Picking back up with life

This is definitely a very awkward stage of life, to say the least.  I will admit that I am welcoming any and all distraction right now just to keep my mind off of the realities of this stage we call LIMBO.  If I had not just studied Esther and learned just how important God's timing is, I don't know that I could ever muster up the patience to wait on Him now.  I absolutely hate this phase of not knowing, though I will definitely agree that it's better than actually going through the tedious process of all of the paperwork that is involved in an international adoption.  In my personal opinion, there are just way too many people, organizations, agencies, and "other parties" involved, though none of them are connected, making it way more complicated than it should be.  If you've never been through it, you can't even begin to imagine.  I am so, so, so, so, so glad we're done with that part.

While we live in this land called LIMBO for the time being, life is beginning to resume after the winter break. We registered David for soccer, and his season will be starting in just a couple weeks.  His 4th/5th grade youth program at church started up again, so he's been happy going to his weekly meetings on Wednesday nights again.  He will be going on his second mission trip to Waco, Texas next month over spring break, which he is super excited about.  I have finally been able to concentrate and get caught up on some paperwork and organization at school, as well as get a head start on preparing for parent conferences sometime this month.

Our spring Bible study is starting up at church this coming Wednesday, and I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am about that.  The relationships and support that are gained in those studies is priceless, as well as just the depth of intimacy with Christ that can be gained by a deeper study of His word.  I'm sadly not teaching a study this semester, due to the fact that I don't know exactly where life is headed at the moment, but I'm excited to serve my dear friend as a back-up teacher (she was my back-up in the Esther study).  We're going to be doing an in-depth study of the book of James.  I just got my workbook the other night, so I spent the morning today working through several of the first week's assignments.  I've already learned a ton that I never knew before.  I'm also taking myself back to my Bible quizzing days in high school as I attempt to start memorizing entire chapters of the book.  We'll see how I do with that.......don't know that my mind is quite as quick and sharp as it was twenty years ago when I memorized huge portions of 1st and 2nd Corinthians and John. (It's amazing how quickly the verses from those books still come back to me today, though!)

Mike has been working on several projects around the house and keeping our vehicles maintained.  My little neon has been acting up lately, so we've had to put a little more maintenance in it than usual. Mike and I also are almost finished with our online course so we can print off our certificate soon.  It's getting a bit repetitive at this point, but today's segment was all about comparing ESL services in schools for the immigrant child versus the internationally adopted child.  It was interesting, but way too long.  Two more units to go, and then we'll be done.

That's where life stands right now, in a nutshell.  I wish we had some more definitive answers, direction, and timing regarding the adoption, but this week brought nothing but silence.  Normally I love the sound of silence and soak it up every chance I get.  This kind of silence isn't quite as peaceful or relaxing.

The weather here right now is beautiful, so I may just have to make another cup of coffee and spend some time hanging out on my front porch for awhile.