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

Well, we have had a good week and got some jobs done around the home! Sunshine helps! Decided to start a new room, so will post some pics when it's done! Got to do something to keep us thinking too much about the WAIT...

The WAIT is strange. We don't know quite how to feel. We are looking forward to a referral but it still seems so far away. It is much more real, knowing that we could be called with exciting news, and we are starting to think big purchases are in order, it just means trusting God for the timing! Maybe we will get an earlier call that we expect and be in complete shock! But what is very real is our status:

This is a page from the Peru authorities website, and we are on the waiting list!! Can you see us? Look closer:

Inglaterra, 2! 2 families waiting! And we are one of them! We were quite pleased when we saw this... they know we exist, this is the first evidence we have from Peru that all this is real! Will our number move to the BEING CONSIDERED column?! We will WAIT and see x

Have a week off work now, so a chance to get some more little jobs done around the house! And do school work of course! Might start to decorate another room....

Our report to say we are cleared to adopt for another year should be making it's way to the UK government office soon, so they should be happy with us proceeding! We have found out that when we get the referral for a child we will have 7 days to accept, then a few weeks to plan our arrangements to travel. Hopefully we will have all the big things done by then so we will just have to pack! We shall see.

We have had some contact with others who were on our adoption training with us, and no one is further along than us, some have been severely delayed. Thailand, a country we considered at one time, has had terrible trouble, and is proving to be very unsettled. We thank God for guiding us so amazingly to Peru and keeping us moving through the process. Delays are very scary, as we know, and we hope we will not have to endure any more.

Will hopefully be able to buy a few more child friendly treats this week- will let you know! Off for a lovely meal with family and friends tonight- great way to start the week!!
Love

We have just been on a great church weekend away, and feel refreshed yet tired- if that's possible!! On the way home today we bought another little item:

These are little snack pots that we can use when we travel with flexible lids so the snack stays in, yet a child can push their fingers through and get some out!! Handy and makes them think!! Should provided a little challenge!

We are counting down to the summer, looking forward to doing some serious preparations- should help make the wait more bearable! We continue to appreciate your prayers for us during the wait and for the child that God has for us...

1 month waiting!

We had our meeting with our social worker and all went well. Felt really relaxed as we felt like we didn't have to prove ourselves so much- it was a nice feeling!! He seemed happy with all our dealings with Peru and how we had been spending our last year since he saw us. He liked our holiday photos too! He re approved us, so we now continue the wait.

We have been in touch with our lawyer in Peru who is looking into visa protocol and what the time scales will be when we get our referral (match). He predicts the wait could be anywhere from 9 months to 2 years! 9 months seems pretty optimistic and is not normal for most families. It totally depends on whether a child matches our circumstances and personalities. It is starting to feel like we need to start preparing the house and getting in a few basics, but we don't want too get too keen too early. Will let you know how the next months goes!! It's just work work now until the summer when we will have a break and get some jobs done around the house. Garden next!

We have arranged to meet our social worker on Monday 10th, to have our annual review. Apparently it is short and painless! Once that it done I think there is nothing to do for some time. We will have to have these reports done every year while we are waiting, and only God knows how many that will be! It seems trying to find some answers about timing is very tricky, but we plan ahead anyway. We are starting to plan what work we are going to do on the house during the summer, so we feel more ready. It's a long list! Good job we have some time off!

x

It has been 15 days since our approval, and we are starting to prepare for the ellusive, unknown date when we may hear news of a child being matched with us! We have been asked by our adoption agency to have our annual review meeting with our social worker. This is when they review the information and our situation, 1 year after our panel date (June). We will meet at our home to chat about any changes, concerns and how we are doing with 'The Wait'!

Also we have bought a few little items!

Some stacking cups, which apparently travel well and entertain for hours! (too good to be true?) and a Spanish language course to brush up a little. May be good to have some key phrases!!

Patiently,

x

We had a great week away and came back to this e-mail:

Hola dear Catherine & Luke,

yes, you were declared suitable to adopt!!!, congratulations.

What you have to do now is to wait; you Catherine are pregnant, and you Luke have to spoil Catherine; you have to wait and wait, I do not know if nine months or more. Be very patient and pray, or pray and be very patient.

Congratulations again,

Oh my goodness!!

Was that quick?! That took exactly one month. We were expecting to wait a longer time to hear. This means they have decided we are suitable, and are now officially waiting!! Yes more waiting, but now for the Peruvian authorities to match us with a child. This is a big step and we are so grateful to God for guiding us this far.

Many have asked us what the wait time will be and we really don't know. All we have to go on is what other families have experienced, but as these are from other countries where many people adopt from Peru, we are not sure how things will work for the UK, as we only have three families adopting. Some it has been about 1 year, others nearly 3 years. Now we are this far, I will do some more research into this and let you know what I find!!

Thank you all who prayed. God is slowly revealing His plan for us, and we look forward with hope...

Well we go on our break tomorrow and no news yet. Think we were a bit optimistic thinking we would hear so soon! At this point we don't feel worried about hearing if we are accepted or not, God has got us this far and will get us through the next step too!

We are really looking forward to our break and are glad to have a paperwork/e-mail free week! We plan to sight see, relax and eat! Hopefully will be able to post some good news soon, but could be a while yet- must be realistic!! Thanks for your ongoing support and prayers!

x

Still waiting! We are not sure how long this part will take so are checking our e-mail often, but no news yet. I think when we hear we can finally start preparing for a new arrival without it feeling too premature! We are both keeping busy at work and visiting family, and have booked a short holiday during our Easter break to give us a treat after the hectic year we have had. Would be great if we hear news by then, but bot sure we will. We will keep trusting and praying ...

x

Our papers have made it to Peru! They took a while as the weekend interrupted them, but they are there. Our lawyer is sorting and translating them, and he says he should be able to present them to the government within the next few days. We are not sure how long it will take to be approved, but it will be a big relief when we are! We are grateful for all the support we have received, and are now praying that

• the board are happy with our papers
• they don't ask for anything else
• they approve us soon.

Will let you know when they are officially presented.
x

**** UPDATE ****

8:20pm

We have just received this message from our lawyer:

Hola dear Catherine and Luke,

THIS MORNING your documents were submitted to SNA; please pray.

Our papers are in the government offices of Peru! Please pray that we get accepted, and soon ...

Just a quick note to say that our papers got back from London and were posted to Peru last night. It took quite a while this time, but we are really praying that that is it this time! We will track them again to Lima, and then wait to get approved. Let's hope that happens soon- one couple had to wait four months, other less, so it's a bit unknown at the moment.
Again, God knows and He is in control!

x

Our last papers are still in London, and will hopefully get back early next week ready to be sent. Our lawyer did ask if we were sending out new blood test results, which scared us a bit as we had them done already- but when we pointed out that they should have still been in date when he presented them to the government, he agreed that they were. Phew! (He thought we would have extra done anyway?! More needles? No thanks!)

A HUGE thank you to Mum and Dad who returned from their holidays bearing a paper bag with a hole in! Inside was this gorgeous Peruvian doll holding an infant. (The hole was made by the shop owner to allow for breathing!!) Thank you- this will be a special addition to our Peruvian collection. Also they bought some traditional Peruvian jewellery- beautiful xx

Will post as soon as our last papers are on the move, and then we wait...

The sorters did look after our papers!

Friday, February 19, 2010
Delivered - Signed for: 16:23 Lima - Peru

And this morning our lovely lawyer sent this message:

Hola, I got the documents and BEAUTIFUL pictures; Gracias!

Glad he likes them, as we were not sure what he wanted from his instructions! We can do nothing now but wait. Hopefully he will like the documents too and won't feel like anything is missing. (But I am preparing myself just in case!) The next bundle will be back from London by Friday, and then will also be sent. After that we should make it to THE LIST!! (approved families waiting for a match) Maybe then it will feel super real, rather than theory! During these next few weeks we will practice 'waiting'! We will be doing a lot of that!!

Our sorters in Peru?!

Once again a bundle of our papers has arrived in Peru!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Shipment picked up12:04

Departed Facility in Bristol - UK18:40

Arrived at Sort Facility East Midlands - UK21:16

Thursday, February 18, 2010
Departed Facility in East Midlands - UK02:48
Arrived at Sort Facility Madrid - Spain06:37

Departed Facility in Madrid - Spain12:02

Friday, February 19, 2010
Arrived at Sort Facility Lima - Peru02:10

We visited the notary again last night and sent our last final items to London to be stamped. It is a pain that we could not send them together with the last lot of papers, but we needed to get the bundle translated and out there as soon as possible. This last (?) lot should be back in our notary by thye end of next week, and will then be sent out to Peru. Will this be it? We asked that of our lawyer in Peru and he said 'Maybe tell me what football team you support?' I think that is his way of saying yes!!

Look after our papers please sorters!!