Writing and Waiting

Hi, everyone.  Sorry it has been so long since my last blog.  I wanted to update you on where we are in the adoption process.  Actually, things have been pretty eventful since our last post.  Two weeks ago we were made aware of a situation of a birth mother who was looking for an adoptive family for her daughter.  Feeling like it was the Lord's leading, we decided to present our profile to the birth mother as a possible match.  The catch was, the baby was going to be born before the end of November! We submitted our profile and waited.  I would like to say patiently, but mostly we just waited impatiently.  About a week later, we found out the mother had decided to go with a different adoptive family.  But, we are ok with that.  We know the Lord has the right child for us at the right time.  It is so comforting to know that we can rely on God's sovereignty instead of our own intellect in figuring out this situation.  We know the Lord has a plan for our family and His timing is perfect.  Our job is not to fret, worry, or even make plans.  Our job is just to hang on for the ride and be obedient when opportunities arise. So, in the meantime, we are doing a lot of writing and a lot of waiting.  The writing is referring to grant applications.  Lots and lots of grant applications.  The estimated cost of our adoption is $25-30,000 and we are going to need some help raising that amount.  So, we have applied for several grants and fund raising ideas that can help.  The waiting also refers to the grant applications.  Most of them take 6-8 weeks to process before we will know if we have been awarded a grant.  We have been made aware of other possible situations of of children due to be born in the upcoming months and are praying hard for wisdom.  Please pray with us that we will be able to wait upon the Lord and draw strength from Him as we seek to do His will in growing our family.