Ready To Move Forward

{Internet isn't working on my laptop, so I'm having to type this out on my phone - w/auto correct :) so forgive the typos!}

It's been a crazy ride so far and yet we haven't even started...so I was excited to finally put that first check an stack of papers in the mail today! It was like a big weight off of our shoulders. We are so ready to get this girl home!

A few people have asked, so here's what has transpired in the last week:

We were blessed to be able to take a FREE trip to Florida as a family last week (Wed-Sun) compliments of hubby's hard work last Spring/Summer. We were also blessed to be able to go to Magic Kingdom on Thursday for FREE. And it was while we were waiting in line to get on "It's a Small World" ride that we got the phone call telling us we had to have the $16,000 in by Friday (the next day). Maleeya LOVED the ride but I'm not sure Adam and I paid much attention to it. Our hearts sank. Suddenly we were out in the middle of the sea and we took our eyes off of Jesus. We started to flounder. What were we going to do???

We talked and prayed and talked and prayed, asked some trusted people for some advice, got some encouragement from some sweet friends. And we finally realized that God called to this little girl and we still wanted her to be our daughter - more than anything!

The agency called on Friday to finalize things and I let them that we were out of town and didn't have the paperwork with us that we needed to send in with the check, so we were given until today (Monday) to get stuff together and overnight it all to them. We made it back home Sunday night and quickly had to find a notary for some of the paperwork (Adam left this morning around 6:00 for some more training, long before any bank would open, which is why we needed the notary last night). There is a lady in my home town that was available, so we rushed over to her house after stopping by home to grab the paperwork. She was so sweet to do it last minute and didn't charge us!

So, to back up just a bit, we made some quick phone calls on Friday and put out an SOS on Facebook. We had several people respond - one family, that we don't even know personally, gave very generously, but we were still a little short. We were able to get a small loan from our local bank to cover the remaining amount needed and wrapped everything up today.

The agency should get the package tomorrow morning and we will be ready to start the dossier prep stage. Since we really competed 2 of 3 major steps all at once (this is another reason why the payment was so much) we are now going to be moving forward - quickly! We should be receiving dossier instructions in the next day or 2 and will have 30 days to complete it and submit the next payment (and I think it'll be about $6,000).

Whew...it's been a crazy few weeks. Hubby has been traveling a bunch and we've had lots of stuff going on with the adoption. We did come home on Sunday to find our letter for fingerprinting appointment was waiting for us! :)

We can not say THANK YOU enough to everyone who has come along beside us and prayed for us, given generously and shared our story! We won't ever be able to repay you! But know we appreciate each and every one of you! And know we will be sharing this story, God's story, with our little girl! She is worth it! Every single penny!

Stayed tuned...more to come!