When do you become a mother?

When is the exact moment that you become a mother? Is it the moment the courts tell you that it's official? Is it the moment you have your Embassy date and you get to bring your child home? Is it the moment you first hold your child? Or is it the moment that you first decide to step out in faith in this crazy journey called adoption?






I kind of think it's all of the above and everything in between.




I don't know if the general public would agree with me or not. But I guess it doesn't really even matter. What matters is that you're in this thing... for the long haul... as long as that haul might be. There are days when it feels surreal and so far off in the future that you can't even really grasp it. And there are other days when it feels more than real and you can picture your life, your home, your world with this little person in every part of it. There are days when it feels like nothing is happening. But thankfully, there are more days than that where I am reminded that God is the one in control and that He sees the big picture and just so happens to have perfect timing. When I can't see why it's taking so long, I know He can. And I have to be ok with that.




I'm reminded of the scripture that is painted on the walls of an orphanage where I just so happened to have met an adorable little 2 year old snuggle bug that instantly stole my heart:




For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11




He knows. He cares. He is in this thing. And whether the general consensus says I'm already a mother or not, I feel like one. Ready and willing to wait, to fight, to pray and to trust - all to get one very precious little child home to his momma who is gonna love him with all that she is!

His Room

Spreadsheets are fun!

I spent the entire morning creating one big spreadsheet in excel that lists all my adoption donations and expenses paid out thus far. Paypal is great because I was able to download all the paypal transactions from their site so I didn't have to manually add those in. Everything else, I've been writing down in a notebook, keeping receipts, etc. since this process started. It feels WAY more official and organized to have it all in a spreadsheet that adds and subtracts for me! I love spreadsheets.
My total raised so far numbers were off a little bit so I've updated that in the fundraising thermometer. It's so amazing to go through this 270 line spreadsheet and see all the names of all the amazingly generous people who have supported this adoption! I am so thankful. I cannot say enough how thankful I truly am!!!

To date, here's where I'm at with adoption expenses:
$16,565.64 grand total raised for my adoption
$11,348.07 already paid out for adoption related expenses
$5217.57 leftover and ready to go toward the $10,000 Ethiopia program fee when I accept the referral - this happens once his paperwork is finally done. They'll give me the official referral on him and I believe I have 5 days to accept it (after having a doctor who specializes in reading International medicals look over it and explain everything to me) and pay the $10K.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!!! Praying his paperwork is done soon so I can move on to the next phase and be that much closer to having my little man home:)