Dear Micah,

Dear Micah,
I think of you every day. You are always on my mind and heart. I glance at your picture often and wonder what you are doing. Are you warm, fed, happy, and loved? I know you are in a good orphanage, and I'm so greatful for that, but I want to hold you and let you know that your mommy and daddy love you so much. I look into your eyes and see hope; I look at your smile and see happiness. It's going to be so amazing to have you join our family. The girls talk about you every day... they say things like "When is Micah coming home?" "How many teeth does he have?" "How tall is he?" "I want him to come home now!" It's going to be really hard to leave them when we come to get you, but we know that the relatively short time we are gone from them does not compare to the lifetime we are able to give to all of you together. I hope you feel our love and know we are getting there as fast as we possibly can. All of our paperwork is being processed and we are just waiting for the approvals and appointments that will allow us to come and get you. If I could go to the offices and make them push the right buttons or sign the right forms, I would in a heartbeat! The waiting part of the process is a rite of passage from what I am told; it makes us grow and stronger. It makes us reflect on what we've done so far and hope for what is yet to come. It also makes us think and pray for his little crib buddies that are there waiting for their families also... thankfully the ones we know about all have families coming for them except Antonio, and we are praying so hard for him every day. If we had more room and approval for more than one, we'd probably bring him in as part of our family too. They all tug at our heartstrings and make us wish we could do more. For now Micah, please know that we love you more than you'll ever know and we cannot wait to bring you home.
Love,
Mommy

And we wait...

So this was the "hurry up and wait" feeling everyone told me about :) We submitted our USCIS paperwork via FedEx last Friday and it arrived safely in Dallas, TX yesterday!! We are done running around chasing papers, so now we pray, raise funds, and wait. We only have $10,000 to raise now after our sizeable tax return and a generous loan from Barry's mom. We are trying not to borrow the rest from her, but hope to get as many donations as possible while we wait.

We have beeing hearing about these wonderful waiting children getting grants at Reece's Rainbow, and I am so very happy that the money donated will help them all find families. I pray that their grants help their forever families find them soon. However, I can't help but wonder about the sweet children whose families committed to them on a leap of faith and really need help to continue with their travel journeys. I know God will provide, no matter what... He will provide as long as we are faithful and endure to the end. We are praying for all the families who are raising money for their sweet babies (especially my new friends the Goldens and the Cannells) and hope the money keeps coming in for them! We are trying to organize a jog-a-thon but are not getting a response from the locations we've contacted. We are running out of precious time and wish raising money was easier, and that the weather was warmer for some of our ideas :)

Well, for now I continue in prayer and gratitude for the generosity and support we have received so far. We have a wonderful support network all around us and are blessed by kindness each day. I pray Micah's story touches someone out there to help wherever they can to bring him home and out of the orphanage. I pray for all the sweet kids at Reece's Rainbow who need homes. Our FSP is at reecesrainbow.org/sponsorray (and you can click on the right to see other waiting children).

With a humble heart,
Shelly