When Do You Get Him?

It's been over a month since I last posted?!  Wow, not sure how that happened but here it is, the end of March.  Spring is technically here (see the Bradford Pear trees) but today, it was actually snowing on my drive in to work.  We are finished with our paperwork and now find ourselves in a different kind of waiting period (the post-referral, post-dossier waiting period.....which is even harder than the pre-referral waiting period).  At this point, the most frequently asked question we get is some variation of "when do you get him?" so I'll try to give a brief update on where we are at. 

Our paperwork was received back from the TECO office in Atlanta on Tuesday, February 26 (seriously an answered prayer after the issue we had with getting Shay's passport form authenticated).  I was able to get the paperwork delivered to the local FedEx office late Tuesday afternoon.  Our hope was to get the paperwork submitted before we left for our trip to Jacksonville on Wednesday morning.  Thankfully, that happened and Austin and I were able to spend four great days with Kevin and Jenn in Jacksonville, relaxing and catching up.  We watched the tracking number and the package made it to Taiwan on Thursday, February 28.  Up until today, we actually hadn't received any news on the status of our paperwork.  The good news is we got confirmation this morning that our court case has been filed and sent to Taitung for a court date.  We are continuing to pray that we get an initial court date soon and that our paperwork will not hit any snags.  We received new pictures of him last week and can I just tell you.....he is simply adorable.  He has the most beautiful eyes, so bright and full of life.  One of our favorite pictures was one of him holding the photo album that we made and sent in his first care package.  I like to believe that even though we are on different sides of the world, he is looking at those pictures and learning who his mama and daddy are and how much they love him. 

Other than our trip to Jacksonville, another fun event happened since I last blogged.  Our first baby shower was on March 16 in Carthage!  I can't describe the amount of love we were shown.  The picture above shows what Shay's nursery looked like after I brought all the presents in so Austin and I could go through them.  It was such a special event and only served as a reminder how many people are supporting us along this journey.  

While lots of happy events happened over the past few weeks, there has also been a sense of heaviness.  My cousin's wife (who has also been a friend for almost twenty years) was diagnosed with leukemia, the pastor (Bro. David Landrith) where we attend church was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer, and my Mema had a serious health scare.  While our hearts ache for Shay to come home, these events reminded me that treasuring each and every day matters.  Brother David challenged us to remember Psalm 90:12:  Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  I want us to be intentional about our waiting, treasuring our time with each other, loving the people in our lives, choosing gratitude in every situation. 

We still sincerely desire your prayers--specifically, please pray that we will receive our initial court date in the next few weeks.  

Love and hugs!
Austin, Abby & Shay