The countdown begins! Almost.....

We're sooooo close to traveling to Thailand. I cannot wait to see my oldest daughter! It seems we've been apart for a century, but it's been one thousand five hundred sixty seven days. A century to me! A lifetime for her! In another 41 days she will turn 20 years old. An adult according to Thai standards. Will we face opposition from Thailand? Will the United States grant Brooke's Visa back to America? How much longer must she wait to be back in our family again?

One week ago today

It's been a whole week! A week and 9 hours actually, since we were sitting in a courtroom saying yes to our Judge. Aniah is our little girl now! October 12, 2011 we finalized her adoption! My heart has been so full I think I forgot that Aniah gets a bit snotty. She's playing 2-year-old today and giving me fits haha! But now it's almost ok because I get to say "I'm the Mom". Cody loves being a big sister and Aniah follows closely behind Co-Co. I was watching them out the window today and Tom was making some loud noise in the garage. Cody took a few steps back and encouraged Aniah to get back and stay safe. Aniah ran super fast and hid behind Cody! I loved watching them! She's a handful, but she's my youngest daughter. Yes, finally....Aniah is my daughter.

Aniah

I just realized that I hadn't updated everyone on our current adoption! Aniah came to live with us at 7 months of age. We have had her as part of our family for over a year now and we are headed straight toward adoption! She is finally legally free and we have a permanancy worker assigned. God knew we needed someone organized and prompt so He gave us Meredith. We've worked with Meredith in the past for some other foster kiddos we had and when we found out she was in the adoption unit we begged to have her for our worker! Families don't usually get to choose who they work with, luck-of-the-draw sorta, when you are assigned a worker.

Meredith will be writing the child study on Aniah while our worker is doing an update on our home study. We will need some paperwork and a few meetings before we can set an adoption date. We're hoping to have Aniah adopted by her second birthday in September.

And now we get the pleasure of choosing her name!

Guessing Game

6 months, 27 days. And Brooke will be 20 years old. In Thailand a 20 year old is suddenly an adult. Not a moment before. And suddenly, what will she do? Where will she go? If she were alone in the world she would walk out of the orphanage with no where to go and no one to go to. It wouldn't be long though, before someone snatched her up! She would likely become a prostitute or some other similar sort of slave. Her life expectance would be shortened, either by violence or disease.

But Brooke is not alone in the world. There are so many people who care about her! I want to step outside and scream "Brooke! I'm coming! Dad and I are coming!" So soon too! But so far away. I can handle how far away when I think of time. The ones that are driving me insane are money and Visa.

We don't know what Visa to apply for. We don't know when we should apply for it. It's nearly $400 for the one we think will work for her. Another $400 for the waiver. Then how will we get there? How will we get her home?

If we choose a certain path and it's the wrong one, we've just wasted so much time and money. What a gamble we're taking just in considering the type of Visa to apply for! My chest constricts and it becomes hard to breathe when I think of any of the things that could go wrong here.

We are interested in fundraisers but we can't do this all on our own. Esther is helping with one and we are so excited she's sacrificing so much for us! What a caring and compassionate person she is and I thank God for her being a part of our lives.