Hanging In There

I've had several people ask me, over the course of the last few weeks, how the adoption was going. Each time the question was responded with a smile and a small explanation regarding the status of the impending legislation changes.

Talking about the adoption has been exceptionally hard for both of us. Post election and still with possible legislation changes, we moved forward with the process regardless of the hurt and confusion that seems to be present. It hasn't been easy, trying to keep a smile on our faces and pretending that politics don't matter. In the world of international adoption, they matter a great deal. USCIS fee increases, that were introduced back in July, are going into effect on December 23rd. 21% on average. That's a pretty big jump and pretty daunting to us right now, but just another way the government is attempting to limit intercountry adoption.

We finished the home study portion. The final draft was sent to MLJ and then we received our IEP. I'll talk more about our IEP a little later on. For now we move on with fundraising. Right now we have a holiday Origami Owl party running with my friend Stacy Schneider. You can find our party link here if you're interested in shopping with us. Stacy is donating a portion of her commission to our Adopt Together account. I'll put together a little something more about this for tomorrow.

We hope everyone is doing well and is ready to launch into the craziness of the holiday season. We're looking forward to spending lots of time with family and friends over the few weeks.

Lots of love,

Another Lesson from Disney

Today's Disney lesson comes from the movie Meet the Robinsons. This movie is highly underrated and wasn't very big when it came out. I watched it several years ago and latched on to the message that the main characters explore. Lewis, the main character, is a brilliant inventor, but get's stuck helping Wilbur complete a project. Lewis expresses his frustration with not being able to complete the project and Wilbur gives him some valuable advice.

Lewis: I don't even know what I'm doing.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: I mean, this stuff is way too advanced for me.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: And what if I can't fix this, what are we going to do?
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: Why do you keep saying that? And don't just say keep moving forward!
Wilbur: It's my dad's motto.
Lewis: Why would his motto be keep moving forward?
Wilbur: It's what he does.

Image from Amazon

So, we are stuck. We're sort of in a limbo state while we wait for documents that are needed to move on with our home study. We've run into other problems as well, but we keep moving forward.There's other paperwork to prep for, other pieces that need to be obtained and we're doing it. We're moving forward.

Generosity of Strangers

Has there ever been a day that just breaks you down emotionally? The kind of day that, by 5:00, you're ready to hit the floor running? That was me today. The beginning of the day was rough and this afternoon was no better. I came home, still exhausted, and looked into our little mail box. Inside was a light blue envelope.

My heart instantly swelled. Our first donation came from a complete stranger. I was instantly over taken by joy, sadness, relief, and an extreme gambit of emotions. I never would have expected someone who has never met me to care so much about our little, growing family. 

Kathy, who I have met while finding myself over the past 2 years on Instagram, has grown to be a dear friend of mine. Fate lead me to her and the rest of my FitFam. The "girls" as we're called, have grown to be a pretty tight-knit bunch. However, as I mentioned, I've never met any of these women face to face. I've never spoken on the phone to them, but we have traded numerous text messages, showed our support and concern when times got hard, and made each other laugh an unbelievable amount!  

This adoption is going to be hard, mentally and financially. Knowing that there are people out there, like Kathy, makes the whole process a lot easier. I love you girl, regardless if we've ever met. I could have never imagined something like this.Thank you so much, my dear @buttercup.low_carb. Words cannot express how much this means to me.

Ok, now I go get a tissue and cry ugly tears over how touching this was.

Taking a Lesson from Dory

This weekend proved to be eventful and nerve wracking. It seemed as though every time I turned around, something seemed to be going wrong (unrelated to the adoption process). I was annoyed and frustrated, not to mention hot because our A/C went out for 48 hours. Throughout the weekend, my husband reminded me that these things happen and yes, it causes a delay in the process, but there's nothing we can do about it. So, I take a page out of the book from Dory and we 'just keep swimming.'

Image found through Google