So When Are You Going To Bring Your Baby Home?

"So when are you going to bring your baby home?" or some variation of the question is probably the question we get asked the most. I would say we answer it at least 2-3 times a week. And, even though it's briefly addressed on the FAQ page  I felt expanding on it would help paint a picture of what the process is like.

The honest answer is: We don't know.

I wish we could tell you a specific date or even a time frame but we really truly can't. In each step of the process we are given a very vague timeframe of how long the step will take. For example the step we are on right now can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 12 weeks (or more!) (For those wondering, we are in week 7.) And every step between now and bringing our little guy home has the same kind of timeframes.

Of course we have hopes of when we will get to, but any time frame we give you is just that. Hope.
But hope is what we are clinging to because, without it, it would be easy for us to get discouraged.

In fact, lately, discouraged is exactly how I have been feeling.

The process of adoption (like many things in life) is hard and it takes time. It's one of those things that is often sugarcoated and romanticized, like marriage in a way. Both are beautiful adventures, but they both come with hard challenges. And the hard stuff is what people often don't talk about.

This waiting is hard. Really, really, hard. This waiting is a challenge. It requires so much patience, and there are times when I just want the waiting to end. There are times when I want to fly over there and bring our son home. There are times when I ask God, "Why does this have to take so long?" And there are times when my heart is so full with love, and so tired of waiting that I just cry.

That is where hope comes in.

That is where I am reminded, even when it is hard to believe, that God's timing is perfect. That is where I remember to not be anxious and to put all of my trust in him, even when I don't understand what He is doing. And, that is where He reminds me that He has walked us through to this point, and he will carry us through to the end.

Hope is not always easy to cling to, there are times when I have to take my thoughts captive and choose not to let the enemy win. However, when I choose hope, I choose to find the joy in this process. I can watch the videos and look at the pictures of our son and see his smiling face, and choose to have that joy. I can choose to be optimistic about the timeline and I can choose to be hopeful about when we get to bring him home.

So, we may not know exactly when we will bringing this little boy home. We do still hope that it will be the late summer or early fall, but we really don't know.

*Side Note* We don't mind answering this question, it's okay if you ask us, we are in no way annoyed by it. We love how involved everyone is, and how much they want him home as much as we do. Just know that when we are saying we don't know, that is the honest truth. :)