-11 F, it's all relative - January 28th

     So here I am sitting in a coffee shop in Oakley sipping a frothy cappucino and catching up on the news of the day online. At first there was nobody in the shop and then a group of three ladies came in and sat down close to where I am perched in the corner. Just as I was on WNDU news site from Northern Indiana and reading that the air temps are -11 F right now (not sure what that is in celsius but ridculously cold) the ladies next to me start talking about the weather. 'This month has been so bad, it hasn't been that cold but it has been a really bad month' I found this interesting while it is true that there has been bucketfulls of rain it hasn't even sniffed the freezing point. I'll bet our friends in Indiana would be more than happy to approach the freezing point.

a pic from WSBT of person driving in Michiana

     Rebecca and I were talking the other day and she recognised that if we had not been able to do our trip in November then we'd be snowbound along with everyone else in Goshen during these weeks. It's all relative isn't it, what is 'bad' here and 'not too cold' would be welcome with a red carpet somewhere else. We are so thankful that we were able to see all our friends/family while in the US in November and without any hiccups, no travel warnings or snow removal needed.

     Yesterday somebody asked Rebecca 'Is there anything that you want to do before the adoption goes through' and her answer was no, not really. We have been able to live life to the fullest, to travel to many a distant land, to have opportunties to attend so many great games/concerts/shows, to live in two countries, have amazing jobs with great co-workers, all of this to name just a bit of the life that Lord has had us lead. Wow what a fun, life-giving time we have had and do have daily, there is no reason to expect that to change. What we do day-to-day will change, probably a few less stragegy board games, not as many late nights watching bball, more visits to kid friendly places that for a long time we have not wanted or needed to frequent.

     Are we up for these changes (obviously there are loads more too:), I'd say we are. It's all relative, I heard a couple not too long ago say that they had a great time on their first night out without kids in three years. We've had nights out for 17+ anytime we wanted responsibilities permitting of course. We look forward to the days coming where we actually have to stay in, not just because we decide to, we have to, there may not be a sitter or maybe a little one is not feeling to well, or simply needs some special time. To some that might sound like an unfortunate change of plans or a downer that 'freedom' is now gone, we'll take it, we've been 'free' for a while. Again it's all relative to your situation.

     We're excited some of the other people who were going through training here in July with us have now been approved to adopt, one has a little girl coming home in  March, two others go to panel tomorrow, others did a fortnight ago. It's all happening, for us the next big date comes in March at some point, and then we'll see from there. Another thing that is relative is waiting, we've all been there whether it is waiting for a parcel, an update on loved-one's health or for a bus that is running late. Sometimes the waiting is quite simple, other times depending on the situation it can be excruciating, for us we've been in this game long enough that good things come to those who wait. And this last pic in honour of my dad Cliff who loves a soaring bald eagle

My How Time Flies (where we are in the process) - January 9th 2014

     I still can't believe it has been well over 5 years (half a decade, wow) since we moved to England. It has been nearly 2 years since our adoption prep trip to Indiana. It's been close to a year since the watershed conversations that led us to inspect the adoption process in this country and abandon the one in the states. My how time flies!

     We've had a picture from a good friend that was a highway view and the encouragement was to 'enjoy the view'. There has been much to enjoy over the last year and of course we look with great excitement to the new year that is now a week and a half old already. I hope that we have taken time to enjoy the view, they say that once you have kids the the years go by even faster, I think that we'll have to continue being aware of the advice to enjoy the view.
     The beginning of a new year brings with it new hopes, dreams and plans for the coming days. In our case there are some really exciting hopes and dreams that we hold to coming into 2014. Some specifics about our process which we have not expressed are the following; sorry this seems a bit clinical but I want to express the process as clearly as possible

• We have almost completed our home-study process, meaning that we are finished with the interview process that was done by our social worker. A profile report needs to be done based on these interviews, these were great times together, we really appreciate our worker and the depth with which we had conversation.
• We are scheduled to go to 'panel' in the middle of March. The panel is a group of people who are knowledgable about the adoption process and they gather to hear the 'case' of prospective adopting couples. After reading the case profile they meet to ask questions of our social worker and ourselves. Provided that there is noting unforeseen we are then approved to adopt.
• Either right before or right after the panel we'll recieve profiles of waiting children from our agency, it's then time for us to look through them, determine which ones we feel drawn to and then seek further information for those profiles. This part can take a very short amount of time depending on how quick we decide to go and how many profiles come our way. 
• Once the child is narrowed down to one there is a matching panel where we as adopters would be approved specifically for that one profile and then a date is set to meet the child, and eventually have the child in our home.

     Speaking of timing, I would say that we have learned to wait as this has not been a 100 meter sprint but much more like a 1500 meter race. To us the timings are all the Lord's, He has been the one leading our way the whole way, our own plans and timings were blown out of the water long ago. As a result we are not all that concerned on how fast or slow certain parts of this process might take. We are aware of a couple adopting who were just recently approved and are already going to matching panel for that child, it has happened oh so quickly. That could happen in our case to, or maybe not, maybe it will linger on, either way we are prepared to be on God's programme not our own.
     For those of you who are prayers here are a few specifics that you can pray on our behalf...

• For our home-study process to be fully completed with the profile written
• That the March date for our panel would happen and that meeting would have a positive result
• The blessing of God to be upon our family, we look forward to the changes coming and we are preparing in our head but we'll need to prepare our house as well. 

Thanks to all of you who have stood with us through this process, if you have been a loyal reader then you'll know the up's and down's of our story. Have a wonderful new year and you too enjoy the view. Below are lyrics to Stay and Wait a song by Hillsong United, a song that sprung to mind while I was doing this blog. Have a listen their acoustic version of the song.

Who spoke the Earth and sky to form, Who sets the sun and calls the dawn
Who breathed me out of dust to life, With the will to trust or run and hide
I will stay should the world by me fold,  Lift up Your name as the darkness falls
I will wait and hold fast to Your word, Heart on Your heart and my eyes on You
Who loved me through my rebel way, Who chose to carry all my shame
Who breaths in me with endless life, The king of glory Jesus Christ
I will stay should the world by me fold, Lift up Your name as the darkness falls
I will wait and hold fast to Your word, Heart on Your heart and my eyes on You
God of wonder and God of grace, Let my soul stand always to praise You
Fix my eyes on Your perfect way, And I'll never look back
Who lifts the poor and heals the blind, Who trampled death for all mankind
Who stands for all with arms stretched wide, My King forever Jesus Christ