Fingerprinting & Dancing

Corey here...

We were ecstatic yesterday to get our appointment for fingerprinting...mainly because it is only about 10 days out!  We had seen where one family received their date for fingerprinting and it was 8 weeks out, so you can imagine how we had been preparing ourselves for a much longer wait.  We (and several of our friends) have been praying that this part of the process would go quickly and we are thankful that it is.  So, we expect that a short time after we get fingerprinted, we will receive the final piece of paperwork that we need to be able to send our dossier to Ethiopia (DTE).  Once we go DTE, we will then officially go on the wait-list and the paper-chase part of our adoption will be complete.  Then the real waiting begins (currently estimated at 7-11 months) before we get a baby girl referred to us.  We are resting in God's timing to bring us the daughter He has chosen for our family.  We pray and are confident that during this time He will be preparing our whole family for the road ahead.  That doesn't mean that there aren't times when the waiting is tough and we have moments of sadness as we think of our baby girl being without us on the other side of the world.  But we try to remind ourselves to "be still and know that [He] is God."  Prayers for that are always welcomed and appreciated.

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and was recanting our "adoption story" to him.  I was explaining how at first we were really apprehensive and concerned about what God was calling us to do.  It was somewhat of a burden if I'm being honest.  But God is good and He does some amazing things.  He takes a burden and turns it into a longing and a passion.  We now feel like our family isn't complete and we really do ache for this little one to come home.  All praise to God for that kind of transformation!  If I'm also being completely honest, there are still moments when I think we are crazy.  But then when I stop thinking of the process, struggles and challenges for us ahead and really focus on that little girl; it's as true and right as it gets.

Switching gears here..

We had our first Father/Daughter dance last weekend at our church.  I took Emma and Addie and as you can see, they were looking so cute in thier fancy dresses.  They were really excited about it and so was I because I was going to to spend that night totally focused on them.  Our church did such an awesome job putting this on.  We had 3 different crafts, dinner, dancing, horse-drawn carriage rides and ice-cream sundaes.  It's hard to say what their favorite part was, but I think dancing to YMCA was a highlight.  I sure do love these girls - such a great night and memory for me.  I did have a moment when I was thinking that one day I'm going to have 4 dates on that night...I guess I'll be quite the ladies' man!