Personalized Adoption Canvas

It's true - I have adoption on the brain :)  It's hard to think about much else these days!  I find myself daydreaming and imagining another little one running around here.  I long for that day!

I've been working on some new canvases for the Etsy store and here is the first: a personalized adoption canvas!  It can be made in any color scheme, for any country!  At the bottom of the canvas I can add your child's name and "Home Forever" date.  For me, this verse sums it all up: I prayed for each of my precious children, and He answered!

Check out the link below the picture if you are interested in more info :)

One Little Canvas

She Turned Two

Our littlest had a birthday this week.  Across the world, she turned two.  We talked about her all day long, wondering what she was doing, if her foster family celebrated with her, hoping she is happy.  We look forward to the birthdays to come when we will celebrate with hugs and kisses and smiles.  But this one...it went by quietly.  I'm not going to lie - it was a hard one.  I've never missed a second birthday before.  The last couple of weeks, I've been feeling that ache so much more.  I'm ready to have her here with me.  I'm ready to get started on the adventure of four.  I want her home.

But we're not there yet.  We have been at a standstill with getting our home study finished.  It has been beyond frustrating for me and I think has been the most difficult time of all four adoptions.  I actually feel pretty blessed to have made it to our fourth international adoption before experiencing any real difficulties!  Everything is getting worked out and we hope that our home study will be finished by the end of this week or early next week.  I will breathe a sigh of relief when that is done!

My heart feels heavy tonight.  It's hard to write about this.  Sometimes adoption just feels heavy.  I realize that out of everyone, I get the easy part.  I get to be mom to these amazing kids.  But there is so much more to adoption.  There are birth parents who don't get to celebrate these birthdays with their kids.  There are foster families who know this is the last birthday they will celebrate with a child they love.  There are kids who have questions that cannot be answered, who have hurts inside of them that cannot always be seen.  There are birth parents who have had to face situations and decisions I literally cannot imagine having to make.  Adoption is a beautiful, amazing thing.  But I cannot forget that it is born out of loss.  As my little ones grow, I am more and more aware of this truth.

I'm blabbering.  But these are the thoughts on my heart this week, as we celebrate Olivia and look forward to having her with us as our very own.  There are others thinking about this precious little girl, too.  She is such a treasure!