Adoption update.

I suppose I haven't updated on the adoption process lately.  What's taken the most time was the thing I thought would be the most straight-forward- the back ground checks.  Unfortunately, that was not the case, but we finally got what we needed and went to meet with our lawyer today around noon.  She checked over our stuff and we typed up a formal letter requesting a boy between the ages of 0 and 1.  What was surprising was how personal this "formal" request was that she will be turning into a judge this afternoon.  She used words like "blessed" and "our desire" and explained that our oldest daughter was already talking about buying toys for her younger brother.  I had kinda imagined a standard letter that had fill in the blanks for the sex and age of the baby and a spot to sign at the bottom...  So, she explained that after turning in our paperwork, within a couple weeks we will begin the process of evaluations- physical, mental, emotional- and that whole process will take a couple months (of mostly waiting).  Then, if all goes smoothly, we can expect them to start looking for our little boy by the end of the year.  Which means, if it's God's will, we could have our baby by the first part of next year!  It's a bit daunting to think it could all happen that fast.  The mommy in me wants my child to be in our house as fast as possible, but there's also a part of me that wants Jubilee to be sleeping through the night and a bit less needy and the room to be set up and _________ (a list of other things that would make the most ideal environment for our family).  I suppose life doesn't work this way and as we've known from the beginning, the adoption process is one of lots of surprises and lots of opportunities to trust that it's all in God's hands and His timing.  Maybe we won't be getting our son until the following year!  You just never know...  But, the next couple of months will be filled with more and more steps to get us closer to meeting our boy and we can't wait!