Approved.... Moving Forward!

I am just quite emotional today and so thrilled! Elated! After going to our community garden this morning, cleaning our vegetables, I noticed the mail man came. I casually walked to the mailbox and amazingly saw an envelope from The Department of Homeland Security.... it came in 1 week!!! Our I- 600 approval for Orphan Petition from our fingerprints is here! (We were expecting 1 to 2 months possibly; nope 1 week!) I will drive down our Dossier papers to St. Paul for State Certification this week and then all of the last paperwork will be off to the Ethiopian Embassy!! We will be on the official "waiting list" soon! We are closer to seeing her face!


Emotions have been flying! This whole process is just like no other; its so hard to explain unless you go through it.  This whole journey has been about FAITH. This blog has been embraced by the word FAITH.
Faith is not only my daughter Avah's middle name but indeed the story and the basis of the strength in my life.
Definition of FAITH: Complete trust or confidence in someone (God) or something. Trusting acceptance and Gods' will. 
Our adoption news was not fully accepted or supported initially. I realize the intentions were not out of haste but out of "protecting us." We had just lost my adored sister Katlyn... was it too fast? Well the reality is, it was OUR FAITH that we needed to trust and listen too. Adoption was not a new topic for discussion in our home, actually it was a topic for many years between Allan and I! Well, it has been Gods Will for our family and we need to trust and have faith.
The emotional part is I truly believe Katlyn has been behind us on all of this. She has been the guiding light and the nudger. This time, this adoption... has been moving as willed for us. This summer has been very hard, lots of emotions and we just SO MISS HER!  But I can feel her in so many ways, I can actually hear her at times. I text my dad the news of our acceptance today and told him how we all have had such loss and this little girl (whom we dont know yet) will have had such loss as well... we will all need each other. My dad asked me when he first heard of our  adoption news, "Is this what is in your heart? In your heart, is this what you really want?" I replied with tear filled eyes, "Yes!" He replied, "Then its the right thing to do." Thank you Dad for that one line of support, I felt your unconditional love!


Thank you to my loving supportive husband, my open children, our family and friends. Thank you to our two special guardian angels... because of YOU we will continue to keep the FAITH!