Lice Lice Baby...

I FINALLY worked a Vanilla Ice reference into this blog. Awesome. 

We learned that some children recently moved to the transition home brought with them the gift of lice...so there was a shaving party at the home and our little girl's hair is gone. 

She may not have her hair but at least she's got a new cheek sticker. Glad that wasn't still on her in the other pictures we received.

She's so cute bald! That will come in handy as we experiment with caring for her hair!

Of the pictures we've received recently, this one's my favorite:

There is some sass on that face!! I love seeing her different facial expressions in all the pictures and can't wait to get to know the personality behind those faces!

This one's the most recent picture we've received: 

She looks to be pretty tiny compared to some of the other kids and it's great to see her holding herself up, even if it was just for a second!

For those of you that read beyond the pictures (I know, none of this is nearly as interesting as the pictures!), we don't have much to update.  There has been a little movement, and we're hoping for the green light to begin the final stage of paperwork.  Please pray with us that this happens soon. This last piece of the process takes at least 4 weeks so the sooner we can get going on it, the sooner we'll get our travel dates!

In the meantime, Jenny has been following the blogs of others from the agency that have traveled to DRC to bring their kiddos home.  She's been sharing some of the "best" with me and I can now say that I've never been so terrified for a flight as I am of the FLIGHTS (likely TWO 9+ hour flights and a 3 hour flight...jealous??) home with our daughter.  Oh, the stories...this one was especially educational, and horrifying.  I've never read something with such nervous laughter in my life. 

I'm pretty sure Jenny's got a suitcase packed already of diapers, wipes and onesies JUST for the plane ride home. It will all be worth it...hope that the others on the plane agree!

It's been fun to read of others' experiences meeting their children and beginning their journeys together. These different perspectives have been very helpful for us as we prepare for what we may experience in DRC, meeting our daughter, making our way home, and then beginning life as a family back home.  

How easy it is to overlook how much change she will be dealing with. She hasn't been consumed by a paperwork process, she hasn't been checking her email 100's of times per day in hopes of receiving new pictures or updates.  She's been growing up, an innocent little baby girl. 

We forget that she likely won't recognize our faces like we will quickly recognize hers.  We pray every day that we will be familiar, loving faces to her when we finally meet.  

I'm sure we're overanalyzing and worrying about everything. That's what happens when we enter into month 12 of a seemingly endless wait. I'm not good at not being in control and not being able to do something to move this forward. I have to be still, I have to wait, and I have to trust that God is in control. Shame on me to think that I could do this better than He can. Shame on me to think that my worrying will make things better and move things forward. This has been such a challenging, refining experience. I hope that I've grown to be a more patient person, which is good practice for being a parent. 

But these days, I'm ready to not be so patient. I'm ready to meet our daughter, to learn about her, to love her, heck, even to experience our first 24+ hour transatlantic adventure together. Jenny'll remind me of that last statement on the first diaper change, I'm sure. But hey, we knew adoption wouldn't be without its challenges, so bring 'em on. We're confident that God has called us to this, and that's the best place to be. He wouldn't give us more than we can handle, so long as we rely on HIS strength and not our own. What a wonderful promise to rest upon.