Busy Week

The last 10 days have been busy, but FUN around the Cole house! Here's just a little bit of what's been going on!

Branson had his awards chapel

Caleb had his Mother's Day Out graduation

Emi graduated from Kindergarten

We took the kids to Legoland Discovery Center in Dallas

We went to the lake

The kiddos jet skied for the first time

Played with cousins we don't get to see very often

RyLee went on the tube for the 1st time

There was LOTS of jumping off of the dock

We floated on the GIGANTIC tube

And...fell asleep from complete exhaustion at the end of it all!

Riding This Roller Coaster

Adoption is a roller coaster! There is no way around it. The highs are "high" and the lows are "low". Today is a low. Our court dossier has been submitted to the judge and he has requested a lot of additional documentation. That means me running around like crazy trying to get it all together and then  having it all notarized and apostilled. Then, sent over to Russia to be translated and then taken to the judge. This all takes TIME. Our current Russian medicals expire on June 7th and now there is no way to get a court date before then. So, we'll have to redo our medicals!

Sometimes it seems like our son is so far away that we'll never get to him. As I was walking up the stairs of our home, to the computer, I stopped to look at the sweet face of our "little man" staring back at me from up on the wall. I just sobbed! I want him in my arms so badly and somedays it seems like he's an eternity away. I know that we'll be united with him in God's perfect time, but this momma's heart just aches. It aches BAD!

I'm clinging to the promise that "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

"His strength is perfect when our strength is gone
He'll carry us when we can't carry on
Raised in his power the weak becomes strong
His strength is perfect
His strength is perfect

We can only know the power that he holds
When we truly see how deep our weakness goes
His strength it must begin
When ours comes to an end
He hears our humble cry and proves again"

"Little man", mommy and daddy are going to get these documents done as fast as we possibly can. We love you more than we ever knew was possible! Just a little bit longer and then you'll never be without your forever family!

Court Dossier

Our court dossier was taken to our region yesterday! Now we wait to hear if the judge requests more paperwork or issues our court date! I am SO ready to see our "little man" again!!

On another note, we were blessed beyond our wildest dreams with a grant from Show Hope yesterday! I nearly fell over when I read the grant award letter. I absolutely LOVE Show Hope and all they do to help orphans! They really "walk the walk".

Perfectly Said

As is par with adoption, we wait another week! Our paperwork is still not in the hands of the judge, but maybe by the end of the week, or the beginning of next. Honestly, waiting a week just to hear that you'll have to wait another week is excruciating! A very dear friend of mine (which on a side note....this adoption journey has brought an AMAZING friend my way and for that I will forever be thankful!!) sent me an e-mail with something that Jen Hatmaker said yesterday on Facebook. If you've never read anything by her....do it NOW! Jen wrote this in response to someone asking her about the waiting in adoption:

"Oh my, I can speak to this. First, forget whatever timeline you were given at the beginning. Forget you ever heard that. Put that in the trash can. Adoption will change, shift, slow down, hit snags, be weird, be difficult, take longer than you think, take longer that you can stand. This will happen. This is the normal thing. When someone gives you a timeline, say, "Thank you for that cute little sentence. Flush." Potential adopters, let me tell you this: Get your "YES" straight at the very beginning. Decide on it. Roll around in it. Put it on the table and shellack it. Because you cannot let every delay and snag derail your certainty about adoption. When you say YES, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "show me a sign" or "this is a sign" or "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage. You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like hell to get them home. So we will. We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but get them home we will."
Perfectly said! Get my "little man" home, I WILL!! I will definitely "cry, rage, scream and wail" (I've already done that today), but Troy and I will get him home!

Just Hanging Out & Waiting

I haven't posted much recently because there hasn't been much to report. We're waiting. Shocking, I know! LOL Hopefully our court dossier will be in the judge's hands on Friday or next Monday. Then shortly after that (fingers crossed) we should have a court date.

Hanging in there....that's about all we can do these days!

One Year Ago Today

Exactly one year ago today, Troy and I were praying together on the couch regarding God's will for our lives concerning adoption. (We had been praying together and individually for over a year.) This time though, we knew things were different. No sooner had Troy said "Amen", he looked over at me and said, "It's time to get out of the boat and step onto the water. It's time to begin the adoption process".

What a year it has been! Lots of ups and lots of downs! Adoption is an emotional roller coaster like no other. I've made some of the most amazing friends and seen numerous families enlarged through adoption. I've cried and hurt with other families as their adoption process hit bump after bump in the road. I've cried myself when the finish line seems no where in sight! BUT, I wouldn't trade a moment of this journey! Every tear, every twist in the road and every hurt are worth what's waiting for us. I've seen that precious boy and held his sweet face in my hands. I've kissed his adorable forehead and hugged him tight. That boy is worth every moment we've waited and every moment that we're going to have to continue to wait!

Adoption is hard and it can be messy (and I'm not just talking about the waiting part). BUT, there are 143,000,000+ orphans in this world that are LONGING to have a family to call their own. They wait day after day for a family to come through the doors of their orphanage/foster home to want them. As Christians, may we be willing to do whatever it takes to care for these children and to let them know that they are WANTED,they are LOVED and they have a Heavenly Father that loves them and has a plan for their life!

Hang on "little man", Mommy & Daddy are getting to you as fast as we can!! We love you more than you can possibly understand!