Hope everyone has had a great summer! It has completely flown by for us and I can not believe it's time for school and holidays are right around the corner. Maylena will be starting back school soon and Billy started some college courses as well this fall to work towards a degree. Our family will for sure be busy and there will be many things to coordinate with work and school schedules but it is exciting at the same time.
The week before last was an encouraging week as we still continue this period of waiting. On Saturday I opened the mail to find a letter from the second grant agency we applied for and Families Outreach had awarded us a very generous grant as well. Even though we had not heard anything from them since applying back in May and figured we probably wouldn't be receiving one from their organization we were taken by suprise to get that awesome letter in the mail. They appologized for the delaying in replying to us and said they have had an overwhelming amount of applications come through and it took time to figure out which ones they could award. That just made me feel even more tremendously blessed that we were selected from an organization in Arkansas that people from all over the US had applied for and they chose us!! God has had his hand in this all. That same week I received a handwritten note in the mail from our adoption agency letting us know they are still thinking about us and they know that the waiting is hard and they shared a verse in Psalms with us that spoke about how the Lord will Preserve us in the wait. I was so appreciative to be on the receiving end of those words of encouragment. Very needed. That same night was the monthly meeting for the adoption support group I attend in waxhaw and I learned so much and also got to listen to others stories of adoption and share about where we are at. Billy came with me and it was our second outing just as a couple in 1 week which was refreshing as well. It's nice to be able to discuss adoption along the way and be around others who have already completed their adoptions, some recently and others have adopted children who are graduating high school. It's a diverse group with a lot of good insight and advice if needed.
My sisters wedding was wonderful and each thing we celebrate at the moment helps to pass time until our family is selected by a birth mom. I served in the nursery at church on Sunday and that was so much fun revisiting the baby stage of life. I enjoyed all the smiles and cuddles and I can't wait to share that with a little one in our family again!
