SLOOOOOOOOWLY! Some things are happenin'

Well, I sit here on a Sunday afternoon, and am thinking this would be a good time to update our blog a bit. Nothing earth shattering, but here is where we stand at the moment. We are now in a legal binding with the adoption agency. God supplied the money that we needed to get together for this initial purpose, and we sent it off with all of the initial forms signed on the 8th or so. So, we officially have an adoption agency. YEAH! ! ! Things have been moving slowly, and for those of you that know me, I don't like being idle much unless I am sleeping. :-) So, I asked if we could get started on our home study, and we sent the paperwork for the home study off on the 8th or 9th as well. We got a call from our social worker for our home study. We set up a date to start the process on the 29th of this month. There are also some forms we are needing to retrieve for that; and she will ask us some questions when we meet. We are looking forward to that. Then last Thursday, we got our first call from the case worker with CWA (Christian World Adoption), the adoption agency we are using. That was nice to hear from her. There was a lot discussed in that one hour time frame. She did express some concern about us being able to easily get boys at the age we are looking for (2 1/2- 3 1/2 years of age) in the region she had considered. She said it could take 8 months to a year from the time we get all of our paperwork submitted to Russia. So, back to the drawing board as far as the region goes. We were also told that because the Russian gov't is really working hard, and making it lucrative to get orphaned children in foster homes in Russia, the children available are decreasing. That can be a good thing for the orphans, as the families may fall in love with them, and choose to adopt them. It could be a bad thing if the people are just doing it for the money. If you think about it, please say a prayer for all of those little children. There are many things to consider when adopting. We have really had to seek God's face along the way, and God is showing us that there are going to be times when we will have to wait on Him. He wants us to ask, and then we need to wait. Sometimes the answer will come fast, and sometimes slooooooowly. Waiting is something that I (Michelle) don't easily grasp, or do very well. Also, it seems like we have to be committed to this adoption once we commit. It all makes sense, doesn't it. But, what we are really called to be committed to our relationship with Christ. Lord, please help us to stay committed to you.