“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What began as a six month journey has now stretched to 18 months. I wasn’t even going to do an update because I expected to have our referral by now. My current guess is that we will receive our referral at the end of July and travel at the end of September. We are lucky to be working with a wonderful agency, Children’s Hope International. They have been very supportive and have done their best to keep us apprised of all the changes occurring in China.

What is the reason for the delay? There are lots of theories floating around out there in cyber-space but I don’t have a clue. Adoption is not for the faint of heart. I truly can not comprehend how someone without faith can endure this process. If I did not believe that our family was called by God to adopt and that our daughter was in fact in China, I would have lost hope by now. Still, I feel that we have been putting our time to good use.

We have been trying to do lots of fun things with the boys. Baseball season has started. Jeff, Cade, Coby and Grandpa are all at the game right now. After nine months of preparation, I was confirmed into the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil. That was such an amazing experience and I want to thank all our friends and family who have been so supportive! I truly feel blessed. For my Saint, I chose Francis Xavier Cabrini, the Patron Saint of Orphans. Although she was never able to go there, Mother Cabrini also felt called to do missionary work in China. The boys all left Easter day to go camping with the uncle and cousins. Thank goodness for heated cabins! There was so much snow that we had to have our neighborhood egg hunt indoors Easter morning. Jeff has been working hard and working out, gearing up for the financial and physical hardships of three kids. He is also preparing to coach the boys’ t-ball team this summer.