Stepping in Faith.

Wow, y'all. I figured that we would encounter opposition along the way, as so often happens when God calls you to something. There was no wasted time in finding this opposition right in our faces, right from the start! From the beginning, from the time we began to feel the stirrings of "it is time", we've had never-ending projects and financial goals that we thought we would accomplish before starting our home study. We thought we should probably have all of our ducks in a row and ready to go and maybe that's somewhat true. However, ducks don't seem to like straight lines and ours were (and are) all over the place. We kept feeling the pull to move forward but we thought, "after X is finished" or "as soon as we save X dollars" etc... None of this happened. What DID happen was opposition at every turn, constantly setting our goals back and pushing back timelines. Our timelines. Hmm.

Well, fast forward several months, many expensive Drs appointments and lab tests, a kitchen remodel that just won't end, broken down cars, revolting bodies, food intolerances, budget limitations, etc... later and here we are. Barely moved forward in our goals and way past when we thought we would have been halfway through the adoption process, something had to give. But nothing did... except us.

Tired of waiting and being bullied by life, we decided to go ahead and meet with Commonwealth Catholic Charities, the organization that would be doing our home study. I had an orientation meeting and got the application and information we needed to get started. We hung onto that application for nearly a month, still struggling to make the commitment due to finances, etc. Well, today I sent that application in! We decided to refuse to be influenced by our circumstances any longer. Do we have all the money we need? Nope. Is our kitchen done? Nope. Is winter coming and firewood season upon us? Yep. Seems like a terrible time to start? Sort of. But God's timeline is not our timeline. His ways are not our ways. The quicker we learn this, the better off we will be and the less stressed out, too!

This kid. Love him. He was so excited to be officially starting!

Please pray for us that all the right things will come together as they need to and that we will continue to trust the Lord for provision, guidance and staying power. I have no delusions about how difficult this process can be. I also know it will be worth it! Much love, Sarah

P.S. I want your opinion! I have this thing about not fundraising before we are finished with our home study, just to be sure we get approved. Am I being silly? Fundraising right before Christmas, especially the Equal Exchange fundraiser (can we say amazing chocolate and gifts?!), would be the perfect time. How do you guys feel about it?
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