NEW PICTURES FROM THE ORPHANAGE!

Look at that squishy, icing covered face!  Oh, my gracious.  I know that it is very possible that Benjamin will want nothing to do with Brad or me when we first see him but oh, I hope he lets us kiss those cheeks sooner than later.

Once we received our Letter of Acceptance from China in December, our caseworker let us know that we had the option to send 10 photos of our choice, a stuffed animal, and a cake to Benjamin if that was something we'd like to consider.  We jumped at the chance to send Benjamin some photos of ourselves hoping it would give him a little bit of an idea of who we are and what we look like before we meet him in China.

Not only that, but our caseworker said that photos would be taken of Benjamin when he received the package.  The photos we have of Benjamin before he comes home with us are pure gold.  They are the only thing he will be able to see regarding his birth country and time at the orphanage later in life.  Brad and I feel as though it is our responsibility to document this as best we can so Benjamin may have the choice to look back on as much or as little of his 2 1/2 years in China as he'd like to in the future.  It was an added expense to have the care package sent but one that we considered more than worth it.

And I think Benjamin's two chubby thumbs ups approve of our decision 😍

Our Article 5 is scheduled to be picked up on January 28th.  After that, we should receive Travel Approval within 1-3 weeks (our caseworker said about 2 weeks has been the average lately).

1-800 to NVC & DS-260: 1-2 weeks
NVC to Article 5: 2 weeks  <-- We are here! Scheduled for Jan. 28th
Article 5 to TA: 1-3 weeks
TA to departure: 2 weeks

Waiting is certainly hard when you can see a face and know a name, when you pray for him with your children, when you move furniture to make space for a new little human, and when you check the weather in his city daily just because it's the only thing you can know about what's going on in his world right now (it's been hovering around 30's and sunny by the way).

But the waiting has taught us a lot and given us the time necessary to prepare.  The last Magnolia Journal I received was themed around the idea of anticipation. In her Letter from the Editor, Joanna Gaines wrote,

"[Anticipation] can be easily disguised. It's a close but distinct cousin to both excitement and anxiety - though these emotions have a suddenness about them while anticipation requires time.  It can serve as a bridge between where we stand and what lies ahead.... What we make of this time in between, whether it's two years, two days, or two hours, is every bit as worthy of our attention as the outcome itself."

While it's easy to rant and rave about how long the process of adoption takes, complain about how much paperwork there is, grumble over having our fingerprints taken again, and stew over whether or not all of the associated costs are justified in the end, all of those things create a length of time between the start of the process and bringing a child home that builds anticipation.  And both 'distinct cousins' - excitement and anxiety - show up unannounced (as family usually does) multiple times as we wait.

Joanna couldn't have summed it up better - "What we make of this time in between... is every bit as worthy of our attention as the outcome itself."

As we've waited, I started sorting the clothes so generously gifted to us by our neighbors.  I came across a few pieces that had text on them: Mommy's Little Stinker, Tough Like Daddy, Little Brother, and so on...

I have to humbly admit that, with my biological children, these kinds of outfits seemed rather cheesy (just another thing I took for granted before we started this process).  But for a child who previously had no mother, no daddy, no older siblings, these clothes bring tears to my eyes.  And I find myself wanting to clothe him in outfits like this every single day because now I really understand that having a mother, a father, a family is no small thing.  These clothes are like badges of honor.

In some of the photos we received from the orphanage, you can see the faces of other children; other children who are waiting just like Benjamin, other children who I want to see clothed in outfits that say 'Little Sister', 'Daddy's Princess', or 'Mommy's Little Man'.  It is a bittersweet thing to see Benjamin's face... a face we've waited so long to see(!) but in the midst of other faces that still need families.

I know I've talked about this a lot but would you consider helping us to finish raising the $5,500 Orphanage Donation that will go specifically to helping children - like the ones you can see surrounding Benjamin - the opportunity to get what they desperately need while they wait (including the fees the orphanage has to pay associated with simply filling out the paperwork to list them as Waiting Children in the first place) so that one day they might be able to find a forever home.

We're only $3,159 away from being able to do that.  If you're interested in helping in that way, you can give to our GoFundMe page here.

Thank you for waiting in anticipation alongside us,
Brooke