This is a popular question for us these days and with very good reason! Things have been quiet…so we have been quiet.
In August, following our trip to Kenya, we came off of the unofficial hold we had been on with our agency since January and officially entered the strange in-between period that is “waiting to match.” Our paperwork is done and our hearts are ready but we are just…waiting.
Our agency receives files from China twice a month (or so), and in any one of those batches of files could be our Oliver. However, so far, files fitting our parameters have been thin on the ground. Or more specifically, there haven’t been any.
Our social worker said that it has taken some families up to a year to match, so we are very hopeful that we will be able to bring him home in 2019. Odd-numbered years are always significant for our family (so far, all 5 of us were born in odd years) and we pray that 2019 will also be a big one!
While our dreams of having Oliver home this Christmas are obviously not going to come to fruition, we are at peace. We attended a wonderful banquet with our agency last week entitled “Hope Embraced.” Through listening to several different speakers, all at different points in their journeys of foster care and adoption, we found ourselves encouraged to press on in the waiting and to keep the faith. 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” This timing could not have been more perfect as we have started to deal with the less-than-fun hassle of expiring paperwork and the corresponding expenses.
Thank you so much for all of the prayers, questions asked, and financial support given over the last year. We are so grateful for the ways all of you have cared for our family! Every time someone asks how things are going or remembers to check in, it means something to us. So, please continue to ask!
We ask that you continue to pray for Oliver as he lives in an orphanage or foster home; for us and for our kids as we continue to prepare for him; and for the process as a whole. We desire to glorify God in the waiting but it’s easy to succumb to feelings of doubt, fear and frustration all too often.
Team Grooms 