Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed!

Isaiah 40:4-5

My heart and mind has been heavy with words recently. Weighed down with things I'm not too sure how to share, or if I even want to share. For most of December I was in denial that our life was being changed forever. I had prayed really hard for things that were good, for us to remain in a community that was an obvious blessing from God. Reed and I had also prayed that we would live a life so full of faith that no one could deny the Lords work.

Well, you know that saying "Be careful what you pray for"? Well it's true :) haha

God answers prayers, and boy did he answer our prayers, just not how we thought he would.

God is showing us the truth in his promises. The verse above, Isaiah 40:4-5, talks about how God will make the valleys and mountains flat and the path smooth. He hasn't taken out all of the obstacles but we are seeing how the valleys and mountains we had to go through are becoming an answer that we had been looking for.

Settling in Columbia, both of us have new jobs. Jobs that are bringing us more income. Income that is allowing us to purchase a home that we can grow our family in. God is good and is making the rough ground even for us to carry home our little Nugget.

We can not wait to see the next steps. To get in our next home, to find a rhythm again. To finish our paperwork, get on the match list, and meet our little precious nugget! We can see how God answered our prayer of living a life of faith and our quest to find a home for our family, we just didn't know it would be in a different city. We hope he continues to reveal himself to us, to give us wisdom as we move forward and to guide our steps on this crazy journey of faith!

I did a quick little update on our fundraising page. Feel free to check it out!

https://www.youcaring.com/baby-lathrop-594503

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Well dang y'all.

I had every intention of blogging my mind away through this adoption, but honestly it has been heavier than I thought. My mind is so full that trying to figure out what to share when was just another "thing" I didn't need to add to my life. BUT this morning I was sitting here for about the 30 millionth day in a row saying "tonight I'm going to write thank you notes", but

spoiler alert

I'm probably not going to write a single thank you tonight and here is why.

ADOPTION IS HARD.

That is the short of it. Adoption is hard, it seems like a beautiful God calling that shows you His provision (and it does) but it is also the heaviest thing we have ever done. We sit here thinking every day, morning in my quiet time, every free minute, about what life will be like when we bring our nugget home. We have been preparing for 6 months now, but there is still no "sign" of a little one, just more paperwork to put together, more questions to answer... more waiting.

So while we are unbelievably grateful for the gifts, the encouragement, the financial blessings, it is just a little hard to write a genuine thank you right now. And we believe whole heartedly that those that have been involved need a genuine thank you, not a "thank you for your gift, what a perfect blessing! Follow my blog for more updates!". We want to find the words to express how much it means that because of what

they

have given we are able to confidently follow a difficult path to a family that we are more certain of than anything in our lives. That each dollar, gift, encouraging word has been affirmation that we are going the right way.

Right now I don't want to sit at the kitchen table and craft a thank you note. I want to get our nugget home. I want to have a phone call that we are on the list, that we have been matched, and that they are ready for us to come meet this already unbelievably loved little one.

If you have given to our family and not heard a response, we are sorry. Our southern families are probably cringing that it has been 6 months with no thank you sent. But trust me, your gift means more than we can put in to words. We WILL write you a note, and it will be a note from the heart and most likely stained with tears of joy.

Blessings

Why It Is So Hard to Write a Thank You