And we wait. | Reece's Rainbow

In May we were told to expect travel approval in the middle of June. It is now June 23rd and still we wait with no end in sight. This means we are unable to book flights, hotel rooms, arrange childcare for the girls, house and pet sitters, etc. We were initially told to expect to travel at the end of this week, which is obviously not happening. At this point we have no real expectation of when we will travel. I could go on and on about the ways this has inconvenienced us, but what is truly upsetting to me is that our son continues to wait on the other side of the world while we (STILL) wait for someone to complete our paperwork. We have been assured there are no current delays, but considering the fact that we still don't have travel approval means that we are obviously delayed. For anyone adopting or planning to adopt internationally, I would say absolutely, with all certainty, DO NOT MOVE during your adoption. It has caused so many added expenses and delays beyond our comprehension and our son is the one paying for it. He is the one who continues to live in an institutional setting and not know his true worth as our son. We could have been home months ago, but our move has caused numerous delays and problems with this adoption. Had we seen all of this coming, it would have been a very difficult decision to proceed with our move.

We have been able to Skype with our little guy once a week for the last few weeks, which has been the only bright spot we have had lately. He loves his sisters and is a little scared of our big dog, we've learned.

I wish that I had a better update and that I wasn't writing with such a heavy heart. Yet, this is our reality and I wanted to share an honest picture of where things stand.

Also, I just wanted to say a special thanks to those of you who have continued to be there for us during this hard time. It is now when you find out who is really there for you, when things get messy and it's not exactly easy to be there for us. We have some really special friends and family who are helping us get through and I truly appreciate you fantastic human beings!

Preparing for Travel | Reece's Rainbow

It seems unreal that in a few short weeks we will be meeting our son. Not only are we just meeting our son, we're becoming parents again. To a BOY this time. To a child older than we've ever parented before. To a child with special needs. To a child who does not speak the same language as us. To a child who will go to school in the fall. Can you tell there are a few things on my mind these days?

We had the precious opportunity to meet him via Skype this week (!!!!!!). Words cannot express how great it feels to finally see your child and have him see you, and he didn't even run away and hide from the scary crying lady on the computer screen (he did, though, hang up on us once. We'll let that one slide). And to think our meeting almost didn't happen because I forgot a small detail (13 hour time difference) and had the completely wrong day on my calendar. Luckily we are blessed with the most amazing program director at our agency who literally got ahold of me from a tarmac to make sure the meeting happened. I will forever be grateful for her dedication to this process. Dillon International, y'all. Could not have asked for better people in our corner.

So more about our meeting! I heard the words "My mommy" (in English!) within the first thirty seconds of the call, and it was so surreal. I know that he was likely prepped for our meeting by the social worker, but just to know that this boy is opening his heart to us is such an amazing feeling. There are some children who have no desire to be adopted, so hearing his excitement in meeting us was very reassuring. Claire was so enthralled with her new brother, as he was with her! He kept asking her to dance with him (how did he know she was the dance master?) and he went crazy when he got to see his dog, Ozzy (our 100 pound Bernese Mountain Dog). I loved to see the interaction between the kids and hope we keep that momentum going when he gets home.

Although the last two years have gone by at snail speed, it seems like the last month has went by in the blink of an eye and now we are only weeks away from traveling. We are starting to do things like buy travel necessities and make pre-travel to do lists. Everything is finally feeling real! We also have been attacking the daunting task of searching for flights and choosing a hotel. Although we would jump on a plane tomorrow if they told us to, I would have picked a better (cheaper, cooler) time of year to travel had it been up to us. We will hopefully be traveling around the fourth of July, and I find it so fitting that our newest little American will be arriving home around then. :-)

We have lots of odds and ends to finish before we go, but our biggest hurdle to jump is a financial one. With flights around the fourth of July being so high, we are working around the clock to bring in any extra money we can, and we still have our Reece's Rainbow fundraising site up (our page will become inactive when we head home). To be fully funded for our current expenses (as long as flights don't go up too much more than they have), our FSP (Reece's Rainbow page) would need to read $11,220.35. We are currently at $6,975.35, which means we are $4,245 from reaching our goal. With only a few short weeks to meet it, we are having to put our faith in God that things will fall into place. We don't have any more fundraisers planned since we are leaving in such a short amount of time, but Derek is still busy detailing as many cars as he can when he gets home from work each day. I have stopped doing any photo sessions for now, since I am only doing them on the weekends and we have events every weekend until we plan to leave. If you would like to help us get closer to our goal, you can make a tax deductible donation at:

http://www.ReecesRainbow.org/SponsorEmbry

We are so grateful for the support of our friends and family that have helped us get to this point. It is because of you all that we have made it this far. We are excited for what our future holds and can't wait to share it with you!