14 months!

We have had another annual review with our social worker and all went well. We received our renewed approval. so we are allowed to wait for another year! Our medicals had to be renewed too, and they seemed fine.

The past few months have been very frustrating. This waiting is hard, and gets harder as time goes by. But the strange thing is we know that the timing will be right for us and the family we long for, but even so we have a real sense of time lost. Time we could be a family, time we could be enjoying with a child. However, equally we treasure the time we are together, enjoying life and work (most of the time!) and growing together with God. It really is a time of paradoxes (my husband word of the week!). So many emotions and thoughts, some times we feel we make no sense! We thank God for family and friends who try to understand and stick with us!

We continue to work on the house, making the garden safe and secure with fencing and gates, and building storage in our bedroom so that things can get sorted!

Our front garden is now easy to maintain and child proof! Much better than the jungle is was before!

We had a good break from work over half term and managed to get away for a few days. A well needed rest and wind down with no responsibilities! We have a very busy few weeks with it being the last half term of school, and both being teachers means we both rush about as much as each other. Looking forward to the summer break already!

Trusting God and trying to rest in our knowledge of Him,

13 months!

As we have reached a year of waiting, I thought I would share a few songs that have helped me through this time, as we have tried to hold on to the truth and trust God for His strength and provision. The verse we chose at the top of our Blog is a key verse for us, reminding us that He knows us and has the best in mind for us, even if we don't always understand (like why we have to wait so long to be parents!) We have needed reminding a lot sometimes! These songs do that too ...

Our prayer for our child this year has been:
God, We trust you, and know that soon we shall meet the special person you have already chosen to be ours. We pray that they may know your love, that you would be their comfort and hold them until we can. We pray that they get hugs and kisses and fun times! Be present in their life and bring them peace. We hope to meet you soon! xx
This year? ...
Catherine x

One Year Today!

Today we have been on the waiting list for Peru for one year, hoping that they will match us with our child soon. The waiting makes you thoughtful, reflect, feel apprehensive, nervous: yet we have peace (most of the time!) and are OK with timing things to God's timetable, not ours. Soon would be nice but equally we don't feel sorted or ready.

Many parents get a date, a time frame, a new born to slowly get to know. We could have a very active toddler, a Spanish chattering whirlwind! Sometimes I think about the challenges that will bring. We are excited, but are we going to do a good enough job. But I am told that is the thought pattern of every parent! Maybe that means we are just where we should be!!

We are on Easter break now, a great relief and a chance to rest and prepare a few more things. The garden is at the top of our list!! Hopefully we will get the last touches on the spare room done too. I have been so busy at work (just got back from taking 40 kids away for a week!) that there are still things to do. We will get there though. Thanks to our amazing families!

We received a letter to say we need another annual review with our social and medicals soon. We wondered when we had our last one if we would need another. I guess the answer was yes! Will we see our child this year or next?

He knows.

11 months!

The time is slowing down!

11 months means nearly a year and that seems a long time to be expecting the biggest change in our lives. It is hard hearing nothing, no news, no updates, no predicted end date, no count down...only counting up. 11 and counting!

We tried to push to get some news this week. We tried calling Peru, the consulate. We called London, the Foreign Commonwealth Office. Nothing. They can't request information or an update. Rules. So we will try the DFE this week and see if we can get someone in the right rooms in Lima to mention our case, remember we are waiting and think about our family. Will let you know if this gets anywhere.

The bedroom is painted and clean, but not photograph worthy just yet! Soon though! We have some pictures, curtains etc to put up, otherwise it looks rather empty at the moment. Will post when it is just right! We are very pleased with it and feels like a positive step.

If you have the time, please pray for

• patience and trust
• that our phone calls to people would result in a positive conversation, where we are reassured that our case is in hand and we are going to be dealt with soon.

Hope we don't have to wait too many years... the stress would be too much!

God, you know our heart for the lonely, that they be placed in families. We are waiting. In your perfect time, we WILL see this come to pass!

x

10 months!

We have been waiting 10 months now, and are hopeful that this year will see our family grow. We are getting there with our child's room-to-be, having had the electrics and plastering done. We are waiting till half term to paint and decorate, with a fun trip to buy furniture planned too!

The time is going fairly quickly, but we are constantly aware of the process and the wait. Questions run through our minds all the time, as so much of the process is unknown. It was great meeting fellow adopters and chatting about the feelings, up and downs and details of the journey we are all on. A great opportunity!

Work continues to keep us very busy, Catherine having Ofsted recently and Luke working very hard. A good distraction though! Catherine had a great birthday with her parents and Luke, and received lots of very thoughtful gifts and messages! x

We remain ever grateful to our lovely friends and family who support us in prayer and a listening ear. x x Thank you! We hope to have some good news for you soon, but patiently have to give it over to God.

Photos soon!

x

9 months!

We have reached the 9 month mark- is this going to be an elephant pregnancy?! We have had a great few weeks catching up with people over the holiday. We had a double portion of snow, tons of ice and some time together, yet still the break has flown by!

Our street in the snow

We are getting ready to attack the spare bedroom, with the electrician booked! He is coming tomorrow or Tuesday to check out the project. Then wallpaper stripping and a plasterer. Then the good bit, painting and filling with lovely things!

We are meeting fellow Peruvian adopters this month too; we are excited about having another family to share with.

We continue to pray for our future family, and are wondering if this will be the year we get too see God's plan unfold. We still need patience ( a lesson God likes to teach many times!) and trust in his perfect timing. In faith we trust you God x

Winter Greetings, love from

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

We are enjoying time with family and friends this season. We spent Christmas morning at home as it may be our last chance to have a quiet and restful morning?! We hope!!

We can't help thinking of our little one, and wondering where they are, who they are and how long it will be until we see their face. He or she is not far from our thoughts most of the time, we feel a bit like part of us is missing. We are constantly praying that God will keep them, protect them and that they will know some measure of love in their time in the care of others.
We have bought a gift! It is ready for when they are here for Christmas!!

The puppy is sooo soft and the bear has a warm blanket to cuddle. OK for a boy or girl we think! Happy Christmas child-soon-to-be-ours!

This is the Christmas decoration we bought last year. To remind us of God's peace. A candle to light as a symbol of hope, until we reach the end of this journey- and start a new one!

We have had so many encouraging words from people, and we know that God's timing is still perfect. It feels more imminent though, so we can reveal that the next room to be done in the house will be the child's room! Can't wait till the January sales when we can buy some cute gender neutral items!! Any design tips of must-haves please let us know!

Thank you for your prayers, and have a wonderful holiday xx

8 months today!

We are building up to Christmas and getting ready for the end of term- always a manic time at school!

At the end of last moth we made it to a PACT (our agency) Waiting Day- a chance to meet other families who are waiting and find out about recent research. It was an interesting day and we met some people local to us who are Christians. It kept pEru (how you say it) in our minds and we sat next to a famous comedian in a restaurant afterwards- a nice end to the day!

We are looking forward to spending Christmas with friends and family and to see what God will bring. He has been speaking to us recently and we feel he is preparing us for what is ahead. We treasure your prayers, support and love as we move forward. We don't know how long we have to wait, but each month and week is a step closer. Keep thinking positive! We have at times felt very frustrated and there has been so much uncertainty, but through it all we have felt very 'held up' by our friends and family, who have not stopped praying for us. It means so much, so thank you!

xx

7 months!

We have been so busy we have not been able to blog for a few days!! Ofsted has made an appearance at Luke's school, which has taken over our house! Nasty.

On a lighter note we have been able to get some child focus gifts this month.

This is our new child carrier, that will allow us to carry and bond with our child very well while travelling, and can carry a child up to about the age of four, so all ages covered! A super gift from super friends!

And this little Wilberry doll! A soft companion that will be easy to pack! Anyway, more work to do tonight so thank you for your ongoing support.

Love

xx

Six Months!

Today marks our 6 months wait anniversary. We both said the other day how we are pleased that it has gone by quite quickly so far (compared to nearly 2 years in the formal process!) This is mostly due to the fact that we have been so busy! Our project has been the garden, particularly laying lawn, as you can see!

1. demolish shed and greenhouse


2. dig over soil


3. buy a turf mountain!


4. level ground



5. lay turf (this is a killer!)




6. tamp down with a board



7. check it looks ok (it was getting dark by now!)


8. water it...



9. ... a lot! even into the night!..



We were exhausted by the end of this, but it is growing well and we are pleased with the results. May be this is the trick to passing the time... ?!
Thanks again for your continuing support.

5 months today!

It has been all about back to school this month. As well as finishing touches in the house and continued work on the garden, we have started back at work and been busy getting used to early mornings again! We really enjoyed the summer, catching up with friends and family and spending time just us ~ very relaxing!

Keep wondering how many more of these monthly posts we have left to make. Are we half way? Not even a quarter way through the wait? Very weird feeling but still trusting the right time is in God's hands. Not always easy!

Thanks for your continued kind words and prayers. It definitely helps x

As promised here are some pictures of what we have been doing over the past few weeks.

This is how the lounge looked before, when we moved in! Notice the delightful carpet?!

We happily removed the carpet and decorated the walls.

With lots of help from family we are now able to relax in a lovely lounge room with a clean floor!

We are really pleased with the result! It is one way that we are passing time during the wait, and it is great to see the house coming together ready for it's new inhabitants! We are also working on the garden (pics to come when it looks more together!)

We have been really blessed to be with family and friends during our break, enjoying spending time with nieces and nephews. More to come this week!

We have been booked onto a While You Wait workshop with our adoption agency in November, which should keep us in touch with current events and reconnect with others in the process. Should be good. Thanks again for all your continued support and prayers, keep it coming!!

x x

Four months today!

Not much to report, but we will add some photos of our new lounge when we are home. We are away having time with family! x

Three months waiting!

Time is going by and we are really looking forward to our summer, only 2 weeks left! We have been working so much and had so many busy weekends, it will be nice to stop and relax! The wait time for Peru continues to be long, so we know we are at the early stages of waiting, but our thoughts often wonder to when and how things will work out. It still feels a bit distant!

We hope in the summer to work on the garden and make it child friendly. Will try and get some good before and after shots. What was that about relaxing during the summer?!

Two months waiting!

Been quiet on the adoption front, which is just as well as work has been crazy! End of term is often like this, and we are still mid our DIY project so lots on. At least it keeps us thinking about the wait. It is a daily choice to give it over to God and trust that he knows the timing AND the right child for us. Interesting times! Our 2 month purchase are these wooden play people!

How sweet?! They travel easily too!

We continue to pray that we will have peace and that all will work together for good! Thanks for your prayers too! xx