Our adoption is on hold

I have not had the heart to update this blog or Carmen's blog with the latest news, but I know I must.

We have put our adoption on hold.  We felt we needed to release her to be available for another family to adopt because we will not be able to travel to go get her until at least after the first of the year some time.  We really hated to do that, yet felt it was only fair to her while we are letting John heal from the surgeries.  In a few months he will be great and we can pick right back up and go get the child (or children) God has chosen for us.

If Carmen is still available, we will pray about going to get her.  We do love her very much and it was a very hard decision to make, yet we felt a peace once we released her and know that we did the right thing.  She is a wonderful little girl.  We would love to be her mommy and daddy, but most of all we just want her to have a family--- even if it's not ours.

Reece's Rainbow will begin the annual Angel Tree fundraiser the first of November.  It is an amazing time to make a donation to the children listed on their site throughout the world with Down syndrome.  For 2 months (Nov and Dec) you can see everyone's photo and watch their individual grant amounts increase daily.  Last year I had the privilege of signing up for an hour of prayer for the kickoff.  What a neat time that was.  We sponsored 2 children last year.  They are both HOME now with their new families!  Wow!  We celebrated when we heard someone had committed to them and it brought tears of joy to my eyes to see their first photos with their new families once they were able to travel and adopt them.  For a $35 donation, you get a Christmas ornament with the picture of the child you are sponsoring on it.  I can't wait to put ours on the tree this year.  I'm really looking forward to it this year.  A lot of children got families last year because of the Angel Tree.  The grant $$ donations really help to offset the cost of adoption.  It's expensive, but when God calls you to do it, how can you say "no"???

Anyway, why did I mention that????  Well, Carmen will be featured on there (as "Cara") and there just may be a family who will commit to her.  It's hard to see her little photo listed again.  We're praying God will send her a family if it is not us.  Marisol, too.  We were (are) praying about bringing them both home.

It's kind of surreal now.  We put the home study on hold too.  We had everything ready except for that and were planning to schedule it and then we found out John needed surgery.  John and I have been talking about it though and we're ready to go ahead and do our home study.  We want to be "paper ready" for any opportunity God may put before us.  We really look forward to seeing how and when God will bring another child into our family.