My Cowboys

Yesterday we received a big packet in the mail from our agency. It included a copy of our dossier (paperwork), and letter of congrats in completing it, a notice of the wait and what we are to do during it, and a pamphlet with articles about adopting and bonding with our new child. It feels more official now. Our agency also received our payment.

Lots o' paperwork - complete!

In the letter it said to expect to wait 9-11 months for a referral, but before we were told 10-13. It will likely change a little as we wait, and could possibly be even longer (my worst fear!). It is out of our agency’s control. I’ve read that some agencies can offer you quicker timelines, but sometimes what is happening is quite unethical – people offering more money in order to get younger babies, or get them more quickly. When adoption closed in Vietnam a while back it was in effort to clean up the system. It is better now, with more governmental control, but apparently the unethical still happens. Our agency pledges to do nothing unethical or illegal, and other adoptive parents who have gone through FIA have said the same. It’s reassuring to hear.

I expect to suffer some during this wait, but hope I can learn to trust the Lord and be content and really just enjoy having one child for now.

Here are a few very applicable verses the Lord gave me during my church women’s Bible study:

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” –II Corinthians 4:17

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, you endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when you endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” –James 1:2-4

“Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – I Thessalonians 5:18

Koen discovered the little helicopter things that fall from maple trees today. He had fun holding them above his head and dropping them. It worked better though when he watch mommy or papa throw them way up high, and sometimes the wind would catch them and they’d fly for a long time.

Here are some pictures from our church Fall Festival last weekend:


Our little cowboy got to ride a pony.

Our big cowboy got to ride a mechanical bull for a few short seconds.

He loved corn on the cob - his first try and he ate all the corn off!