The Gestational Period of Elephants...

So, I may have mentioned in passing before, our plan to adopt, and while I might have been coy about everything up til now, it seems that the time is here to kind of "lay it out there". We have been furiously trying to finish the adoption application part 1 for our adoption from Ethiopia (which, in all honestly, is the easiest part...making me very nervous) and trying to get everything done so that we could turn in our application before the end of 2009 to get started on this process. The final step (in step 1, that is) was to complete the Pre-Adoption Workshop..which for our convenience was an online workshop comprised of a "movie" of slide shows that totaled over 6 hours....for real. The first time I attempted to watch it, I fell asleep at around, oh, say...slide 8 of 161...then somehow dreamed a very confusing dream in which my class (in graduate school) was discussing international adoptions...I was SoOoOo confused in my dream, only to awake, amused that the lady speaking on the "movie" had somehow made it into my dreams!

And so comes attempt #2. DH and I were going to watch it TOGETHER on Saturday morning...that was important for both morale support and to ensure we stayed awake for it, since there was an evaluation at the end! We were successful, YAY! And even learned a few things along the way! 

One of the things that really stuck in my mind was that in the "adoption world" they really relate everything about adoption to pregnancy and birth. Comparing the time waiting for your baby's arrival to "pregnancy" and the day you are introduced to your child as his/her "birthday" with his/her Forever Family. Cute, right?? Most adoptive parents try to remind new adoptive families that the same emotions, stresses, and other "fragilities" that happen with biological children are also very common with adoptions. But they also make no qualms about the LENGTH of time that you wait for your baby's "birthday"...Usually between 1 1/2 years to 2 years...that is the gestational period of an ELEPHANT...Now, I don't know much first-hand about "gestational periods" but pretty much everyone around me has been pregnant, and one thing that is resoundingly true is that the picture towards the end is a little different than the picture...well..anywhere else in the pregnancy. As an objective bystander, I generally see that most people are "READY for this kid to get here" at around 8 1/2 months....so.. can you imagine how you would feel at 2 years?!?!?!

So be praying...because while we aren't "pregnant"..this is a long journey full of ups, downs, and lots of emotions! We trust God because we know this plan was laid out over 2 years ago, and so far everything has been exactly in the timeframe we felt God was leading towards, but that doesn't take away the fears, worries, concerns, etc....One thing we especially ask for your prayers about is the financial aspect. We know that God is going to have control in this and we trust Him even without having the "mapquest" of our trip in front of us. I know how we COULD take care of it in the natural, but I also know that when you trust God and step out in faith along his path, that amazingly supernatural miracles happen,  and in this case we are expecting those financial miracles!

So, I guess this is my first REAL adoption post although I am sure there will be plenty more. We are praying furiously that finances don't delay things (as the time frame is already LOONG!) and we will keep you updated on our journey as we go. Thank you so much for all your prayers and love.

DH and I at Rhema's Christmas Lights 2009