It's amazing to think that we are already a month into 2018. It has been a whirlwind of a month in the Gifford home. We started this year with the mantra of "everything happens for a reason" and have been determined to stick with it, even though my patience is thin.
All in all, we've already had quite the year. We started January off with a trip to see our family in Utah, which ended with a fundraiser at Pizza Pie Café in Layton. We can not thank everyone enough for all the support you gave us that night! As we walked into the building at 5:30pm, I told Cory how afraid I was the no one was going to show up. As luck would have it, people had already beaten us there! There were so many people who showed up that night, later in the week, or just reached out to us letting us know they wished they could be there. So many took time out of their busy lives to come see us and tell us you're behind us. People we hadn't seen in years took the time out of their day, and it means so much to us.
We sadly didn't remember to take picture till the end of the night, so this doesn't even represent 1/4 of the people that were there!
The following week we were able to do a fundraiser at our local Someburro's here in Queen Creek, AZ. As worried as I was about the Utah fundraiser, this one I was sure no one would attend. We're still new here and feel like we know no one. Once again I was amazed at the friends, family, and co-workers that showed up just to show us their support. Just as the other one, people we hadn't seen in years were there to have a burrito and help us start our family.
Between the two fundraisers, we were able to raise enough to cover the last part we needed of our next set of fees. I know I've said thank you a million times, but truly, thank you. We appreciate and need your support more than I think anyone who hasn't done this can understand. This has been a harder and lonelier process than we every could have imagined. Our lives are in the hands of unseen faces. We're waiting for people we've never met to decide if we're fit parents, to decided if we're worthy, and just take the time to put a stamp on a piece of paper.
We were told we would have a finished home study by the end of November, and here we are, February 12th with still no home study. We finally were told it was finished in mid January, only to find out we were missing a few documents. Since I had paid taxes in California in 2010 (My one semester doing the Disney College Program) and Georgia taxes in 2014 (2 months living in an airport Marriott for Delta training) we have to go back and submit child abuse clearances for those two states. Each of those can take up to 6 weeks. From there, we still need our national immigration clearance which takes between 4-8 weeks, but an average of six. Our hope of being all finished with our adoption by the end of this year seems further and further away. It has been heartbreaking.
Everyday we just remind ourselves "everything happens for a reason." We are still so far away from meeting our financial goals, and currently don't even have enough money to finish the adoption. As painful as each day without change is, it gives us more time to save and prepare for the child or children coming into our home. We often feel out of control and in a life that just refuses to move with us. What a test of patience this is becoming, and I feel like we haven't even gotten to the hard parts. Some day's I feel like The Little Engine that Could; "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.... not lose my patents and beat up government agencies." At least I think that's how the story goes, I'm just paraphrasing here.
