Officially Matched

I have struggled with how to even blog about this event in our adoption.  After so much waiting, it really does seem unreal. It has taken us a few days to process everything.  We are officially matched with Ivelina!  Although this does not mean we are her legal parents, it's a lot more official than things have been since March, since she was just "on hold" for us. 

This is the beginning of the referral process (which is a process indeed I am finding out). We have a scheduled phone call with our case worker this Thursday so that the three of us can go over a HUGE pdf of documents and information that accompany this step of the process.  You thought the paperwork was over? Not quite!  We have several contracts and forms to fill out and notarize this week.

We got this wonderful phone call last Friday. We thought there was a chance Bulgaria could've been reviewing our updated documents last week, but Wednesday passed and then Thursday with no word. Then Friday morning passed.  As I did my devos, I prayed a special prayer for all the paperwork, that the Bulgarian officials would find every i dotted and every t crossed and that we would hear news soon. Just a couple hours later, our case worker called with the exciting news that we had been matched earlier in the week. That was quick, God!

I started crying and put her on speaker so Jeremy could comprehend everything she was saying while I cried and tried to compose myself.  Then I heard her say, "You guys, they felt kinda bad for delaying your case back in September, so they want to go ahead and offer you travel dates today as well."  Whaa? I was floored. More tears. We thought we would have a 1-2 week wait until we talked travel, but then she mentioned some dates in December. I still can't believe it!  Do things ever move quicker than expected in an adoption?  Apparently, sometimes they do!

I don't want to share the details of the travel dates yet #1 because nothing is set in stone yet. We do not have plane tickets, nor do we have the money for plane tickets right now! We don't even know if we can accept those dates (but we really want to) and #2 because I just don't know enough about this part of the process yet to blog about it in detail. 

Getting all this news at once was craaazy.  Jeremy and I were both in the middle of working on a big writing project for school when we got the call, and needless to say, nothing much school-related got accomplished after we hung up the phone.  We were immediately looking at the calendar, checking the budget, and scoping out flight plans online.  I called a travel agent just to get a few quotes.  It was a craaazy afternoon.  

I think was on a little referral high as I went to work Friday night. By Sunday night, I had had more time to think, and plan, and worry, and honestly, I was feeling more stressed than excited. NO doubt this has been great, great news, but with this step in the process comes very big, very quick, very expensive, very time-consuming steps.  I. am. stressed. I wish school was already out so we would have more time on our hands to think through all this.  

One huge blessing for which we are thankful is that we fully funded our matching grant which will cover all of the referral fees that are due at this time. That's at least one thing we do not have to stress out about, so I want to thank everyone who helped us meet that goal through our G1S1 fundraiser week!! 

So, right now we are awaiting our referral phone call on Thursday and we are praying! 

We are praying specifically for a grant we that we applied for that can be used for travel expenses. We will hopefully hear from them during the first week of December, and we are praying that God will show us grace in the details over the next few weeks, that everything just falls into place at just the right time. 

I am also simply praying for peace. This is crunch time for school for both of us, and Jeremy just made a big transition at work. The holidays are approaching, and now we have major adoption news to work through.  I am praying for peace from God, that He will take my stress and my worries and that I will remember to cast my cares on Him each day. In times like this, it's easy to get wound up with me and my plans and my thoughts and not give a second thought to prayer. 

Lastly, we have come to the conclusion that if all these details work out in the month of December, it will be the biggest miracle we have ever experienced, y'all.  I am praying for that miracle. I want to be able to shout it from the rooftops that God has worked a miracle for our family through this adoption! I want to meet my daughter!

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Will you join us as we pray?

Thanks for reading,

--Shelly