We have a SON - now what?

My apologies it's taken me so long to get another update to you all - you probably thought we fled the country to go pick him up right now? If only it worked that way! Haha, the reality is I have no doubt in my mind that he'll be here before we know it because I can't even believe it's been almost a month since we first got the call about him. Time has flown!

Our birthday cake we enjoyed at work from my amazing coworkers!

So what has this past month been like for us? Overwhelmed with love and support. Gifts from dear family and friends for our son, incredible words of encouragement, the biggest hugs I've ever seen, tears of joy, our son's name that will automatically get a huge grin on mine and Jason's face. This is simply from you guys. Now magnify all those things to get a glimpse of what God is doing in and for us.

Care package and photo album. First pictures our son will ever see of us!

I would love to say that life has slowed down, and we both have spent ample time alone with the Lord to rejoice in His goodness - but life keeps moving, and I love having this outlet to process through God's goodness, and pray that it may even encourage you. God has answered so many prayers, and I see so many ways only He can get the glory for it. Here's a few way:

Our son's photo album!

• We would of been in Thailand when our son was there back in February 2014. We prayed throughout that entire trip for God's name to be known, for people to come to Christ, for others to see and experience the hope that we've found. We prayed that over our son without even knowing it!
• We continue to pray that God would be on display, and not us. Our son's birthday is my birthday. What a way to answer prayer in my eyes - Rachel, will you give up the one day a year focused on you to care for and love this orphan?
• When we received the invoice for the Thailand fee, two emails to grants and it was completely payed for. PRAISE GOD alone for that. We couldn't do that!

So where do we go from here? All our paperwork is being reviewed by Thailand. This can take anywhere from 7-10 months. As we wait, we will get progress reports and pictures (for security purposes, photos of him cannot be posted here) every four months, and we can send care packages :) Once Thailand approves us, we will have a flurry of paperwork, confirmations, and get our travel dates. This can be a 1-2 month process. When we go over, we'll be there for two and a half weeks. There is only so much we can know about what God has for us for this next year - would you be praying for us?

• Any day now he’ll receive a letter from us and a photo album. Pray that his heart and little 2-year old mind would begin to gain a love and trust for us, even by simply seeing our picture. God can do this.
• Pray for his foster mother to have wisdom in preparing him for his forever family.
• Pray that his heart, his foster mother, and his biological parents would see God’s hand in this little boys story, and their hearts would long for the relationship with a heavenly Father who will never leave us.
• Pray that God would be preparing and strengthening our marriage for adoption, parenting, traveling and more.
• Pray that God would be bring both of us a complete trust in God, and reliance on His wisdom as we become parents.
• Pray that God would exceed any expectations we have - that God would use this little boy in mighty ways, that we would see people come to Christ through our testimony or his, and that all three of us would look more like Christ by being on this journey! 

We are incredibly encouraged by you! Thanks for being on this journey with us!

You are Loved!

So exciting to think about!