bodner004

I look over the list of things "to do" for our Home Study process from the agency about 50 times a day I think!  Always checking and doubling checking the things that I must complete before we can move forward.  Many of them are things that require me to wait on goverment agencies or other people - boy is that not easy for me to do!! ;) Today our passports came in the mail - woohoo!  We were told they could take up to 8 weeks and they took less than 3!  It is surreal to look at this book and imagine that Derek and I will have stamps from Japan and China in there by this time next year.  The only out of country trips Derek and I have ever taken have been to Canada and Mexico - neither did we need a passport for.  I guess with every piece of documentation that comes things seem more "real".....still most of the time I feel like this is just a dream. Yesterday I mailed out about a dozen forms and authorizations to EAC so they could start working...

Wow.  I am not really sure where to start with our adoption journey story. The "beginning" sounds easy enough, but where was the beginning really?  I feel like this is something that God has been preparing me for my entire life. Through all the heartaches and hardships, all the miracles and rejoicing, the people I have met, the places I have lived and even the tiniest details I remember from my childhood.  I feel like it is all pointing to this - Our Adoption Journey! Derek and I began discussing adoption in our teens when we were dating. Attending the same church and youth group we were presented with outreach opportunities to other countries and orphans.  We discussed the realities of adoption and how maybe we would adopt when we got married (yes, we KNEW we would be married even when we were only 16 and 18 years old!).  Probably never very mature talks about adoption like we have today, but the seeds was there and we were both willing! Fast forward 18 ye...