A time to celebrate

This past weekend was full of celebrations! L and I look forward to this weekend each year for a few reasons including getting together with friends and my birthday. We packed up the car Friday and headed to Port Aransas for our annual 4th of July weekend trip with close friends. We spent the weekend at the beach in a wonderful beach house, all 14 of us. The ladies each took a meal and cooked some of our favorite dishes which included: sopapilla cheesecake, fajitas and guacamole, yummy breakfast casseroles, baked powdered donuts, breakfast tacos, homemade Dominican ice cream, chicken salad, turkey burgers, sliders, fresh cut fries on the grill and so much more. To say we ate well is an understatement, but the best part of the trip is simply the time spent together. We get to catch up on each others lives and have fun. Only 362 days until we do it again...

This year we had the first kids along. Our dear friends Drew and Rae have twin girls that are simply precious. They are the best babies and have the best parents. It was great to watch our friends with their babies and how they integrate so well into all of our lives. As I set on the beach, I wondered if Little R will be there next year? I thought about how great it would be for Little R to play in the sand and catch up on sensory development (a few too many books, I know!). Or will we be meeting our child?

I find myself constantly wondering what the next year will look like. People's automatic question now is "When will you travel?" - if only we knew. A million questions run through my mind. I do not even know Little R, for goodness' sake; I do not even know Little R's gender or age, but still, I wonder.

The first verse that comes to my mind is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." In reading all of these situations, we have to put the fears and negative thoughts aside and trust in Him alone. We cannot trust in ourselves, the process, in people, in anything else but Him. Little R is His child, He knew Him before He was conceived, and we know the Lord has a wonderful plan, far beyond what we can imagine. So we are grateful. Grateful that we are not in control and that Little R has a Father who promises to comfort and love.

As for an update on the paperwork trail, we received our home study paperwork today (another reason to celebrate!) and hope to have that portion completed and in the mail shortly. Then we will move on to the dossier (aka, more paperwork).