Adoption Update- a look at our puzzle :)

So I thought I would show a quick picture of our puzzle and update you all on how the adoption process is going!  Really, right now there is a lot of paperwork to fill out.  Lots and lots of paperwork.  So that's what we've been doing and it's not super exciting to write a blog post about :)

However, through our Adoption You Caring site and a recent Jamberry Fundraiser (that is still going on through the end of January!) we have had an overwhelming amount of support come in!  Honestly, we are just blown away by the generosity of all of our friends, family, and even friends of friends and family that haven't even met us and have donated toward our adoption!  We bought a 60 piece puzzle thinking there is no way we would have more than 60 supporters and we are already half way through the puzzle so we may need to double up on puzzle pieces soon!  We can't thank all of you enough not only for your financial support, but for your words of encouragement and prayers.  They mean the world to us. 

As another update, we had our first home study visit on Saturday.  We were both nervous and not sure what to expect, but our social worker was very sweet.  She asked a lot of questions and we showed her around our home, but she was also very helpful in walking us through what to expect in the next few months and even helpful tips on preparing our family now for another sibling.  We are very thankful for her and looking forward to meeting next month.  Currently, we have a LOT of training videos left to watch so we started that last weekend and hope to do a couple each week to finish them by mid February.  If we finish those and our paperwork we could potentially be done with our home study process after our next visit with our social worker!  The sooner the better :)

As a prayer request, if you could all be praying for the orphanages that Lifeline Child is working with that would be wonderful.  Right now they have kids ready to be adopted but they are just waiting on the paperwork.  If any of you are familiar with the adoption world, you may have heard that Ethiopia is slowing down on the number of referrals due to the processes slowing down.  For the most part, this is actually a good thing.  They are making sure the process is ethical.  But obviously, we would love to see more referrals come through in the near future from these new orphanages that they are working with in Addis Ababa so families hoping to adopt can get connected with their kids sooner :)  

We will definitely keep you all updated as we have more news to share!  Thank you again for your support :)