Elle turns TWO!

I love this picture of her!

It's so sad to be so far away when one of your kiddos has a Birthday. All four of my adopted kids have had birthdays after we signed papers for them. Each time God has blessed us with a way to send a birthday gift. This time its no different. We were able to send a birthday cake, a blanket and a little panda bear. along with a birthday card with two picture of us in it. I cant wait to get picture and a update on our little princess. I am really hoping she has gained some weight since her last update, which was in November. She was only 13 pounds and 25 inches tall. Some of my 3 months old were bigger then that.
We cant wait to have our little one home. We had our second Home study meeting this week. just a few more visits to go. Then once that's done we can get moving on more paper work. We have most of our papers we needed done for this step done. We are working on our training. I wish things moved quicker but each step takes time. All our kids are so excited to have another little sister. Two of our kids really want to travel with us to go pick her up. They each gathered up all the money they had and put it in a jar. They have plans on what jobs they can do and who they want to call and see if they need help. I love seeing their hearts.
Happy Birthday to our baby girl, we are praying that we will be celebrating face to face for Birthday # 3!!

Our baby!

Wow, here we are number #9!!! I cant believe I am going to have nine! We were so excited to announce to our kids last night at dinner. We had waited till we had pre approval before we told any one. I loved watching each one process the information. Some at first were quite, others were excited from the moment they saw her picture. and then there were a few that were confused on what was going on, they later caught up with the hype of the table. As we sat eating and talking about what albinism was and what it would look like on a day to day base, I watched as God set each heart on fire to get their little sister home. We also talked about what delays she has and I just loved my 13 year old view, 'so she will be a baby longer.' yep buddy that's right, she will be a baby longer. This tiny 13lb girl will be our baby.

How did we get here? Well I seen my little one's picture back on February 1. I was so drawn to her, I began to pray for her and her forever family.  As a few days went by I realized I wanted to be that family. I ask for her file and showed Steven. He prayed too. We both felt that she was the one. Through a bunch of hoops we jumped. Our amazing agency got her file and off we went. it took us a little longer then I thought to get our papers for LOI but it all came together. After what felt like forever but it was really only 8 days we got PA (pre approval).
We are just thrilled to be called out again to parent another child. We know that parenting is never easy, we also know through adoption is never easy. Parenting is such a refining process, as we hit each speed bump with each kid. We learn a news lesson and helpfully so does your kiddo. We love this season in our lives. Kid season! i love watching each child grow in their own way and learn to become the person God wants them to be. I know its not all roses but every once in awhile you get to see a part that your child has struggled with for some time and see them grow through it, that's roses!
Now we are off , we have lots of fundraising to do and papers to get ready. We know God has a plan for all of this and we put our trust in him.