Still Waiting - Please Pray!

Sorry for the long blogging silence ... honestly, there has not been much to share.
[Skip to the end of this ranting post if you want to know how you can pray for us tomorrow]

We have had approximately six expectant mothers view our profile since we started waiting in January, but obviously none of them have chosen us.
I've had a couple people ask me what the process for the profile showing looks like on our end.
Well, I get an email from our social worker with details about the expectant mother (including drug use, status of the father, her desire for openness, expected delivery date, family medical history, race, etc), we say "yes" or "no" to having our book shown, and then we hear nothing.
The nothingness? That means we weren't chosen.

God has been so kind in filling us with patience and perspective for the process. Every time an expectant mother says no to us, that means she is saying yes to another waiting family. And God is orchestrating the process to place children in the right home. Not that it is entirely easy to wait, but God has gifted us an abundant peace ... and we are so thankful! I recognize that our wait has really just begun, so pray with us that God continues to give us eternal perspective.

This afternoon, I got a call from our social worker who was on her way to meet a woman who gave birth on Friday. She explained the details of the situation and asked if we wanted our book shown. We said yes, and then I obsessively watched my phone for the next several hours. Ideally, expectant mothers see profile books in their seventh month of pregnancy, but some women don't decide they want to make an adoption plan until the last minute. Obviously we knew that was a possibility, but this was the first time we received that kind of call. Turns out, she isn't seeing books until tomorrow. But the whole ordeal made me freshly aware that any given day might be my last as a mother-to-one. I spent this evening soaking up every minute with Phoenix and working a little harder to make her feel special and communicate my unending love. I want to ensure this is more of a daily discipline, because -- as much as I anticipate our future arrival -- I want to truly treasure our days as a family of three.

My favorite thing about this stage in the process? The abundant opportunity for prayer. Every time we get one of those emails, we cover the mother and her child in prayer. There have been two or three expectant mothers in particular that I have felt especially burdened for in prayer. These are women that I would probably never meet, who are in terribly difficult life situations. How cool that our lives intersect (however briefly) and we get the opportunity to pray for them when they may have few (if any) people interceding on their behalf.

Speaking of prayer (catch that artful transition?), we would really appreciate prayer tomorrow! There are two different mothers seeing our profile tomorrow, including the aforementioned birth mother whose baby boy is currently in the NICU. And, tomorrow afternoon, we have an interview with a member of a grant committee - I have mentioned this before, but (if we are chosen) they would make adoption donations tax-deductible and would also match every dollar up to $4000. Obviously, that would be huge for us. So pray for God's favor!

We love walking with y'all!