Thank you!!!!

Thank you to everyone who helped us along our adoption journey.  Ian is home and adjusting to life in a new family and we are adjusting to life as parents to a needy little boy. So many people helped us on this journey it would not have been possible without you. Thank you to friends, family, acquaintances and complete strangers! We were so blessed by your kind words and encouragement. We received financial gifts and help with fundraisers. So whether you wrote a check, bought an item, hosted a Jamberry party, invited someone to a fundraiser, liked a sales post on Facebook, gave us airline miles, or donated an item we are VERY grateful. Thank you for advocating for us during our delays and sending reference letters. Thank you Southgate friends for our adoption shower. Almost EVERY SINGLE THING our son has received fits or is ready for him to grow into! Between gifts and hand-me-downs we did not even have to buy him any clothes, only shoes, and some extra socks and underwear. He has a bed, toys to play with (even a tricycle!), and books to learn from!  Thank on you on our return home for filling in for Abe at church, for bags of groceries and hand me down clothes, and the few brave souls who offered to babysit.

At the beginning of this process, I expected fundraising to become my part-time job, which it did, and Abe had serious concerns about the financial aspect.  We planned to save as much as possible, do as many fundraisers as possible, take all the help generous friends and family, apply for grants or even adoption loans. God COMPLETLY took care of those concerns. He even dropped several freelance jobs in my lap. We were blessed with a generous grant from Show Hope. We did not ONCE have an adoption bill we could not pay for with money that had been donated/raised/saved in the bank. Yes, the adoption took a while, but the financial cost was the least of our concerns. The hardest part, aside from becoming an adoptive parents was waiting on delays. We had to re-do redundant paperwork because of delays that were out of our control, which cost us some extra money, but more frustratingly, time.

Again we are very blessed. We still ask for your prayer as being brand new special needs parents is the tiring, frustrating, time-consuming, and stressful. We try to remember how hard it is for Ian too, as he struggles to learn to word "no", how trust us, learn our language, not disobey every rule, learn appropriate behavior, and how to have fun. We have good days and bad days. We get hugs and giant tantrums every day. Please pray for mommy and the new addition arriving next month! That we stay healthy, mentally, physically, and emotionally. That we can stay healthy and happy! We need God's help down here. And find the support that we need not to merely survive, but to thrive as a family of soon to be four!