approx 2 months. After speaking with them, they will  likely not give us a referral/match until after the update. This is due to a concern that we wouldn’t meet the 3 month travel deadline. So, a little more waiting is ahead, but not without purpose!!! The God who orchestrated this has certainly gone before us on the backside as well!  We're excited to follow along on the journey He has set before us.   We know it won't be easy...But He is faithful!<3 span="">

Love,
Robin

THIS!

So much truth wrapped up in this post...

http://briegowen.com/2017/07/30/is-satan-stealing-our-families/

China process and timing

This past week there were additional changes made in the adoption protocol from China. For the last several years, China has held agency partnerships with orphanages. These partnerships allowed agencies to go into the orphanage, meet the precious, waiting children, and then advocate on their behalf so that they would have a better opportunity of finding a forever family. This is important because children that may be considered “more challenging” to place, would have greater opportunity and visibility than previously. At the end of the year, this policy will also change. China will be discontinuing the agency partnerships and go back to, "shared list matching". Shared list matching is what we had when we were matched with Hadley. The adoptive family is basically given a photo or 2 (which may be months old) and a brief medical write up, as well as some info on the child. Some of the medical needs these kiddos have can look intimidating on paper. But behind each photo is a beating heart, and a child created in the image of the one true God. They all share one thing in common, they are all waiting to be chosen and they all deserve to be chosen.  Please pray that the Lord would raise up families to GO>>> to China, to fill in the gap that’s been created by these new rules. That He would raise up families to bring home children that are fatherless from wherever He calls. 

Psalm 10:14- But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

On the adoption front for our family, I recently reached out to our agency to get a pulse on timing. Where I had secretly hoped we’d be matched soon, it sounds like realistically it could be up to 6 months. I say that loosely because I know that ultimately, God is in charge of the matching.  Even though visibly our matching process may be held by human hands...He's orchestrating all of it. So we sit eager and hopeful for whenever that day comes. 

Thank you for all the continued love and support!! 💛😘

We are LID!

Hey friends, it's been a while since I've posted here, but I'm getting back into this swing of things with our adoption process picking up pace.  We've been back in process for the last 2 years.  We're at a place now where we're hopeful things will start moving along a bit faster. We're through the home study process, have our 800a approval, and were DTC at the beginning of July!  As of July 11th we were notified we are officially LID!!! Hooray! That means we have our China login date! This is good news because it opens us up to more precious, waiting children available for adoption. It's also another required step in the process, and another box we check off, as we move along. From here we await LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China, and this typically takes a bit longer. I just checked in on the wait for LOA and it appears it's taking anywhere between 40 and 55 days. During this time we'll be working on our book reports that are required prior to travel. We'll read 6 books over the next couple of months pertaining to adoption, and it will serve as good reminders for us as we move closer to our little one!